[ Thanks to Matthew Cunningham for this
link. ]
“Admittedly, it’s an oversimplification to say that Linux-based
Web servers are “ready to run, right out of the box.” Networking
connectivity must be considered. Although a Web server running on
localhost will work just fine even if no network connections exist,
this doesn’t do anybody any good except for the one person at the
console.”
“In general, there are four sorts of Web servers: test bed or
“staging” servers, which are used by Web authors to develop
material for their sites; intranet servers, which are accessible
exclusively to users within an organization or department; public
Web servers, which can be accessed from anywhere on the Internet;
and extranet servers, which allow access from selected external
sites and users, but which are not accessible to the general
public. Indeed, a single Linux host can concurrently provide access
to all of these sorts of servers (though this might not constitute
the best security profile).”
“Providing any form of network (non-local) access to our Web
server depends on the installation and configuration of a number of
other subsystems. These have nothing directly to do with the
Web server and in fact are the same basic elements that provide us
with access to all networking services under Linux (or any other
form of Unix).”