New to LINUX Request For Help 4

[rvnguy]

I have made the decision to setup a LINUX Server (as a dedicated WEB server) and will use one of the opensource distributions

Mission: Migrate a corp website, store, cart, SSL, and other management functions to a LINUX based server. Will setup this server initially on "intranet" access only to de bug before moving it to the "internet" as live.

Having read many of the posts here and elsewhere, there are many references to SAMBA, Apache, Yum, as well as other items. Being mostly anal retentive, I would like to make sure that I have all the items needed prior to beginning the install.

Question:
1. I have read that LINUX is LINUX once installed, but is there an opensource distribution that includes the required extras? If Not
2. Besides the opensource OS, can I get assistance on what other items that I need to have (downloaded/purchased) to insure a complete functional install.


I have setup and managed Netware, Lanman 1.0 through NT4, and MS Server2000, Currently fed up with Mr. G and what I feel as overcontrol being imposed, but this will be a major break for me and I want to, at least initially, experiment with Opensource (free) and if I can become comfortable with LINUX I might find it advantageous to source with a paid LINUX provider. I know that LINUX is fully capable owing to the multitude of servers being installed I just need to cut my teeth with this new to me OS.

Thank You In Advance

 

[pcunix]

With almost all distro's, you get a chance to choose what you want to install. Everything you mentioned would normally be available to install.

If you are thinking now that you might eventually use (paid) RedHat, I'd suggest installing Fedora or CentOS. Either of those will give you the opportunity to choose what packages you want to install, and if you do go to the paid versions you already understand the details.

In any case, I'd suggest that you plan on playing with installing and throwing away - you want to learn, so the way to do that is to plan on breaking things.



Tony Lawrence
Linux/Unix/Mac OS X Resources

http://aplawrence.com

 

[rvnguy]

PCUNIX,

Thank You for the info, as I have not yet procured any version I was/am unsure of what is included in the distribution. It appears (form comd's in posts) that Linux is similar to UNIX??

I have exposure to BSD, and DEC ULTRIX so this might not be as much of a stretch as I am making it.

Again thank you for the informative and timely post.

Jack

 

[chipperMDW]

You can think of Linux as a functional copy of Unix.

While most other Unices are part of the same lineage and share some code, Linux was written completely from scratch to conform to the POSIX standard, making it look and act like other Unices in many ways.

 

[pcunix]

It's a stretch, but the comfortable kind you make when you first get up

As you have seen two flavors, you already understand that there are differences between Unices. A big one here is that most Linux uses inittab rather than BSD style rc scripts (

http://www.aplawrence.com/Unixart/startup.html).

System administration is always different; you just have to learn it. Many Linuxes use CUPS for printing now, which again may be something you haven't seen before.

Linux cron is very different from what Sys V users are accustomed to (

http://aplawrence.com/Unixart/cron.html)

. The Linux /proc and /sysfs are important to understand (

http://aplawrence.com/Words2005/2005_04_19.html

)

Linux firewalling is usually iptables now, but pam is also important for security (

http://aplawrence.com/Linux/iptables.html

http://aplawrence.com/Basics/understandingpam.html

).

Probably the most important thing to realize is that you should never assume. Even the most mundane things that may appear to work just as you expect often have new features or flags or may not work exactly as you think they do. Read the man pages; and Linux "info" sometimes contains information "man" doesn't.

I ran over some differences between SCO Unix and Linux at

http://aplawrence.com/Linux/scolindiff.html

- that might remind you of things to check into.

Tony Lawrence
Linux/Unix/Mac OS X Resources

http://aplawrence.com

 

[LawnBoy]

I have setup and managed Netware

There's your answer. Novell now owns SuSE linux. Yes, it's a pay-for distro, but a copy of SuSE Pro 9.3 will only cost you $15-25 without Novell tech support. Try it, it has everything you want to do, and if it's not beefy enough you could always buy an "Enterprise" version later.

...standing there, doing that...

 

[lgarner]

You say your mission is to "Migrate a corp website, store, cart, SSL, and other management functions to a LINUX based server". I'd suggest first checking with your software vendors, if you have an existing site on another platform as "Migrate" would indicate.

I've also spent years working with NetWare. My current company has standardized on RHEL (

http://www.redhat.com)

for production systems, and I use CentOS (

http://www.centos.org)

for everything else.

 

[Kozusnik]

rvnguy,
I've used several Linux/BSD distros and found that for a new person starting, the ease of use would have to go to Mandrake. I have a webserver at work which runs MDK 9.1 and has been running for over 500 days (it rolled on me about two months ago). I also run several RH machines. Surprisingly, I have less trouble with the Mandrake machines.
I'm not sure what language the previous code is written in, but be prepared to spend a lot of time coding.
Getting apache, sendmail, and mysql up and running takes a couple of hours. Re-coding it may take more time.

Good luck,
Mark

 

[rvnguy]

Thanks to all of you for your valuable input. It is a brave new horizon out there.

For:LawnBoy:
I did say that I had used NETWARE, but did not say I liked it. I, in fact, broke away from corp std NW and setup this co's first LANMAN (1.0) for my group..and the corp later converted all servers to NT 3.? But your information is good to know.

For:Lgarner
Thank you for the input but I think you missed my comment about being fed up with Mr. G. Our current software vendors, we are fortune 100 and deal directly with "MicroSoft" and they would not be in support of this potential migration.

For:Kozusnik
I appreciate your personal experience input. I had not yet looked at Mandrake. I am taking pcunix's advice and will experiment with several and brake them (or they brake me). I have assembled from my junk pile 4 boxes all with old Slot 1 proc's (800 to 1000Mhz) and will load different flavors and play. This will eventually become a couple of BLADE's in the server rack. As this will be a server the interface is not so critical as the admin suite. I have found that there are distro's of 1 CD and others of 4 CD's so while the kernnel should be the same or similar the associated included pkg's must vary somewhat.

Thanks to All who took their time to assist.