Debian downloading options

sparta · Post by **sparta** » 15 Oct 2007, 08:56

I decided to set up a server on a spare machine to practice on and to get a better insight on how servers operate. Since I've heard that Debian is a better choice for running as a server, I figured that would be my best choice.

There are many options on how to download Debian. DVD, CD, Network install, and so on. Since the computer in question only has a CDROM, DVD is out of the question. What would be the best option on what Debian version to get and download method. Although I wouldn’t mind too much on going the CD route, let's face it; downloading, burning, and installing 24 CDs of Debian would be quite time consuming.

Another option I was thinking of, is to swap out my DVD/RW on my main rig just long enouph to do the install.

The server will...well, serve as a web server to begin with, which will run Apache. Down the road I will expand its function to FTP among other tasks.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Post by **bad_brain** » 15 Oct 2007, 09:20

if you have a (at least half-decent) fast internet connection and you are using a normal network card (USB modems can cause problems) for the connection the network installer is the best choice.
you can get it here:
http://www.us.debian.org/CD/netinst/

it installs only the basic system, all extra stuff you picked (like desktop environment, web server, mail server, etc.) is loaded from the internet during the 2nd install phase. I have a 2 MB DSL connection for example and it takes a little more than 1 hour to download/install the complete Gnome desktop environment + mail server + web server.

a little tip: when you reached the screen where you can pick the stuff you want to install (desktop environment, servers) use the spacebar to mark the packages, NOT <return>....because <return> will start the install and so has to be done last when you have picked the packages already...I know, sounds trivial, but it's what most people do wrong on their first Debian install (me included).
and the 2nd tip is NOT to pick "database server" for install because Debian uses PostreSQL as default, MySQL can be installed later in 1 minute...

Post by **Stavros** » 15 Oct 2007, 13:39

By Bad_Brain
a little tip: when you reached the screen where you can pick the stuff you want to install (desktop environment, servers) use the spacebar to mark the packages, NOT <return>....because <return> will start the install and so has to be done last when you have picked the packages already...I know, sounds trivial, but it's what most people do wrong on their first Debian install (me included).

As did I. I installed Debian on my spare 160 GB HDD and I did the same thing. Had to restart in the middle of the install (which I don't think was too smart, but the Hard Drive still works, thankfully).

As for how long this will take...well it only took me about 30 mintues to download and install everything, but then again I live in a less populated area with (a sometime) 10 Mbps cable connection. In reality it's probably around 6 Mbps.

sparta · Post by **sparta** » 15 Oct 2007, 14:23

Thanks for the help. Devian is now installed. In fact I'm using IceWeasel to post this reply. The installation process was pretty painless and straight forward. The process including updates took only an hour and a half.

Now it's time to start configuring it to run as a server and get a test website and files up and going.

Speaking of, anyone have a few links on some tutorials to do so, and a list of linux command I can start learning? Thanks for everything.

Post by **bad_brain** » 15 Oct 2007, 15:13

almost midnight here, and Maboroshi tortured me with setting up Python on his server (

) ....so I'll give some hints tomorrow...

p.s. ok, a quick one to start with: http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/debianserver.htm

Post by **bad_brain** » 16 Oct 2007, 05:34

alright, back...

the place to start with apache configuration are the apache docs:
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/
of course you don't really need to read all of it now, most important is "binding" at the beginning, it'll show you how to make the web server listen to the IP address(es) you want and so make it available to the public.

apache on Debian is a little different!
usually the config is in httpd.conf, don't be confused when you open that file in Debian and it's pretty empty...in Debian the config is in apache2.conf.
the path to the apache files is /etc/apache2

to enable you to search for files on the system run the updatedb-command when logged in as root user...it can take a few minutes when you run it for the first time because all files are indexed into a database. when done you can use the locate command to search for files when you don't know the path, example:

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locate apache2.conf

it'll display the path where the file is located.

ok, back to apache config....
when you enter http://localhost you see the apache default page when no other sites are available...to get rid of this go to /etc/apache2/sites-available and open the default file in there, comment out this part:

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# RedirectMatch ^/$ /apache2-default/

or change it to the site you want to make your default site.

alright, now you can load your website files to /var/www and your site should be available!

ok, what Linux commands to know:
here you can find a list of almost all commands and explanations for what they do: http://www.ss64.com/bash/
of course you don't have to know all of them, for the beginning you should know (and understand) the basic file manipulation commands like:
ls , cd , rm , mkdir , chown , chgrp , chmod , ln
the rest will come by itself...learning by doing...

if you don't know how to use a command or what options you can use, the nifty man command displays the manual pages...for example:

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man ls

this will display the manual for the ls (list) command....to exit a man-page simply press "q".

alrighty, so much for now....if you have further questions simply ask...