Linux Server Distro

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visser
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Linux Server Distro

Post by visser »

Hey all. im becoming very used to using linux and have officially started to call windows windoze lol. Im running ubuntu on my laptop and enjoying in very much but i was working with some servers more now and was greatly looking forward to using linux. i had been using ubuntu server for a while and that definatly seemed to take care of most of my needs. i was curious tho... what does suck-o use for their home server?

a little side note. for my server i was planning on running all of the usual web server stuff. but i was also very interested in working with dns servers, dhcp servers, ftp servers and every other form of server that i can get my hands on. What would you suggest i try for a good well rounded server? i would like to have a desktop that i can use with this as im not completely good at using the cmd line.

thanks all :)

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Post by ayu »

Well, setting up a server that covers basic network needs is what I do. I setup a DNS server for easier names on the network. A DHCP to have more control over the TCP/IP settings. an FTP to reach my files at home when I'm at the Uni. A Samba server to map my drives to the windows machine so that I can stream my music and videos. SSH to administer the server. Web server to have a central place for all my links and google searches (custom startpage basically). And so on....

Don't forget to think about encrypted authentication and transfer when you are doing like I am, and reaching some of the stuff from the outside. Also take your time to learn about iptables and how to restrict access to your server with it. =)
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visser
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Post by visser »

sweet thanks a bunch Cats! good stuff to look into especially considering i plan on working with linux a lot more. one problem tho... what distros would you suggest i look into or try out? lol

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Post by ayu »

visser wrote:sweet thanks a bunch Cats! good stuff to look into especially considering i plan on working with linux a lot more. one problem tho... what distros would you suggest i look into or try out? lol

well, I used Ubuntu server a lot until b_b tipped me about Debian Lenny, and since Lenny works on both my server and my lappy, I'm using that at the moment. But I recommend Ubuntu server since it's very easy to get started with, and has a lot of support for drivers and applications since it uses a lot of non open source programs. And when you're familiar with Ubuntu, you can switch to Debian etch or Lenny, since Ubuntu is based on Debian it will be a good "step 2" :wink:
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Post by archnemesis »

I always perferred BSD over yoru common linux distros as a slid server solution. FreeBSD is pretty stable and secure out of the box.

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Post by bad_brain »

um, well, I would be a bad admin if I would give details about the server internals....so no comment on that question.. :lol: :wink:

BSD is nice, but imo it has no real advantages compared to Debian.
Debian is also very stable (just look at the long release cycles, usually a sign of high stability), and a default Debian system is also pretty secure already....the big plus of Debian are the huge repositories, so the danger of running into unexpected problems when using new apps is pretty low because you don't have to deal with lots of missing or unresolvable dependencies.
as cats said, I like to recommend the "Lenny" version of Debian, which is the "testing" branch at the moment ("Etch" is the "stable" version at the moment)...but don't worry, Lenny is very stable already and the big plus compared to Etch is that newer package versions are available...the support of newer hardware is also a little better because of that.
you can get it here: http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
the "netinst" image is a good choice if you don't want to download the full release, it is just the basic system, the rest is downloaded from the internet during the install procedure....so you only download what you really need.

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