I am a linux newbie. I have been playing with Debian Woody and Sarge and have difficulty setting up a basic internet server. Is this my best option or is there a different brand of Linux to make my life easier. Here is a list of my hardware and what my requirements are for a server.

I will be using a static DSL behind a router that I could open for DMZ or open individual ports.

The hardware is a Pentium 3 - 700 with 256 meg of ram and 2-6gb drives. It currently has 1 ethernet card .. but could add more if needed.

I want to be able to setup

email server with anti-virus and spam protection and web mail for about 10 users.

webserver with PHP and mysql - I have sites running postnuke I want to move here

FTP server

DNS - I will set up a primary DNS on this machine and use a secondary like dnsmadeeasy as a backup email server in the MX.

Firewall

I will need to be able to pop and smtp mail for multiple domains along with hosting the web sites ... however I can use postnuke with multiple sites for the web hosting as that is how I am doing it on the current server.

I have worked in the DOS and windows for many years .. but need help getting started in Linux.

hmmzz astaro security linux? www.astaro.org
debian its not so hard ( man httpd.conf )

every linux is capable of doing such a job i think.
but i prefer debian woody

sorry

-cheers-

I have a similar requirement but on a much older machine. Users have suggested to me to use Slackware or Debian.

However on your reasonably fast computer you could probably benefit from a more graphical distro such as Mandrake or Fedora. I use Mandrake. Check out http://wiki.linuxquestions.org for information on each distribution and what it's strenghts and weaknesses are.

I agree with goestin, Most if not all Linux distros can natively do what you are asking, you just need ease-of-use here.

I am a RH/Fedora user and I have everthing running except the mail server. I am still working on domino for linux 6.5

The only thing that I can tell you is forget everything that you learned in windows as it doesn't apply to linux. Also when you get apache runing the default config doesn't allow php as its a security hole. You just need to stick with one distro and not give up. I am not a fan of mandrake, but its good for beginners. I would recommend fedora 2 or 3 just b/c thats what I use and its fairly simple. Also for beginners RPM make for an easy install and with all of RH' GUI's its pretty self explanitory.