Newbie Questions: 3

[hiredpen]

Since I seem to be a horrendously bad choice of hosting companies, I think I need to work toward setting up a Linux redhat server.

I've got a T-1 so it ultimately only makes sense.

I was wondering - what is the most current stable ver of redhat and where would be a good place to download it?

Also, would I be able to experiment with it on a pentium 3 I'm not using until I know enough it makes sense to buy the server?

I'll want to put the latest PHP version on it, and hopefully Cpanel and vbulletin.

All input is welcome, realizing I've disclosed myself as immensely ignorant on the subject.

cheers

 

[RhythmAce]

The latest version of Red Hat is 9.0. You can go to

http://www.redhat.com

or any of it's mirror site to download the 3 iso images you're going to need. The full package takes 5 or 6 CD's but anything after the first 3 are source code just incase you want to compile everything yourself. Once you burn the iso files to CD, you'll see that they have a regular directory structure and the 1st CD will be bootable. Red Hat uses a package manager called RPM. All packages are in files with the .rpm extension and are something like the .cab files used by windows. You will be able to use Red Hat's up2date network or other websites to keep your system up to date with the latest and greatest rpms.

You will want to use apache web server which comes with the Red Hat distro. It is much harder to hack than IIS and when installed on a *nix system, makes your "server" much more secure. Red Had comes with all the servers you need to run your own hosting service including ftp, mail and telnet. It also come with dns and proxy servers. It also comes with an smb server so you can share files with you Windows network. You can download all this for free or buy the pro boxed set but that will set you back a little under $200. With the pro version you get a few more admin programs and a ton of tech support. When you get everything installed, you may find the apache and sendmail forums here at tek-tips tons of help.

 

[hiredpen]

Thanks Rhythm - that's a lot of help already. I'm doing a lot of reading and getting ready to ftp for the files now.

 

[John Lewis]

RhythmAce didn't really hit this one, but the rest is right on track.

'Also, would I be able to experiment with it on a pentium 3 I'm not using until I know enough it makes sense to buy the server?'

Your P3 should make a fine production server. If all you need to fill is a T1, anything more is overkill. Lot's of RAM and a fast HD, should be set. Start with what you have, upgrade until you see the performance you would like, but the box itself should be fine.

 

[hiredpen]

Thanks MHK.

I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but how difficult is it to properly configure dns? Will that just be one more obvious step as I'm reading through installation instructions?

Need another box at at another location? I see a lot about "geographically separated." What happens when I'll need two nameservers and have only one box?

 

[fluid11]

To set up DNS on Linux, you'll need to install BIND.

http://www.isc.org/products/BIND/

Here's a DNS/BIND HowTo I googled for, although it is a little outdated, but the general concepts are the same...

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/DNS-HOWTO.html

"What happens when I'll need two nameservers and have only one box?" --> are you asking what to enter for the second name server when you register your domain with your registrar? If so, you can enter a "placeholder" such as pinky.worldnic.com for your second name server.




ChrisP
RHCE, LPIC-1, CCNA, CNE, MCSE, +10 others

 

[hiredpen]

Bingo - thanx.