web-server

Installing Caddy 0.9.x on Ubuntu/Debian System

Install Caddy via its installer script on Ubuntu/Debian system:

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$ curl -s https://getcaddy.com/ | sudo bash
Downloading Caddy for linux/amd64...
https://caddyserver.com/download/build?os=linux&arch=amd64&arm=&features=
Extracting...
Putting caddy in /usr/local/bin (may require password)
Caddy 0.9.1 (+e8e5595)
Successfully installed

This is different from the Download page, where you get to select additional features (see the &features= URL query parameter).

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$ which caddy
caddy is /usr/local/bin/caddy

Get the installed version:

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$ caddy --version
Caddy 0.9.1 (+e8e5595)

Get help:

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$ caddy -h
Usage of caddy:
  -agree
        Agree to the CA's Subscriber Agreement
  -ca string
        URL to certificate authority's ACME server directory (default "https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory")
  -conf string
        Caddyfile to load (default "Caddyfile")
  -cpu string
        CPU cap (default "100%")
  -email string
        Default ACME CA account email address
  -grace duration
        Maximum duration of graceful shutdown (default 5s)
  -host string
        Default host
  -http2
        Use HTTP/2 (default true)
  -log string
        Process log file
  -pidfile string
        Path to write pid file
  -plugins
        List installed plugins
  -port string
        Default port (default "2015")
  -quic
        Use experimental QUIC
  -quiet
        Quiet mode (no initialization output)
  -revoke string
        Hostname for which to revoke the certificate
  -root string
        Root path of default site (default ".")
  -type string
        Type of server to run (default "http")
  -version
        Show version

Run Caddy locally:

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$ caddy
Activating privacy features... done.
http://:2015
WARNING: File descriptor limit 1024 is too low for production servers. At least 8192 is recommended. Fix with "ulimit -n 8192".

A file descriptor is simply a number that the operating system assigns to an open file to keep track of it. Caddy’s primary goal is to be an easy-to-use static file web server. Having high file descriptor limit means it can open more files to serve users at the same time.

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$ ulimit -Sn && ulimit -Hn
1024
4096

The current system is too low in both soft and hard limits. But since it’s not in production, warning can be ignored.

Make sure the server working:

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$ http :2015
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Content-Length: 14
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Server: Caddy
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
404 Not Found

Response header X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff prevents MIME based attacks, it tells the browser to respect the response content type, not to override.

Status code 404 means working, but just lacks an index file. Let’s create one:

Tiny HTTP Servers

This is a simple way to run a tiny web server via command line:

$ python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080

which will server static files from the current directory.

There is Knod for Ruby, and of course there is one for Node: http-server.

To install:

$ sudo npm install -g http-server

To run:

$ http-server

Server will be accessible via http://localhost:8080/.