I am very much a newb to server admining. I am sure you have heard stupid questions in the past....please forgive me in advance if this is a repetative question or so incredibly newbish you can not resist the urge to flame me.

I recently ordered a Beginner package Plesk Reloaded box to experiment with game and web server hosting before I spend the big bucks on a more powerful server.

I read in the Plesk "How To" forum about initial server set up, installing pine and updating shell:

http://forum.ev1servers.net/showthread.php...&threadid=50955

My questions are:
1. Is this set up mandatory?
2. Will it make my life Easier?
3. All of the above.

Any help or guidance would be appreciated, and please remember the 11th commandment when responding:
11. "Thow Shall not flame Plesk server newbs"

1.- Yes they are mandatory
2.- Yes, but don't settle for that, read some other threads around for securing servers. You might find some useful info at http://eth0.us/ on the "secure cPanel" article. Security is a layer approach and there are never too much layers.
3.-

have a good time with your learning and keep reading, it always helps

regards

I agree with all those steps suggested on that thread except installing Pine/Pico. If you're familiar (or willing to learn) with typical UNIX editor like 'vi', you wouldn't need it.

I also agree with kamil that you shouldn't settle for that. The last thing you want is to have your box owned (cracked) by someone else. There is no turn-key solution to secure your server, it's something that you have to work to ensure that your server is secure.

Keep your eyes open and regularly check some tech/security-related sites. You usually find out that your software has bugs there. The sooner you know what program has bugs, the sooner you can patch your box.

Good luck and enjoy your new server!

Nano is installed on a RH3 box by default and works like Pico.