My first production server. What should i focus on?

Hi.

I have a experience in administration, but I had never implemented installation of real production environment.
Now I have to install server, that will be used in production.

That is dedicated server at datacenter.
This installation has:
centos 6.3
postgresql database
tomcat server and java webapp
mediawiki (and mysql db for it)

Which settings for security, backupping and performance should I set up in these applications?

well I wouldn't have two different databases on one box for one thing, why not share?

We really can't just tell you magically how to configure *EVERYTHING*. Lots of it will be application specific, and we've no idea what this java web app is. If you use packages from the CentOS repository, then each will have reasonable defaults so just go with them outside of anything you know has special requirements.

As for things like backups, there are plenty of guides on how to achieve good backups, we can't start all this stuff from scratch.

Everything acid_kewpie said

Also, use

chkconfig --list

to check what services are running; turn off those not strictly required.

Similarly, check /etc/sysconfig/iptables and tighten that down as much as possible.

You might want to consider disabling ipv6 unless you are going to use it. most systems are still only really using ipv4.
http://www.unixtutorial.org/2009/12/...red-hat-linux/

Originally Posted by acid_kewpie well I wouldn't have two different databases on one box for one thing, why not share?

Because mediawiki main dbms is mysql. I have installed mediwaiki with postgresql, but most of plugins supports only mysql.

Originally Posted by chrism01 Everything acid_kewpie said Also, use chkconfig --list to check what services are running; turn off those not strictly required. Similarly, check /etc/sysconfig/iptables and tighten that down as much as possible. http://www.unixtutorial.org/2009/12/...red-hat-linux/

Here is my config

chkconfig --list

abrt-ccpp       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off
abrt-oops       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off
abrtd           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off
acpid           0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
atd             0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
auditd          0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
cpuspeed        0:off   1:on    2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
crond           0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
flute           0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
haldaemon       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
httpd           0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
ip6tables       0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
iptables        0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
irqbalance      0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
jexec           0:on    1:on    2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:on
kdump           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
lvm2-monitor    0:off   1:on    2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
mdmonitor       0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
messagebus      0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
mysqld          0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
netconsole      0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
netfs           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
network         0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
ntpd            0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
ntpdate         0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
postfix         0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
postgresql-9.2  0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
psacct          0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
quota_nld       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
rdisc           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
restorecond     0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
rngd            0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
rsyslog         0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
saslauthd       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
smartd          0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
sshd            0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
svnserve        0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
sysstat         0:off   1:on    2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
tomcat7         0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
udev-post       0:off   1:on    2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off

cat /etc/sysconfig/iptables

# Firewall configuration written by system-config-firewall
# Manual customization of this file is not recommended.
*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
-A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 8080 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 5432 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
-A FORWARD -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
COMMIT

And whether a checklist exists, something like:
Centos
Turn on iptables
Turn on log rotation
turn off root account for ssh
turn on ntpd

postgresql
configure pg_hba.conf

tomcat
?

Also, I have found a useful link http://www.puschitz.com/SecuringLinux.shtml.

this guide is commonly used for security - http://www.nsa.gov/ia/mitigation_gui...s.shtml#linux2

But you really need to note that you're asking for knowlwedge that comprises an entire profession, that's so so so so much you *might* want to do.

1. There's a complete set of (free to read) RHEL6 manuals here http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...ion_index.html

2. As acid_kewpie suggested, if you've gone with MySQL, then you presumably don't need postgresql, so remove it.

3. The default install settings for RHEL/Centos are pretty reasonable, but you should probably start by checking (in addition to all of the above) the Security guide in that link in point 1.

The main point is that only you can say what you REALLY need; there's no real shortcut.
Sure, check logrotate is on; maybe install/setup logwatch to automatically screen the logfiles and email you.