Hi All,

I've just installed CentOS on a brand new Dell 1850 server in preparation for active duty as a dedicated web hosting serving (running cPanel+WHM) in a local Data Centre here in sunny Perth, Australia :-)

I've read (somewhere) some advice that said "after you install your OS, make sure you install the latest drivers for your server".

Although I've been working with / managing dedicated linux web servers for 5 years now, the servers have always been in a remote US data centre and they all came 100% pre-loaded with 'everything', i.e. I'm not (because I never needed to be) a 'command line guru' by any stretch of the imagination. So this is the very first time (v. exciting in a geek sort of way!) that I'm self-installing Linux on a brand new server that is physically sitting next to me.

So my questions:
1. After perfoming a fresh install of CentOS 4.2 on a new Dell 1850 web server, do I NEED to go off looking for the latest and greatest drivers?? Aren't the latest drivers (or close to it) part and parcel of the latest kernel (or am I completely imagining this)?
2. If "yes - you should go looking for latest drivers" - er, assume I know nothing at this point... where do I get them and how do I install them??

Thanks a mill. in anticipation :-)

I don't have very much experience, but I think its safe to assume NO to your first question. When most distributions are installed they seem to detect devices and install the appropriate drivers. I can't imagine CentOS is any different and as an enterprise distribution it is sure to support any web-server tasks you throw at it without any great headache. So assume everything is functioning untill you find it isn't.

Good luck.