New server, What to do now?
 

Well I just got my self a new server and I have just finished installing cpanel and CSF,

I am wondering what else should I have for security?
and any other optimizations i may need

Thanks

cpanel is a full server control panel. You give up most control by installing it. There really isn't anything left to do.

Ok.

But I need to know what other security software, scripts and anything else i can use as I have been ddos'd once before and i dont want it to happen again

suhosin
mod_security <-- be careful with using all the default rule sets that come with mod_sec, very restrictive with vb.
php.ini - disable_functions <-- be careful what you disable though.
csf - close all un-needed ports
ssh - kill root access, then su to root, as well as lock ssh to select Ip's only.

DenyHosts - Stops SSH brute-forcing.

There are many websites that specialise in answering this question.

I never went with cPanel again after my cPanel got hacked a few years ago and all my sites were lost.

Get over to the vbulletin.com server configuration forum gather the information required in this post [Required]: Info for optimisation / troubleshooting requests [31/03/08 update] then post a server optimisation request.

There are a lot of things that you can do to improve your cPanel box. What are you server specs? And how many sites do you have running on the box? Also, do you plan on trying to resell hosting using cPanel or is it only for your needs?

You can start by recompiling Apache + PHP using EasyApache. Create a new profile, enable all the options that you need, add in the mpm prefork option for Apache, and let it recompile. You'd be wise to install XCache also, you have to do it manually, and each time you recompile Apache in WHM you'll have to go to your php.ini and move the location of the xcache zend_extension up to the top of the list otherwise php will segfault.

Install CSF, you have already, along with rkhunter, and chkrootkit. You'll need to optimize MySQL also.

There is more to do that I can summarize in one post, PM me if you want more info.

Also, since you have CSF installed, log into WHM > Plugins > ConfigServer Security&Firewall. Run the "Check Server Security" tool. It'll help you out with a bit of stuff that you can do, but it is by no means a subsitute for everything.

SIM - monitors services..a real life saver (http://rfxnetworks.com/sim.php)
APF - iptables based firewall (http://rfxnetworks.com/apf.php)
BFD - brute force detection (http://rfxnetworks.com/bfd.php)

basically rfxnetworks.com rocks :)