Hi, I am actually running a server on Fedora 7 (don't laugh at me... I just don't have ANY time to manage it for 4~5 years as I'm only 17). Due to the long usage time of it I am planning to replace the server and I would like some suggestions on choosing a distro.

My server is currently running:

Apache (http web server with php and MySQL)
vsftpd (ftp for managing web server)
sendmail (for outgoing main)
dovecot (providing POP3 and IMAP service)
It also has a Roundcube webmail.

As the last time I set up the server, I had a very difficult time setting up dovecot and sendmail, so perhaps I will give up POP3/IMAP/webmail and just let sendmail to forward mails to corresponding Gmail accounts, unless setting up mail servers is easier today.


As I had been using Fedora as the server, I am thinking of Fedora (again?)/CentOS/openSUSE.
But for my desktop I am using Ubuntu, is it a good idea to use Debian?

Also I don't want to make big changes to the server too frequently. Shall I choose CentOS because of its long lifetime?

Additional questions:

I would also want to ensure that no emails will be missed during the switchover (lets say if I am really going to change the server). What shall I do?

For the hardware, perhaps I would just find a P4 with 1GB ram to run it (given that the web server has low visits), or do I really need to find a new server with higher spec? My current server is also running like that and it had been quite smooth (except there had been a few crashes recently).

There is also another server running Tomcat on Windows (I don't know why, don't ask me). Will it be a good idea to change it into Linux and is it difficult? How about if I also set up a sendmail server on this machine so in case the other one fails no emails will be lost?

Thanks for helping!

You were warned back in 2009 in this thread of yours against doing that.


That is not a valid excuse: by running deprecated and vulnerable software versions you do us all a disservice if your machine is abused for sending spam or worse.
Linux may be free to use but using it is not free of responsibilities.


The thread I mentioned also contains (still valid) answers to that question.

3 members found this post helpful.

I am going to start by saying I agree with unSpawn. If you aren't going to be responsible in running your public server, don't do it at all. Crap like this is why the rest of us have to deal with zombie boxes and get daily activity like this:
With regards to your concern about not losing mail, you have a couple of options:
1 - most simply, don't worry about it. Most standards complaint mail systems will defer and hold undeliverable mail for several days, typically up to 60.
2 - Do the following:
A - Declare an MX record in your DNS.
B - Set the TTL values low, such as 1 hour
C - Configure your new server
D - Add an MX record for it, at a higher priority than the old one
E - Configure your old server as a backup MX
F - Now test your new server.

If it receives mail, fine. If there is a problem, mail will be diverted to your old server, which will attempt to forward it to your new server where it will arrive once you get the problems resolved.

I would suggest you install postfix instead of sendmail, the configuration is much easier. Dovecot is easy, why would you have problems with it? Give it a go, it's going to be fine.

If you want to run your server with very infrequent re-installs, you should pick a distro with long support period. Debian is supported for one year after the next version is released. Ubuntu LTS release is supported for 5 years. Centos 6 end of life is November 2020.

It won't be completely maintenance-free (check unSpawn's and others' reactions above). You need to at least

Install security updates - tools like cron-apt can do this automatically for you
Check disk usage - you don't want to run on 100% filled volumes
Check disk for hardware outages - install SMART monitoring software smartmontools to notify you early of dying disk drives

So you should SSH to your server at least every now and then and run

SMTP servers are going to take care of this for you, no need to worry.

This should by just fine.

There is no problem at all to run tomcat on linux. 1 GB of RAM will probably not be enough though.

Robert

I am really sorry for not upgrading my server for a long time...
I was at school... needed to do lots of homework and exams so very seldom do I have time to do such a big job.
I DO check the server logs from time to time so that I believe that it isn't a zombie yet...
Anyway I am going to upgrade it, so perhaps you can stop blaming all those zombie boxes on me.

So after a few more researches, I have two choices left now: CentOS or Debian.
Will choosing CentOS enables smoother transaction of the server (as I have been using Fedora)? Is the management in both distros quite similar? (other than yum vs apt and rpm vs dpkg)

I've searched a bit in Google, many recommend Debian over CentOS... and one of the links points out that Debian is beating CentOS. I wonder if anyone of you here have the opposite idea.

I really don't know whether to opt for longer support, or to follow the "majority" (I mean Debian).

I have experience with Centos, Ubuntu, Debian; running a server on all but the Debian, which is a laptop. There isn't a right or wrong answer and in terms of operating a server, I doubt you will see much difference amongst them and any learning curve associated with the differences will be minimal. I personally think both RPM and DEB are adequate, comparably featured, package management systems, at least from a user's standpoint. Both Ubuntu and Centos are what I would consider Enterprise Grade being derived from commercially supported projects. This has the benefit of quickly getting security patches released to the commercial distributions. With regards to Debian, I found the stable version to be too old and outdated for everyday use, but it should be adequate for a server. For everyday use, I switched to Testing, which to me is borderline unstable in terms of the number of package updates (way too many for a server). One difference is that Centos uses SELinux while Ubuntu uses Apparmour for ACL purposes. Both are effective, SELinux is more feature rich, a bit harder to learn initially, but this is offset by good tool support. In terms of protection, I think SELinux has a slight edge.

All things considered, I would give a slight bias to your prior experience and go with Centos.

+1, I'm a big fan of CentOS for server usage.

I would never run a Debian server on anything but stable. Servers are meant to be solid, stable and reliable so why take a chance with testing/sid. Also, Debian stable normally gets reliable and timely security updates - something that is generally lacking in testing and sid.

Although not Linux, OpenBSD would rank high in my list as would FreeBSD too. At the end of the day, a server is as good as the person configuring it.

Your suggestion of BSD reminded me of something. The OP mentioned this being a mail server and OpenBSD has some advantages over Linux in this regard, such as the Spamd package that supports things like tar pits to make life expensive for the spammers.

Well, then I need to try both Debian and CentOS to determine...

However I don't seem to be able to find a official Debian download on http://www.debian.org
All links lead to a 404 error... strange.

EDIT: found some workable links

If you are used to Fedora, then Centos should be a snap

Thanks, now running CentOS.
Actually my previous experience doesn't really matter, because the last time I did the most configure job is 4~5 years ago. I almost forgot to open the ssh port using `system-config-firewall` before detaching the monitor

I've chosen to reconfigure the mail server from scratch using postfix, and switched from single mbox to maildir. Luckily the emails can be transferred almost seamlessly.

BTW unspawn, thanks for your nice remainder. I will check the logs frequently and run `yum update` every week.