The_Goonie Posted October 26, 2004 Posted October 26, 2004 Never tinkered with Linux before, and I have a few servers ready for an OS. So, I'm highly considering going with Linux for security purposes. I'm aware of the in depth learning curve regarding these OS's but I need to know what the absolute BEST version of Linux is for running a HUGE website. Any advice, tips, or personal experiences are appreciated for post. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarkhalar Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 As my usual response, I'd say slackware. It's stable, not packed with a ton of stuff, and easy to update. I'd try Debian I suppose as well... RH would be nice as well, but not free =\ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aristotle Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 I recommend you use Windows for now until you have some good background knowledge of Linux. Installing Linux for a very used webserver is going to require a good bit of maintenance and work to get running. However, not to completely ignore the question, the Red Hat Server and SuSE server distros are probably the best for heavy traffic servers. The only downside to these distros is that they are rather expensive (they aren't free). You can always use another distro but you might run into a good many problems trying to get a server running with a distro that works better as a regular desktop. I recommend you look into Fedora Core 2 or Slackware. Just make sure you test the implementation of the linux webserver before you make it go mainstream. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Goonie Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 XP Pro? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markiemrboo Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 FreeBSD 4.10 1) Install FreeBSD with the ports collection (option in the install) 2) After install set root password with sysinstall (the installer, it'll give you the chance to pre-configure the system after installation) or login after, and type "passwd" 3) cd /usr/ports/sysutils/cvsup-without-gui && make install clean *wait for that to finish compiling, installing and cleaning* 4) cd /usr/ports/sysutils/portupgrade && make install clean *wait for that to finish compiling, installing and cleaning* 5) type rehash 6) cp /usr/share/examples/cvsup/ports-supfile /root 7) ee (or vi) /root/ports-supfile. change the CHANGE_THIS line to cvsup.us.FreeBSD.org (replace us with appropriate country, there's a list on the FreeBSD site somewhere). save file and exit editor 8) cvsup -g -L 2 /root/ports-supfile *wait* 9) portinstall apache (choose which you want to install when prompted) *wait* 10) apache is now installed. edit httpd.conf (ee or vi) at /usr/local/etc/apache/httpd.conf. 11) start apache using "apachectl start" To me, that aint really all that hard Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarkhalar Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 Uhh, Windows servers suck, and setting up a linux server is as easy as booting the thing with httpd running Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markiemrboo Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/today/top.avg.html Not to mention I don't see Windows in that list Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FxXP Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 4.10 is a little outdated. 5.3 came out not that long ago and it works awesome for me. I just used the minidist CD image and did the rest online. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybergrunt69 Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 (edited) I think there's a lot more support online for linux distros than there is for windows. Besides - once you see your Linux webserver's logfiles FILLED with attempted winblows hacks, you'll be glad you don't use windows... Edited October 27, 2004 by cybergrunt69 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markiemrboo Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 4.10 is a little outdated. 5.3 came out not that long ago and it works awesome for me. I just used the minidist CD image and did the rest online. No, 4.10 is not really outdated, it's the production release which is generally much more stable, tried and tested code. There's likely to be a 4.11 coming out soon I think (there should be, there's some differences between 4.10-RELEASE and 4-STABLE), but that's probably the last one for the 4.x branch. I would still highly recommend 4.x to anyone who wants stability. I seem to recall 4.x being 'promoted' as the most stable version to date actually. 5.x has some nifty features, and I ran it on my home server for a while.. but the stability still sucks. Fine for a desktop (I have 6-CURRENT on my Laptop), but I have gone back to 4.x for my home server. Personally I'd think twice before going the 5.x route on an important/busy server... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Propane Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 The tried and true path is usually the best... espically for mission critical stuff like what you are doing... Our school runs FBSD 4.10 and the only problem we have had with it is when the power went out it got foobared but we got it transfered to a new server withen a few hours... still mataining the industry standard for uptime... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markiemrboo Posted October 27, 2004 Posted October 27, 2004 Definately! 4.10-STABLE is loads faster than 5.x on my poor old 133MHz beast too Strange! It shouldn't have foo'd itself, unless they had the filesystems mounted async? I've only ever had filesystem corruption in the early 5-CURRENT days (with the evil nvidia binary that paniced the system in a strange way, every second run of something OpenGL). Other than that softupdates seems to do it's job very well. I've had more than my fair share of power cuts with 4.5-4.8 (then I went to 5.x, now back at 4.10) and it hasn't failed me. Very odd! If 4.x runs on your hardware.. I would say it's probably going to be the most stable thing you'll come across. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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