Document work done on task A.

README.md

@@ -2,7 +2,30 @@
 
 ## **Task A: system setup & administration**
 
-TODO
+### _Work done_
+
+1. Installed and configured Tomcat
+ * Used ``tomcat7`` and ``tomcat7-admin`` packages.
+ * Added ``manager`` user with the ``admin-gui`` and ``manager-gui`` roles.
+ * Configured Tomcat to only serve requests through AJP connector on ``127.0.0.1:8009``.  
+   (See Apache section below for explanation.)
+2. Installed and configured GeoServer
+ * Used the latest stable release (version ``2.7.0``).
+ * Chose to stick to Java 7, because of Java 8 not being "officially" recommended for production with GeoServer AFAIK.
+ * Modified the password of the ``admin`` user.
+ * Imported a Shapefile into a new assignment-specific workspace, in order to provide a WFS layers with data over NL.
+3. Installed and configured Apache
+ * Used ``apache2`` package.
+ * Set up a AJP reverse proxy, to behave as a frontend to Tomcat.  
+   Explanation of this choice:  
+   • Setting Tomcat to serve on port 80 requires additional configuration.  
+   • In my experience, Apache is more versatile and powerful in terms of configurations (access control, URL rewriting, SSL/TLS configuration, etc).  
+   • Apache can be used to load balance between several GeoServer instances.  
+   • It can be handy for serving outage pages in cases where you need to upgrade the webapp and wait for a restart.
+4. Configured and activated the firewall
+  * Allowing only HTTP (port 80) and SSH (port 22) incoming connections.
+5. Carried out common tasks
+  * Kept all packages on the server up to date (security best practice).
 
 ## **Task B: application development**