Rust Web Server

A lightweight HTTP server written in Rust that serves static files with modern features including rate limiting, visitor counting, and CORS support.

Features

• Static File Serving: Serves HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images and other files from the public_html directory
• Visitor Counter: Tracks and displays the number of visitors to your site
• Rate Limiting: Protects against abuse by limiting each IP to 100 requests per minute
• Multi-threading: Handles multiple concurrent connections efficiently
• CORS Support: Built-in support for cross-origin requests
• Security: Basic protection against directory traversal attacks
• Logging: Detailed request logging for monitoring and debugging
• Custom Error Pages: Customizable 404 and error pages
• Docker Support: Easy containerization for deployment

Installation

Prerequisites

• Rust (1.53.0 or newer)
• Cargo (included with Rust)

Setup

1. Clone this repository or download the source code
2. Navigate to the project directory

# Build the project
cargo build --release

# Run the server
cargo run --release

Directory Structure

rustwebserver/
├── public_html/            # Web content directory
│   ├── index.html          # Default landing page
│   ├── styles.css          # Other files
│   ├── script.js           # Other files
│   └── ...                 # All other files or folders
├── server_assets/          # Server-specific assets
│   └── 404.html            # Custom 404 error page
│   └── 500.html            # Custom 5xx error page
├── src/                    # Source code
|   └── main.rs             # Main server file
└── Dockerfile              # Docker configuration

Adding Content

Place your HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other static files in the public_html directory The server will automatically serve them when requested

Visitor Counter

The server includes a built-in visitor counter. To display it on your page.

Technical Details

HTTP Request Handling

The server handles HTTP requests by: Parsing the request to extract method, path and headers Checking rate limits based on client IP Routing to special endpoints or serving requested files Generating appropriate HTTP responses

Thread Management

Uses a thread pool with configurable size (default: 4 threads...mentioned at the top of main.rs file to be changed as required) Each incoming connection is handled in a separate thread Expired connections are automatically cleaned up

Security Features

Rate limiting Path sanitization to prevent directory traversal HTTP Request validation

Configuration Options

const PORT: u16 = 8000;                                   // HTTP port
const MAX_CONCURRENT_CONNECTIONS: usize = 4;              // Thread pool size
const RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW: Duration = Duration::from_secs(60); // Rate limit time window
const MAX_REQUESTS_PER_WINDOW: usize = 100;               // Max requests per window

Docker Deployment

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t rustwebserver .

# Run the container
docker run -p 8000:8000 rustwebserver