phpBB: A User Guide

Book description

Secure your Linux server and protect it from intruders, malware attacks, and other external threats

About This Book

  • Leverage this guide to confidently deliver a system that reduces the risk of being hacked
  • Perform a number of advanced Linux security techniques such as network service detection, user authentication, controlling special permissions, encrypting file systems, and much more
  • Master the art of securing a Linux environment with this end-to-end practical guide

Who This Book Is For

If you are a systems administrator or a network engineer interested in making your Linux environment more secure, then this book is for you. Security consultants wanting to enhance their Linux security skills will also benefit from this book. Prior knowledge of Linux is mandatory.

What You Will Learn

  • Use various techniques to prevent intruders from accessing sensitive data
  • Prevent intruders from planting malware, and detect whether malware has been planted
  • Prevent insiders from accessing data that they aren't authorized to access
  • Do quick checks to see whether a computer is running network services that it doesn't need to run
  • Learn security techniques that are common to all Linux distros, and some that are distro-specific

In Detail

This book has extensive coverage of techniques that will help prevent attackers from breaching your system, by building a much more secure Linux environment. You will learn various security techniques such as SSH hardening, network service detection, setting up firewalls, encrypting file systems, protecting user accounts, authentication processes, and so on. Moving forward, you will also develop hands-on skills with advanced Linux permissions, access control, special modes, and more. Lastly, this book will also cover best practices and troubleshooting techniques to get your work done efficiently.

By the end of this book, you will be confident in delivering a system that will be much harder to compromise.

Style and approach

An advanced-level guide filled with real-world examples that will help you secure your Linux system

