Correct Set-Up To Avoid DNS Suspension

[pkonstan]

I have a dedicated host running Plesk. I followed all of the basic instructions for set up as provided by my host as well as the most basic Plesk instructions that I found.

This week my host unexpectedly disabled my host because of "abuse." I installed nothing extra, did the basic configuration and yet I wasn't protected from this type of attack.

In talking with tech support at my host, they gave me some initial comments about needing to have a firewall installed and something about making sure my local.host is not local.host but instead is my domain.

My question is, "What did I miss?" Where are these type of "basic" yet crucial instructions. For something as serious as having ones server shut down unexpectedly, one would think that basic instructions to secure your server would be very obvious and out front. Did I miss something in my rush to get the server set up, or is there some unwritten, hidden understanding out there? How could I miss something that is causing me such headaches.

Is there a "Plesk for Dummies" type of manual or a "white papers" of crucial things not to miss in set up? Once my host gives me my site back I want to make sure I fix the problem as best I can.

In summary, what are the "must do's" in order to correctly set-up a Plesk server to avoid getting hacked.

 

[faris]

This is a good place to start I think:

http://www.web-hosting-control-pane....php/HOW-TO_setup_a_PLESK_Dedicated_Server/6/

Add a subscription to ASL which gives you a gresec patched kernel, easy install of mod_security and other useful things and you are quite secure. (incidentally the securing of the /tmp directly is not necessary if you have the grsec kernel running)

But who the hell is your host? "abuse" could mean anything. They are not being helpful. Do they mean someone was sending spam, or had gained access to the system or what? You can't protect against something you don't know about. Basically if you have a customer deliberately doing something stupid there is little you can do about it.

Faris.