Page 1 of 1

Dedicated Server Transition

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:32 am
by s.dot
So, I have this guy, willing to supply me with a dedicated server for my website. It has good specs, so I agreed to it. Currently Im on a paid hosting plan with a company, so I have been babied when it comes to programs installed and configured, and such.

Here's what I figure I need:

OS: RedHat Linux
Apache v. 1.3.3 (current version on my host)
PHP Version: 4.3.11
MySQL Version: 4.1.13-standard
cPanel Build: 10.8.0-RELEASE 27
PHPMyAdmin

That's all that I think I need for my website. However I have a couple of questions.
SendMail. Is this configured within Apache, or PHP? Or do I need to download a separate sendmail program? (n00b question, I know)

GD Image Library. Comes packaged with PHP? Or separate download?

Anything I'm obviously missing?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:08 am
by Chris Corbyn
I wouldn't advise using cPanel on a dedicated server... if it's just for you you won't need it it me thinks... you should learn how to do stuff by hand and cPanel is expensive for a single user ;)

One thing with cPanel is that it sets things up for you and should really be installed on a fresh OS... not later.

Here's what I have (the essentials at least):

Gentoo Linux
Apache 2 (mod_auth, mod_rewrite... among others)
MySQL 4.1 (Binary version)
PHP5/4 compiled using the apache apxs
vIMAP (For mail serving)
Exim (replaces sendmail as a decent MTA)
ProFTPd

Sendmail should be included as part of your OS and chances are, the path in php.ini will be the right one (usr/sbin/sendmail).

Most likely, your hosting provider will have some images put aside for various linux distros that they will offer limited support for. Mine provides Red Hat (not sure which), Whitebox linux, Debian Woody, Sarge, Fedora Core 1/2, Centos, Gentoo (and Arch Linux I think). You can of course, request what ever you wish on there but I choose something that's easy to manage remotely -- hence why I chose gentoo.

I like to keep what I install down to a bare minimum to avoid clutter and unneeded memory usage.

If you can get apache, PHP and mysql working no problem then the rest will just fall into place as you need.

Enjoy setting up :D

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:18 am
by s.dot
Meh, it's going to be sent to a company after the guy installs these programs. This company will then connect me to the internet and provide my bandwidth.

I will not have hands on experience with the actual server. :(

However, once everything is up and running, do you suspect it would be much different than managing my shared hosting account?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:23 am
by Chris Corbyn
scrotaye wrote:I will not have hands on experience with the actual server. :(

However, once everything is up and running, do you suspect it would be much different than managing my shared hosting account?
You should have hand-on experience with a dedicated server. You'll have a root account with SSH access from anywhere in the world so you can install things, do upgrades, reboot the server (via an admin console perhaps), change the kernel etc etc.... ;)

Once it's up and running you *shouldn't* have to play around with the server itself much no.... I can guarantee that for the first month or so you'll be constantly tweaking settings and installing little things though.

Overall you should have a much better experience than with shared hosting... it's your server, you have no restrictions on what you do with it! :D

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:32 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
I suppose reading up is the main thing - since you won't have anyone else checking the server you should be aware of the security measures you'll - think stuff like disabling telnet, firewall, anitvirus (say Clam AV), etc. as basics.

After that you can do what you want...;) I'd suggest a good look at a command line manual for Linux since most of what you do will be through ssh. I suppose another area to watch is your Apache/MySQL config - if its a default setup you might want to optimise.

It's a learning experience no doubt...

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:44 am
by s.dot
I am always up for learning. I love this stuff. I am a n00b in many areas, my "master" status is quite deceiving. ;) Thank you guys mucho.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:11 pm
by s.dot
Is it reccommended I download Linux Fedora (similar to redhat?) to become familiar with linux commands?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:42 pm
by Deemo
from the thread before: viewtopic.php?t=36111&highlight=linux

I think the gist is that its suggested to start with fedora and move on from there.

Also another thing you should look into is Webmind. Webmin gives you almost full access to the server from anywhere in the world, and it is webbased. A simple RPM installation will get that all set for you on the linux box. If im not mistaken, webmin also has console access, if that could be some sort of workout ;)

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:01 pm
by s.dot
Are all linux commands the same, across the different flavors of linux?

I want to stick with redhat as my operating system on the dedicated server (simply because this is what my paid hosting uses, and I have absolutely no problems with it)

But, I want to get familiar with linux by downloading the free linux fedora. Would I get the same "feel"?

PS: I have freebsd, but I'm assuming bsd != linux?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:35 pm
by Chris Corbyn
Red Hat and Fedora are good beginners distros and certainly have a wide userbase to seek help.

Linux commands don't vary much across distros because they are all based on the same thing in essence (the linux kernel). What does vary the most, is the package managers for installing your apps. Gentoo, and BSD use portage, for example, while arch linux uses prebuilt binaries from a repository. If you have BSD experience under your belt, swicthing to linux (and then between distros) should be *reasonably* smooth going.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:44 pm
by s.dot
Hmm I just got done downloading fedora. I downloaded i386. is this what I want?

Running an intel celeron processor, compaq presario

hopefully I didn't download 2.5 gb of the wrong stuff :))

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:48 pm
by shiznatix
you should be golden with that piece.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:26 pm
by Chris Corbyn
Yeah on a celeron any x86 should be good for you ;)