I am a Linux newbie, i currently have a reseller account that I will soon be moving to a dedicated server.However the security and having to administer the server are worrying me slighty!!

As a bid to learn more about Linux and administering servers, I have built a new pc to act as a server and plan to use Fedora Core 3. I hope to replicate this pc so that it has everything on it that would be included if I were to buy a server from someone like ev1servers.net. I even have purchased the plesk software and license.

I have a couple of books on lamp that I will get started on- what other packages do I need to install that would be on a dedicated server if I were to lease one ie.Sendmail, Openssl?

However I would like a few pointers about security on having a dedcated server.What programs would you recommend I use?


As I plan to completely build a dedicated server just like you would buy from a hosting firm your views would be appreciated and maybe you could run along with me as I try to get this thing going.

Thanks in advance

I think that the best answer is to install as little as possible, and stick to using the supplied packages. Every service that you install is something else to learn, and simple = low maintenance.

It's probably best to focus on the AMP part of this, as Linux administration skills are really developed over time by just solving problems and working with the systems. You'll find that as you get more confident with Linux you'll use graphical tools less and less for administration. SSH and the shell are always there, and will seem more and more effective as you spend time working with them.

If you are using Fedora then use yum for installing and updating software. It's on it's way to becoming indispensable.

One third-party tool that is also well worth your time is Bastille. This is a lock-down tool that provides a good explanation of what's going on with each step - it's a security tutorial as well as a useful utility.

FWIW, sendmail is installed by default on all Fedora/Red Hat systems. UNIX systems always have an SMTP service because it is used to send messages to the system administrator. Edit /etc/aliases and change the alias of root to your account to receive these messages. I ought to add that sendmail has been replaced by postfix on OS X and a number of Linux distributions because postfix is *much* better and easier to work with - as a concession to this Red Hat include a tool that will switch the default mail server from sendmail to postfix.

Good luck !