New features of WEBppliance 3.5 for Linux

WEBppliance 3.5 introduces many new features that extend its capability.

These features include:

- Subdomain capability for Web sites

Sites can now be enabled to host subdomains and configured to inherit the capabilities of the parent web site. Subdomains enable businesses to establish multiple online service channels for various product lines and extend their web presence preserving brand association and unity.

Features of subdomain:

- Can be accessed using aliases – Subdomains inherit the alias names of the root domain. An alias is a nickname or alternative Web URL that maps to the subdomain.
  For example, sales.mydomain.com can be accessed using the alias sales.mydomain.org that are defined for the parent.

- Can run CGI scripts – Subdomains can be configured for CGI-compliance enabling them to capture and process Web information dynamically

- Inherit the security options set for the root domain - Subdomains inherit the security level set for their root domain.

- Multiple MySQL databases per site

You can enable multiple databases for a site empowering Site Administrators with greater control and flexibility in planning information storage and distribution.

Sites that use demanding applications or services now have greater leeway in designing efficient data distribution.

MySQL features:

- Ability to enable multiple databases for a site and define the number of databases that can be created

- Enables the Administrator of a site to create and manage his databases

- Disk quota earmarked for the site is inclusive of disk space required by MySQL databases, and counts toward consumption of the site's disk quota

- Enhanced backup and restore

WEBppliance 3.5 revamps the existing capabilities of backup and restore to provide a more robust and flexible solution. Resellers are empowered with better control and choice over the types of backup that can be invoked, the mode of data transfer, and the backup schedule.

Some of the major enhancements are:

- Fully qualified and complete backups of your account and the sites hosted on your account.

- Granular backups of each entity in your hosting environment - your account, sites hosted on your account.

- Backups can now be automated by providing the required scheduling information. This removes the overhead of manual invocation of backups and frees up resources to focus on other tasks. Each administrative level can schedule its own backup.

- Comprehensive graphical Webalizer log reports for Web and FTP server

Webalizer provides detailed graphical and tabulated log analysis reports of Web and FTP server usage. You can view daily, monthly and hourly summaries of the number of hits, pages, data transferred in Kbytes and other server usage information in easily comprehensible format.

- Configuration of site security from the WEBppliance Control Panel

Service providers can establish appropriate security levels for each site from the WEBppliance Control Panel. The security level set for a site determines the operating environment of the site.

Sites can be qualified with the following security options:

High security – Implements a highly secure Web environment; Remote login services (Telnet /Secure Shell) and CGI scripts are locked in the restricted environment of the site’s file system. High security sites can not run mod_perl or mod_php scripts.

Medium security – Implements security mechanism for remote login services (Telnet /Secure Shell), but CGI scripts run in a vulnerable environment. The site is enabled to run mod_perl and mod_php scripts.

Low security – All the services (Telnet, SSH, CGI scripts) operate in a susceptible environment. Users can also run mod_perl or mod_php scripts.

- Compileable PHP RPM

WEBppliance 3.5 provides a PHP Development add-on that enables you to customize the PHP development tool and compile it locally. You can enable or disable options to suit the specific requirements of the hosting environment.

All the source RPMs required will be available separately from Ensim’s support site.

For details on obtaining the source RPMs and how to compile them, refer to the WEBppliance 3.5 for Linux Technical Reference Guide.

- Roaming authentication using Poprelay

In addition to the SMTP_AUTH authentication service, WEBppliance 3.5 introduces Poprelay, which is a simple, easy-to-use roaming authentication service. Poprelay requires no complicated configuration of the mail client. Itinerant users may simply unlock their domain mail server (by first checking the mails in their account) to relay messages from anywhere outside the domain network.