Hi,

I am looking to set up a linux media server, mainly audio files for internet radio.

Although the actual broadcast server will be a remotely hosted dedicated server this box will be transferring audio files/playlists received from the studio mixing desk (via crossover cable) to the broadcast server. It will hold all files in an archive ready for broadcast. The files will be edited first on a mac that is the other side of the mixing desk. I'll need to ssh from remote locations in to this archive box to manage and transfer the files as and when as well as admin the system.

I need the system to be as stable as possible and looking about the options I like so far are Debian, Slackware and CentOS.

Let me say straight away that I am a long time Slackware user (as a sole OS) and am very comfortable with it as a system. However, there will be other people involved in the running of this particular system in the future and I can't really see them reviewing the changelogs or running 'slackpkg update' too often or upgrading/patching software as and when. Debian I believe has automatic update notifications that can be clicked and run?

I'm sure I also read somewhere that Debian never needs reinstalling but can just be continually updated...is this true? I'm thinking it can't be right as there are different versions but maybe it means through something like dist-upgrade? How long are patches issued for each version? I'm thinking it may not even be necessary to upgrade if a new debian is released. Or is it always best to do so.(Slackware goes back as far as version 8.0 I seem to recall). I know Slackware does have a upgrade process but I actually like to just re-install from scratch (well not at the moment as I'm running -current). CentOS from what I can see needs re-installing. Just continually updating would be a huge bonus.

Is there a way for the server to email it's status? If it went down for some reason would we just know by the fact that it was unreachable, although maybe this would just be a network error we wouldn't know or would we?

I've not really set up anything like this before, I'm really just trying to get a feel for what will work for us and would be grateful if anyone had any comments. (Including other distros worth considering (Ubuntu Server? I've never really had a good experience the times I distro-hopped and landed on Ubuntu. Maybe the server is different although I'm not expecting an answer on this here of course).

To answer a few points:

• I'm not aware of a notification tool for updates, but that's because I won't use it. IIRC there is one, but it's quite simple to set up a cron-job and have it automagically update itself periodically.
• Debian Stable is just as it says on the tin: stable, and rocksolid at that. That means it won't get new features, only security updates. It also means the software is not the latest and greatest available, luckily they 'invented' the backports repository for that.
• Updating and upgrading continuously is indeed possible. Just remember to read the upgrade instructions the Debian dev's release when a new release is out. And stick to that, obviously
• If the server stops responding it'll probably won't be able to send you an email to tell you it broke down... Better to have it pinged from another machine that in turn emails you if the server stops. That also saves massively on unnecessary communications...
• Install Webmin on the server, so you can remotely administer it via https, basically from anywhere in the world

HTH and good luck!

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The updates thing isn't that desperate really to start off with I guess, I'll just keep an eye on it myself for the foreseeable future. Cron is a good idea but maybe if it just mailed you the updates rather than updating automatically so you could review it first.

Rock solid Debian is what I'm after so happy with that, I can't see me wanting to upgrade away from stable via backports at all. I like the ping idea and webmin is definitely a good shout. It seems the dedicated server we're getting will be running Debian64 so maybe it's a good idea to have Debian in the studio too.

Thanks for your thoughts Dutch Master...very helpful! :-)

All three of them are very stable, since they are very well tested and stability is one of the main points on their agenda.

Well, that of course speaks for Slackware, since you are already very familiar with it.
If you think that those people can't handle to run periodically, which by the way is not really that different from Debian's or the yum commands of CentOS, then I would think twice about letting them manage that system, especially if it is a production system, as it seems.
Only if you run it with a GUI, which doesn't seem to be your plan, since you want to use SSH.
Debian's upgrade path is very well tested before a new version is released and the documentation of the upgrade (and possible pitfalls) is very extensive.
Debian supports old versions one year after a new version is released.
If your system is not exposed to the web it is not really necessary to upgrade, in any other case it is.
The oldest currently supported version is 12.1, released 2008.
My own personal opinion, I never would recommend anything Ubuntu for production use, but I am biased here (former Ubuntu user that was disappointed from its quality).

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I'm liking Debian I think...I'll go with that. And you're right about other admin users, I'll just stick to myself for now and a major upgrade every three years or so doesn't seem so bad.

The Slackware 8.0 was a discussion I was reading about what constituted an update or an upgrade so I did get that wrong....they were saying that if you had a version of 8.0 by replacing particular components you were actually upgrading in a direction towards 'current' not actually updating 8.0. And you're right about Ubuntu...I've had some bad moments with it too.