Port80 has always been committed to offering affordable software solutions -- running a secure, fast, and efficient Web server can be an expensive proposition! It takes a lot of additional software to lock down your servers against threats and fine tune them for maximum performance, and the budget for implementing a new design or functionality can get out of control fast. So, here are three unrelated resources we wanted to pass on to all of you budget conscious souls out there...
In February’s HTTP Bytes, we included a couple guides to must-haves items for a Web admin’s toolkit. Troubleshooting, log parsing, system monitoring, and a bunch of nifty utilities that will make your life infinitely easier. Oliver Rist almost immediately out-did himself by publishing his guide to free admin toolkit software:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/02/25/09OPenterwin_1.html
Web app security, in particular, can be pricey, as skimping on security is kind of like buying a cut-rate seatbelt for your car or buying cheap batteries for your smoke detector -- just not smart. If you happen to be looking for an IDS / IPS (Intrusion Detection & Prevention System), you should check out ThreatSentry from PrivacyWare. We just started to evaluate it, so we can’t yet offer our "official" endorsement, but at $99, it packs in a lot of solid features:
http://www.threatsentry.com
If you’re running a business (like we are), budget planning is critical. A small company can’t dive into a new project without knowing exactly what it will cost. The project management site Baseline offers a collection of Planners for just that -- from hardening security systems, to software error prevention, to setting up a campaign Web site, all the way to developing a new pharmaceutical from scratch! It’s a good way to ballpark expenses and spot the hidden costs of a new project. And while many of them are "Premium," keeping with the spirit of this post, many are free of charge...
http://www.baselinemag.com/category2/0,1426,655834,00.asp
OK, now go blow all that money you just saved on something completely frivolous!