Publisher resources

View/Submit Errata

Table of contents

  1. phpBB: A User Guide
    1. phpBB:A User Guide
    2. Credits
    3. About the Authors
    4. Preface
      1. What This Book Covers
      2. Conventions
      3. Reader Feedback
      4. Customer Support
        1. Downloading the Example Code for the Book
        2. Errata
        3. Questions
    5. 1. Introduction to phpBB
      1. Online Communities
      2. Building the Community—The Tools
      3. The Name
      4. The Environment
      5. Why phpBB?
      6. History
      7. Development
      8. Example phpBB Sites
        1. A Standard phpBB Layout
        2. Standard Sites with Different Templates
        3. Sites with Standard Style and Modified Features
        4. GaiaOnline
      9. Summary
    6. 2. Installing and Configuring phpBB
      1. Pre-Installation
        1. Requirements
        2. The Attack Plan
              1. Time For Action—Setting Up the Environment on Your Local Computer
        3. Finishing Pre-Install Touch—The Database
              1. Setting Up the Database for Local Installations
              2. Time For Action—Creating the Forum Database with phpMyAdmin
                1. What Just Happened
              3. Time For Action—Creating the Forum Database Using the Command Prompt
              4. Setting Up the Database for Remote Installations
        4. phpBB Pre-Installation Checklist
      2. Installation
        1. Troubleshooting the Installation
          1. Symptom
            1. Reason
            2. Solution
          2. Symptom
            1. Reason
            2. Solution
          3. Symptom
            1. Reason
            2. Solution
          4. Symptom
            1. Reason 1
            2. Solution
            3. Reason 2
            4. Solution
          5. Symptom
            1. Reason 1
            2. Solution
            3. Reason 2
            4. Solution
              1. Time For Action—Deleting phpBB Tables using phpMyAdmin
              2. Time For Action—Deleting phpBB Tables Using the Command Prompt
      3. Post-Installation Tasks
              1. Time For Action—Deleting Unneeded Directories
                1. What Just Happened?
              2. Basic Configuration
              3. Time For Action—Initial Configuration Using the Administration Panel
                1. What Just Happened?
              4. Setting Up the avatars Directory
      4. Security Tips
              1. Administrator Password
              2. Disallow Remote Connections to the Database
              3. MySQL Account
              4. config.php
              5. .htaccess Protection for the Administration Panel
      5. Finding Help
      6. Summary
    7. 3. User Experience: Visitors
      1. Overview
      2. Registration
          1. Step 1
          2. Step 2
          3. Step 3
      3. Logging In
        1. Editing Your Profile
              1. Time For Action—Creating and Editing "The Dude" Profile
                1. What Just Happened?
      4. Posting
        1. Anatomy of a Posting
        2. Replying
        3. Starting a New Topic
        4. Formatting a Posting
              1. Time For Action—Formatting a Post
                1. What Just Happened
        5. Editing a Posting
        6. Deleting a Posting
      5. Searching
      6. Sending and Receiving Private Messages (PM)
              1. Time For Action—The Dude PMs the Administrator
                1. What Just Happened?
      7. Voting in Polls
      8. Staying Current with the Topics
      9. Viewing Information about Other Users
        1. Memberlist
        2. Usergroups
        3. Who Is Online
    8. 4. UserExperience: Moderators and Administrators
      1. Moderator Experience
              1. Time For Action—Assigning Moderator Privileges to a User
                1. What Just Happened?
        1. Managing Postings
          1. Editing and Deleting
          2. Editing the First Posting in a Topic
          3. Viewing Poster’s IP Address
        2. Managing Topics
          1. Deleting, Locking, and Unlocking Topics
          2. Moving Topics
              1. Time For Action—Creating a Forum
                1. What Just Happened?
          3. Splitting Topics
          4. Doing It All Together—The Moderator Control Panel
      2. Administrator Experience
        1. Administration Panel Overview
        2. Forum Admin
          1. Forum Management
            1. Creating New Forums and Categories
              1. Time For Action—Creating a New Category
                1. What Just Happened
              2. Time For Action—Creating a New Forum
                1. What Just Happened
            2. Fine Tuning Existing Forums and Categories
              1. Editing
              2. Deleting
              3. Changing Display Order
              4. Time For Action—Tweaking Display Order
                1. What Just Happened
              5. Using the Resync Options
          2. Who Can Do What—Setting Up Forum Permissions
              1. Time For Action—Setting Forum Permissions in Simple Mode
                1. What Just Happened?
          3. Pruning
              1. Time For Action—Pruning a Forum
                1. What Just Happened?
        3. Systems Administration Using General Admin Options
          1. Configuration
          2. Database Backup and Restore
              1. Time For Action—Backing Up Your Board Data
                1. What Just Happened
              2. Time For Action—Restoring Your Database from a Backup Copy
                1. What Just Happened
          3. Mass Email
          4. Smilies
          5. Filtering Words Using Word Censors
              1. Time For Action—Creating a Word Filter
                1. What Just Happened
        4. Introduction to User Management
          1. Editing User Profiles
          2. Deleting Users
          3. Permissions
          4. Banning Users
          5. Disallowing Users
      3. Summary
    9. 5. Customizing Your Forum
      1. phpBB Styles
      2. Structure of a Style
        1. Style Elements
        2. Style Storage
      3. Editing phpBB Files
      4. Installing a New Style
        1. Creating a Copy Style
              1. Time For Action—Creating a Copy Style
                1. What Just Happened?
        2. Installing One Element at a Time
        3. Troubleshooting
          1. Style Does Not Appear in Administration
          2. Configuration File Cannot Be Opened
        4. Removing an Installed Style
      5. Create or Customize
      6. Customizing through the Stylesheet
        1. Editing the Stylesheet in the Admin Panel
              1. Time For Action—Editing the Stylesheet
                1. What Just Happened?
          1. Editing Other Theme Components
          2. Allowed Values
          3. Commonly Used and Altered Elements
            1. Table Cell Colors
            2. Font Colors
        2. Changing CSS Styles to Change the Look of Your Site
          1. Using External Stylesheets
      7. Customizing through Images
        1. Installing New Images to Change the Look of Your Site
      8. Hacking phpBB
        1. MODs and Hacks
        2. phpBB Modification
        3. Installing a Modification
              1. Time For Action—Installing a Small Modification
                1. What Just Happened?
          1. Installing a Downloaded Modification
          2. The Copy Action
          3. The SQL Action and Editing the Database
          4. The Open Action
          5. The Find Action
          6. The Addition Actions
          7. The In-Line Actions
          8. The Last Action
          9. The Trouble with Templates
          10. Uninstalling Modifications
              1. Time For Action—Uninstalling a Small Modification
                1. What Just Happened?
            1. Removing Other Changes
        4. Example Modifications
        5. Moving Elements
        6. Adding New Elements to Your Forum
              1. Time For Action—Adding a Menu Link
                1. What Just Happened?
          1. Adding New Languages
      9. Summary
    10. 6. Forum Administration
      1. Making Your Board Multi-Lingual
              1. Time For Action—Adding Spanish Support to Your Forum
                1. What Just Happened?
      2. Avatars: Enabling and Configuring
      3. Managing Smilies
        1. Smilies’ Properties
        2. Smilies Administration Panel
        3. Editing or Deleting a Smilie
        4. Adding New Smilies
              1. Time For Action—Adding a New Smilie Using an Existing Image
                1. What Just Happened?
              2. Time For Action—Adding a Custom Smilie
                1. What Just Happened?
        5. Adding Smilies with a .pak File
              1. Time For Action—Adding Smilies Using a .pak File
                1. What Just Happened?
        6. Creating a .pak File
              1. Time For Action—Creating a .pak File
                1. What Just Happened?
        7. Assigning Ranks
              1. Time For Action—Creating Automatic Ranks
                1. What Just Happened?
              2. Time For Action—Creating and Assigning a Special Rank
                1. What Just Happened?
      4. Understanding Forum Permissions
          1. Permission Types and Permission Levels
          2. Simple and Advanced Mode of Setting Permissions
              1. Time For Action—Creating and Fine-Tuning a Private Forum
                1. What Just Happened
      5. Understanding User Permissions
              1. Time For Action—Making The Dude a Private User of The Dudes Forum
                1. What Just Happened?
      6. Usergroups and Group Permissions
              1. Time For Action—Creating a New Group
                1. What Just Happened?
              2. Time For Action—Editing a Group
                1. What Just Happened?
        1. Group Permissions
              1. Time For Action—Setting Group Permissions
                1. What Just Happened?
      7. Second Look into Database Backups and Restore
        1. Using phpMyAdmin
              1. Time For Action—Creating an SQL Database Dump
                1. What Just Happened?
        2. Using MySQL Command-Line Tools
              1. Creating Backups with mysqldump
              2. Using the mysql Utility to Restore a Database
              3. Time For Action—Creating a Database Copy from a SQL Dump
                1. What Just Happened?
              4. Other Tools
      8. The Board’s Human Side: Flamewars and Banning

Product information

  • Title: phpBB: A User Guide
  • Author(s): Jeremy Rogers, Stoyan Stefanov
  • Release date: February 2006
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781904811916