This week Linux Online talks to Austin Delaney, founder of the freeVSD project, a project whose aim is to revolutionize web hosting as we know it. Traditional hosting plans allow for customers to share space on a server in virtual environments (one server acting as many) under limited conditions. Normally, the web hosting customer is restricted in his/her use of running programs and scripts and changing configuration files. freeVSD eliminates the need for these restrictions and achieves this without decreasing server efficiency. We talked to Austin about how the project got started and where it's going.

Linux Online: Could you tell us a little a bit about how freeVSD works?

Austin Delaney: Once installed on a physical hosting server freeVSD creates multiple Virtual Servers (VS's) that are based on the file system of the operating system. Each VS includes the core hosting services required such as Apache, Sendmail, SSH etc and has an unique IP address assigned to it.

Since every VS on the hosting server has it's own telnetd, ftpd etc, we use Virtuald to ensure that the right daemon is used when a request comes in to an IP address for a specific VS. If this method wasn't employed then all requests would default to the main daemons listed in the inetd.conf of the hosting server.

A pseudo-root user is created inside each VS that allows the owner to access and manage all of the configuration files and binaries they need. The VS's are chrooted so that the owner cannot look above his own root directory on the server. To complement freeVSD we have built in our own protocol to allow remote administration of the VS's.

Linux Online: Why did you found this project?

Austin Delaney: It's my personal view that the faster the Internet progresses then the better it is for all ISP's and end-users. Our software certainly seemed to benefit the progression of the Internet and subsequently the fastest way to make this take affect was to distribute it for free with the source code.

Linux Online: How many people are working on freeVSD at this time?

Austin Delaney: The main author of freeVSD still works at the ISP where it was first developed and deployed but he is still one of the main contributors. Aside from his invaluable input there are 3 full time developers working on freeVSD itself. Their main tasks are to make the installation of freeVSD and third party applications a much more seamless process and also to begin ports of the software to other Linux flavours besides Red Hat. There are also a number of developers who contribute on a regular basis to our mailing list helping us with small bug-fixes etc.

Linux Online: A well configured Linux server with Apache will let you have multiple websites on one server. This goes way beyond this, doesn't it - and not only in terms of customers having more control over what their websites can do?

Austin Delaney:Hosting multiple web sites on one server running a single instance of Apache is the common model for web hosting providers. In Apache's documentation this is called 'virtual hosting' but is commonly mis-quoted as a 'virtual server'. With a Virtual Server created using freeVSD the end-user actually gets his own copy of Apache and Sendmail etc, as if he had his own server.

Since the owner of a Virtual Server has their own configuration files for Apache and Sendmail they can enhance their websites with the latest add-on modules and benefit from having their own unique setups. In a shared hosting environment (virtual hosting) the end user is at the mercy of the default configuration that their ISP uses.

Linux Online: One of the features of the system is that instead of one system administrator at the hosting company, you've got the customers acting as their own sys admin, or 'superuser'. How did you solve some of the security issues involved in conceding administration tasks to users?

Austin Delaney: The 'admin' user has very few privileges on the server and therefore cannot do much harm. Instead of restricting a 'root' user we have enhanced the privileges of the 'admin' user. A lot of time has gone into setting up correct file permissions to the extent that the admin user can perform many of the tasks required whilst at the same time preventing them from affecting any crucial system files.

This allows the 'admin' user to perform general maintenence and other related tasks, such as adding/deleting accounts (mail, ssh, etc) and changing passwords, as well as configuration of the daemons provided.

With services such as Apache that run on a port under 1000, only the root user is allowed to administrate these. This was overcome by using port redirection in the kernel. In the VS's, Apache runs on port 8080 and therefore it is necessary to redirect this to port 80 in order for it to work properly.

Linux Online: One of the stated goals of the project is pretty ambitious: "To establish and support freeVSD as the standard for web hosting worldwide". Are you confident that this is going to happen?

Austin Delaney: In my mind there does need to be a standard, both for the sake of the ISP and the end-user. Every ISP seems to have their own unique setup which means that their employee's have to learn that setup from scratch before they can be of use to the ISP. Also, the end-user is currently in the trap that if they wish to move ISP, for whatever reason, they have to go through the transfer process which can be a nightmare if the two ISP's use vastly differing setups.

With an established web hosting standard then the whole industry can move forward at a greater pace. Whether freeVSD becomes this standard or not is another question but the fact remains that there does need to be a standard that we can all follow. As freeVSD is the only free source project of it's kind and it provides greater security than the traditional web hosting solutions available, then I think it is entirely feasible with the right backing and help from the open-source community that we can indeed become the standard.

The main key to this is whether Linux itself can become the standard operating system used by ISP's.

Linux Online: How has the response been so far from companies and organizations that have used the system?

Austin Delaney: We have yet to launch the project with press releases and many partnerships are still in the pipeline. Of the companies and ISP's using the software at the moment, the feedback we have had thus far has been very encouraging and it has helped us fine-tune the installation process which was the main gripe in the past.

There are some ISP's already using the software as a commercial solution and we have over 100 who have joined up on our Early Adopter Program. Most of the EA's are still implementing the software in-house and are eagerly awaiting the full release of our Windows admin software which is set to replace the web admin interface we currently provide.

Linux Online: At the project's website you indicate that the key here is Linux and open-source. You can't do this on other platforms or using proprietary programs?

Austin Delaney: It is a firm belief of our organization that open-source is indeed the way forward for the Internet. However, this does heavily depend on whether the projects available have enough backing from the rest of the community to make them stable enough for commercial deployment.

We have been asked by many non-ISP types whether they will see a port of freeVSD to some of the more commercial operating systems. This is something we have put some thought into but at the moment we are concentrating on development for Linux and will continue to do so! The software is aimed at the web hosting industry where Linux has been gathering a lot of momentum over the last two years and as long as this continues to be the case, our developments will remain firmly with Linux.

The only other O/S we have been requested by ISP's to support is FreeBSD.

Linux Online: A lot of Linux projects are not the full-time occupation of the people behind them. (Even Linus has his day job at Transmeta). Is this the case with the people working on freeVSD and yourself in particular?

Austin Delaney: The project is being sponsored by a UK company (Idaya Ltd) who are also my employers where I act as technical director. All of my time (and the other developers) is concentrated on freeVSD and this is to remain as such until we feel that the project has achieved it's main objectives. After this time I will act as a consultant for the project but the aim is to have the 3 original developers continue their work on freeVSD, continuously adding to it and supporting other 3rd party applications.

Linux Online: In the end, the advantages for the hosted customer are obvious, but what are the main advantages for the hosting company?

Austin Delaney: The hosting company is freed up from daily administration tasks (eg. adding POP3 accounts). There are also reduced support costs as the project makes the job of administration for the end-user a lot easier and makes much less room for mistakes.

The hosting company also has a new product to supply his existing and new customers with and therefore they will experience increased revenues. The end-user has the ability to add many other 3rd party products to their account(s) and if the ISP is 'on-the-ball', he will become a reseller for these products.

An example of this is our own ISP in the UK which is the largest reseller in the country for one of the digital certificate vendors and every time a Virtual Server owner requires a new digital certificate, we receive commission from the certification company (plus our setup costs etc for the new certificate).

Linux Online: Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer our questions.

Austin Delaney: Hey, no problem ;)

For more details about the project, visit the freeVSD website: http://www.freevsd.org