phelpsa
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| posted on 23/2/07 at 09:38 PM |
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Linux Question
Got a spare laptop hanging round, pretty basic, 256mb ram, 2.8ghz, 40GB and I want to put linux on it and run it as a mini webserver.
What would be the best version to use? Basically as minial as possible, just a windows style interfacy thing, Apache and other web tools are
needed.
Thanks.
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Pdlewis
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| posted on 23/2/07 at 09:43 PM |
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I played about with fedora core which would for fill your requirments found it easy to use just had to revert back to windows due to driver issues
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Gav
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| posted on 23/2/07 at 09:54 PM |
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id go for just a plain debian install, very easy to install and setup and if you goto the ubuntu forums(based on debian) a lot of your questions will
already be answered on the forums.
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the_fbi
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| posted on 23/2/07 at 10:24 PM |
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http://www.slax.org/ and get the Mini-Server edition.
Can boot/run it off a USB stick so just use/abuse when you want. Can save filesystem changes if you want too, add extra modules etc etc.
Failing that, Fedora, Mandriva or Suse are probably the best for starters. Debian and Slackware require a bit more effort. Xandros is also good and
free if you use the Open Circulation edition.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 24/2/07 at 10:45 AM |
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A general distribution such as Fedora isn't suitable unless you have the knowledge to know what to install and uninstall to make it secure.
You really should use a distro taillored for use as a server, the best one I have used is Mepis Soho Server, even then I would sugest you
disable/remove some of the features (such as the mail server) you won't be using and run "Bastille" linux hardenening and install
RootKit Hunter.
Mepis Soho Server development stopped about 12 months back when Mepis changed from a pure Debian to an Unbuntu sources, download sites are now hard to
find but the last Beta version (which is pretty good) can be found here
http://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/linux/distributions/mepis/3.3.2/
Rootkit Hunter (aka rkhunter) can be installed via Synaptic once you install Mepis or most other Debian based Linuxes.
Bastille can be found at http://www.bastille-linux.org/
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britishtrident
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| posted on 24/2/07 at 10:50 AM |
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The release blurb on Mepis Soho server is here
http://www.mepis.org/node/7425
Also I would advise changing the firewall front end from Shorwall to Guarddog as it is much easier to use -- this can be very easily done using
Synaptic.
Also external web access to Webmin and Usermin should be disabled.
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Keith Weiland
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| posted on 24/2/07 at 03:09 PM |
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Ubuntu LAMP Perfect Setup Guide
Heres an easy LAMP guide using ubuntu/debian.
Ubuntu is easier to download than Debian and uses newer software versions.
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ironside
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| posted on 24/2/07 at 04:54 PM |
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FreeBSD is very good for this. It can be very very minimal (a base install is tens of MB) and maintains a
"ports collection" of third party applications together with all the bits an pieces required to get each application to work.
Once you have located your desired application (like Apache) it's pretty much as simple as typing "make install clean" and it will
download the latest version of Apache and any dependencies then configure compile and install it.
The same windowsy interfaces that Linux distributions have (like Gnome & KDE) work in FreeBSD but you probably won't need them. You can just
connect to your laptop server remotely, with a network drive, and dump your stuff on your web server that way.
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