Test Server

[My220x]

Hey,

I plan to set up my own server, just to mess about with, it will only have two computers connected on the network, I was just wondering what spec would it need to just support two computers?

[kmount]

Depending on what you want to do, you'll get away with almost anything as long as it meets the requirements to run your target Server OS.

[My220x]

I just want it so my all users files are stored on the server + applications. What would be the best linux distro to use?

[InvisibleIntellectual]

I just want it so my all users files are stored on the server + applications. What would be the best linux distro to use?

Centos 5.1 - but then again I like Centos ...... also if your not too hot on linux admin - get Webmin - free GUI that you can use to setup different things (DNS/DHCP/WINS/SAMBA)


Vmware Server 1 likes Centos as well if you want to tinker with VM's

[dhicks]

I plan to set up my own server, just to mess about with, it will only have two computers connected on the network, I was just wondering what spec would it need to just support two computers?

Is this a home server? I've set my own one up to handle my files and email. The main feature I wanted was complete silence because I wanted it on the whole time - I ended up building something out of a VIA Epia board and a fancy mini case that doubles as a heatsink. To be honest, you might do just as well to go buy a Mac Mini - Mac OS X is BSD Unix based so similar command-line interface to Linux plus the fancy GUI stuff to get you started, and you can't hear the hardware at all.

If you literally just want a Linux machine to try stuff on, I'd say set up a VirtualBox virtual machine. There's an issue with Ubuntu server under VirtualBox at the moment because the default kernel included with Ubuntu Server won't run under VirtualBox - easy enough to fix, but probably best to try something else first time around. I've found Ubuntu Server to work very well on dedicated hardware, though - I've got it booting off flash memory and being a RAID/Xen server at work.

--
David Hicks

[Joedetic]

I love FreeBSD but that might make you crindge a bit for your first experience. I always recommend getting a book because it /does/ help. I've got a couple of books that started me off. "Building an internet server with FreeBSD 6" and "Absolute BSD"

I've now got Absolute FreeBSD Second edition (Which is the second edition to absolute BSD...not a lot's changed but it's nice to have )

I personally don't like RedHat based distros (such as Centos) but that's just my preference. Debian based is what I'd use if I were to use Linux which would mean Debian or Ubuntu.