CentOS - Oct 2009 - My doubts with apache server on centos installation

Hi Linux geeks,

I have just started to setup a production server with centos; and moved from
windows server to centos. My first encounter with this great linux distro is
good.

I am not able to understand what is the point of having scattered folders
for apache server installation.

when i see the /etc/httpd folder; it has only conf folder and links to logs,
module and , run. As i have been working on Windows where all these files
are stored in a single installation folder.

So, this makes me quite confused to start with.

Can anyone tell me what is the idea behind using such a installation
pattern.

Now i am going to install java, I have two options via RPM and other is
extracting the distro and use it. i have a feeling if i use first option,
all the folders like jre and jdk will be palced any where. Not to be found.

Please tell me or point to any relevant link. so i can go ahead without any
doubt over this issue.



-- 
Regards,
Vijay Shanker
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2009/10/9 vijay shanker <vijaydshanker at gmail.com>
> Hi Linux geeks,
>
> I have just started to setup a production server with centos; and moved
> from windows server to centos. My first encounter with this great linux
> distro is good.
>
> I am not able to understand what is the point of having scattered folders
> for apache server installation.
>
> when i see the /etc/httpd folder; it has only conf folder and links to
> logs, module and , run. As i have been working on Windows where all these
> files are stored in a single installation folder.
>
> So, this makes me quite confused to start with.
>
> Can anyone tell me what is the idea behind using such a installation
> pattern.
>
> Now i am going to install java, I have two options via RPM and other is
> extracting the distro and use it. i have a feeling if i use first option,
> all the folders like jre and jdk will be palced any where. Not to be found.
>
> Please tell me or point to any relevant link. so i can go ahead without any
> doubt over this issue.
>
rpm -ql <package name>

will tell you were the package's files are

rpm -ql <package name> | grep conf

will show only those files having 'conf' in their names.
*
for jdk, i use the .bin, not the .rpm. (but i'm only interested in plugin)
*
docs are everywhere but you can start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard

-- 
Linux counter #213090
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Hi soon-to-be Linux geek :)

- regarding Apache and more generally most applications in the
Linux/UNIX world, the point of "scattering" the directories is to
separate the location of the various files in order to be able (among
other things) to mount them from various partitions, possibly from the
network.

Most important are:
- /etc : configuration files => changed but not often by administrators
- /usr : binaries of the applications => once they are installed, they
just need to be read (so typically they can be shared between many
physical machines on the network)
- /var : variable data => e.g. database files which get continuously
written, or logs of the application

The fact that /var/www is tha base directory for Apache file is a bit
historical and debated, but is standard (some distributions put it
under /srv, which is for server data).

I am personally a (Java) developer and not a professional Linux admin
(although my desktop and target platforms are Linux) so there are
plenty of people in the list which could be much more precise (and
accurate) than me. But I thought this brief overview woudl be useful.

For more details read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html

Once you get use to it, you will find it very logical and clean: it
saves a lot of time to have a standard, so that you don't need to
reinvent conventions all the time.

- Regarding Java (which more my field), I definitely encourage you to
use the package.
Since Sun set Java free/open source, they basically share the same
codebase. But the OpenJDK rebuilt and repackaged by the various
distributions are better integrated, and most important much easier to
update!

If you go to the package route though (I personanly still have to
deploy JDK 1.5, 1.4 and even 1.3 from Sun for testing), I recommend
that you unpack them under /opt.

Cheers,

Mathieu

On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 08:46, vijay shanker <vijaydshanker at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi Linux geeks,
>
> I have just started to setup a production server with centos; and moved
from
> windows server to centos. My first encounter with this great linux distro
is
> good.
>
> I am not able to understand what is the point of having scattered folders
> for apache server installation.
>
> when i see the /etc/httpd folder; it has only conf folder and links to
logs,
> module and , run. As i have been working on Windows where all these files
> are stored in a single installation folder.
>
> So, this makes me quite confused to start with.
>
> Can anyone tell me what is the idea behind using such a installation
> pattern.
>
> Now i am going to install java, I have two options via RPM and other is
> extracting the distro and use it. i have a feeling if i use first option,
> all the folders like jre and jdk will be palced any where. Not to be found.
>
> Please tell me or point to any relevant link. so i can go ahead without any
> doubt over this issue.
>
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Vijay Shanker
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS at centos.org
> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
>
>

>-----Original Message-----
>From: centos-bounces at centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On
Behalf
>Of vijay shanker
>Sent: Friday, October 09, 2009 8:47 AM
>To: centos at centos.org
>Subject: [CentOS] My doubts with apache server on centos installation
>
>I am not able to understand what is the point of having scattered folders
for apache
>server installation.
>
>when i see the /etc/httpd folder; it has only conf folder and links to
logs, module and ,
>run. As i have been working on Windows where all these files are stored in
a single
>installation folder.
/etc is used (most of the time) for storing configuration files. Your actual
web pages will be in /var/www/html. This is standard for linux AFAIK, just
as programs in Windows are usually installed to c:\program files.

I'd be a little wary saying that Windows keeps its files all in a single
installation folder; there's more going on in the background than you know.
Single installation folders was maybe true in the DOS-era. Now? Not
really...
>Now i am going to install java, I have two options via RPM and other is
extracting the
>distro and use it. i have a feeling if i use first option, all the folders
like jre and jdk will
>be palced any where. Not to be found.
Java is, IIRC, always installed to /lib/java. The /lib folder is I guess the
equivalent of %windir%\system32. This is just the way linux-systems are
ordered. No particular reason why this is so I guess, at least nothing you
need to worry about. Most of the time you only need to know about /root,
/home, /etc. This is very generally speaking though. With time, you'll
learn. ;-)

Use RPMs if possible. It's easier to maintain IMHO.

-- 
/Sorin
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On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 1:46 AM, vijay shanker <vijaydshanker at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi Linux geeks,
>
> I have just started to setup a production server with centos; and moved
from
> windows server to centos. My first encounter with this great linux distro
is
> good.
>
> I am not able to understand what is the point of having scattered folders
> for apache server installation.
>
> when i see the /etc/httpd folder; it has only conf folder and links to
logs,
> module and , run. As i have been working on Windows where all these files
> are stored in a single installation folder.
>
> So, this makes me quite confused to start with.
>
> Can anyone tell me what is the idea behind using such a installation
> pattern.
>
> Now i am going to install java, I have two options via RPM and other is
> extracting the distro and use it. i have a feeling if i use first option,
> all the folders like jre and jdk will be palced any where. Not to be found.
>
> Please tell me or point to any relevant link. so i can go ahead without any
> doubt over this issue.
>
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Vijay Shanker
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS at centos.org
> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
>
>
Did it ever make since for everybody and their brother to install
everything under c:\windows\system32\?  That everything in system32
nightmare scares me security wise and functionality wise.  WinVistA
fixes that through file and registry system virtualization - that
means even more places for your files.

Some of the IIS stuff is in the registry and some in metabase and some
in files.  At least with nix, all the locations can be searched with a
single find command - not so in windows.

If you modify something in Linux using a GUI, but need
the text file equivalent, the following command can help.
touch /tmp/now
install your app or make changes using a gui
find / -newer  /tmp/now | grep -v /proc/

There are a few improvements on this, but that can get you started.