Hello:



I am considering getting a Dedicated server but would like some information

How do yu go about administering linux server. I am on a windows machine, so would I administer it by using telnet or is there some king of GUI that is available

When I ssay administer it I mean install, delete things such as PHP, MYSQL, and other pluggins

For a start I'd hold fire for about 2 -3 weeks, and read the forum and most of the archive about setting up ssh, pmfirewall, disabling telnet, snort, how to setup dns for your domain to become a dns server. read about ssl as well.

I don't want to put you off, but it is a reasonable amount of work and you must have the basics on unix commands like vi, rpm and tar as well as the basic commands.

I've done a reasonable amount of unix support in my time, and it's taken me about 2 weeks part time to research all the installs and get my server secure and setup dns etc.
It is the best way of hosting. I've used the dreaded fasthosts for a year, and it was a waste of time, money and hair dealing with them and nt based hosting.
Plesk software is really easy to us for the day to day stuff. however the security issue is the main thing to start with b4 you get around to putting any customers on your server or start using the server yourself.

remember you are responcible for the server, it's content and security. Someone reminded me and for the first 2 weeks of readin the forum was in two minds whether i could cope admining my own server(that was b4 I bought). I've taken the plunge, and as my sig says,I'm having fun sofar.

The first time at server config is the longest. I'd say I could config a server sucessfully to where I'm at now within about 3 hours, and a couple of days for propigation.

Either way I'd get away from nt hosting. it's slow, insecure, and way too expensive to consider using. Plus there is soooo much quality open source linux support and apps, I'd never consider using Msoft.

Take my advise, read learn don't be put off by app names like snort and ssh if you've never heard of them, there really is not all that much too them once they are installed. Its simply the good ole rub of chin and intake of breath 'hmm looks like a BIG job' where really its not all that bad.

BTW isn't usual suspects a kool film or what!.


Boomer

I have no plauns to become a webhost myself. I just wanted to open up some sites that might have higher bandwidth than a virtual domain would offer

I dont want a cobalt server. They are just to outdated and hard to work with. Alinux erver would be great.

I have the extra parts in my room to build a descent server so c0 - location wouldnt be that bad either

Either way refarding setting it up it looks like there is alot of reading to do. You have any links to information

My current host uses plesk so I am somewhat familiar with it but I was more concerned wit the linux back end of it

Unless the pricing for colo has changed since headsurfer asked us about it I'd say go for the amd server. You also get the Plesk license with it, and plesk aint cheap.

As it stands you look like you want some high bandwidth sites, but doing all of the above in my last posting is what you need to secure your server from the beggers that port scan and make our lives so much more interesting, and give us grey hair.

the only thing you'd probably escape would be dns, but as you've got to manually add the domain to the rackshack dns server as well as changing the domain dns. the 5 minutes that it takes to setup dns is worth it.

I'd go for the amd LWB and depending on no. of sites and data choose between either the 1 or 2 hdd system.

If you've no experiance with RS. I'd say that they are the best server co I've ever dealt with. The fact that the forum exists and everyione gets on so well( us all being competators and having never met doesn't seem to affect the forum) means we all look after each other . After all 1 server thats not secure in the segement could affect all of us.

I'd tend to look at the general support area for the raq server's, as the plesk LWB groups are all fairly new in the past 2 weeks.

good luck

boomer

Why the AMD over Intel. These are on the low end of servers anyways. We are not talking P 4 or Athlon so why do you think the added option of 512 MB ram will make such a difference.

512 is alot so wouldnt the extra hard drive in the Intel package a better deal

Who takes care of backups. What if a hard drive fails. RS will replace it but will they put the sites back up to where they were at the time of going down

Well,
the 512 MB is nice, it makes database stuff run faster i guess, and well, it's the minimum spec. The second hard drive is okay, bu at 200 bucks is a lot for another 20GB.

Personally I've not used intel processors for about 2 years. I still have a PII 300 intel which is still going strong, but does crash occassionally. My current AMD 900 and AMD 550 athlon have both been running for months without need of a reboot. The fact that these are workstations and not servers and do get a battering daily installs my confidence in AMD. My PII300 with the same OS needed rebooted daily. nuff said really.

Backups are done by you. Yes you lease the server and the bandwidth. So you have to look after the server. RS and us lovley peeps in the forum hold each pthers hands for as long as possible, but when it comes to the s!1t hitting the fan your the man resonsible(nice ain't it).

I'm still having fun admining my server, my wife on the other hand is not too pleased, but hey she wants food on the table and a squillian kids.... you gotta play for it some way.

If you do choose to get your own server, great. Just remember that there is such a thing as a pub/bar for drinking in and being social, and your best friend is not your P4 with 21"TFT flat panel(although you my want it to be).


nuff for now..

Boomer.

"Dedicated hosting" is like renting a house. You're responsible for locking the doors and making sure you keep the money in the safe, not stuffed under the matress :-] ...and of course, insuring anything you can't afford to lose...

In short - you are the rootly one with all the responsibility and privileges this holds. Get a good Unix sysadmin book, and learn it well (the knowledge is worth having). If you have a cable modem/DSL/other fast connection at home, consider using your home system as an 'offsite backup' system (that's what I do with any 'dynamic data' I keep).

I do

Can you go more into detail about this. How do you set it up

If you don't mind

wonderful analogy. ill have to remember that one! =)

Well, my cable modem router is actually a computer, running Debian/Linux (and doing NAT etc). It's on 24/7, and in addition to routing packets for all the computers at home, it acts as a small server and automatic backing-up system.

Firstly, learn how to use cron. This is the daemon that schedules jobs and runs them automatically.

I have a cron job that runs at midnight, and sqldumps all my MySQL databases to a file.

About an hour later, my Debian system at home runs a cron job that gets the data (at the moment, using wget, but I'm going to change this to rsync when I get a chance).

If you need to back up files and directories, just have your cron job make a big "tarball" by doing a tar zcvf , and download that too (now rsync is a much better idea, since the files will probably start getting quite big!)

I am new the world of admining my own server. I have an AMD Whitebox account. Other than reading the PLESK manual - can anyone recommend a "good" book that a layman can start off with. The best post I have read so far in here was the steps on what to do when you get your default box.. something along those lines would be useful.

Personally I've not got anything apart from a good unix understanding, RS chat, and this forum.
Most of the stuff is pretty easy once you've tried it out once.
I could build a server in about 2 hours now fully configured(reliant on having the required ip address' and propigation).

The most difficult thing's have bee 'ssh' and SSL on one domain for selling SSL space. everything else has been from reading the forum and common sence really.

Whats the worst that can happen. RS rebuild your box!, you'd learn enough not to get to that stage, and getting back to the previous level of config would take a few hours.

What you do need though is a firewall an SSH to protect your box and passwords.

Everything else is extra.

have fun.

Boomer

Do you have a link to that post

I cant find it

http://forum.rackshack.net/showthread.php?...=&threadid=1536