My slackware 9.0 box is currently being used as a file server (samba and nfs), slimp3 server. and a workstation for my wife. Soon, I want to use it as a web server also, replacing my current web server on debian. Would there be an issue with having the web server (and mysql server) on the same box as the file server, etc.? I would like to have the files server on the same box as the web server because some of the files from the file server are used by the web site. SO the file server has to be up for some of the web site to work.

1) Security. Would opening a port on my router to this box in any way compromise my semi-sensitive files on the file server.

2) Performance. Would running this many servers on one box (AMD Athlon 900MHz, 512 MB PC133 memory) cause performance issues. The web site will be only for family and friends, so no heavy traffic. I will boot to run level 3, so no X. The slimp3 server streams mp3's to my home network and squeezebox devices (just one or two).

3) Upgrades. How concened do I need to be about keeping the system up to date?

I have had no reports of performance issues with my debian server. It is and old Dell Dimension XPSR450 (Pentium II, 450MHz, 256MB memory). I am running gdm on debian so that I can log in via XDMCP from other computers.

What do you think?

Thanks,
naflan

Security: not a good idea, as your web server would be open to the outside world. Maybe safer if you use only static pages (no PHP or Perl). If you only use static pages, go with thttpd instead of Apache (somewhat safer and higher performances).

thttpd page:
www.acme.com/software/thttpd/

Performance: should be OK, as you have a powerful machine. Watch out if some script kiddies want to crash your machine with a DDoS, though.

Upgrades: always, always, always keep your machine up to date, especially if you are running a web server! Not upgrading the software you use on a machine connected to the Internet is simply asking for trouble.

Why don't you simply keep the Pentium II for the webserver? Should be powerful enough for the task, especially with thttpd. Remove "gdm" and use OpenSSH only to reduce risks.

Hope this helps!

i think your setup will be just fine, as always opening any port is risk of compromise but thats something that you have to live with, yes the more you run the slower

1. I've been "itching" to build a new powerful slackware workstation. That would put me at 4 computers. People might start to worry about me.
2. My in-laws need a computer. I thougth the old Dell would be a good starter.



I think my router will block this. I just got it and need to check it out.

This is one of my concerns of using slackware over debian. I heard somewhere (maybe here at linuxquestions.org) that slackware patches, upgrades, etc. are supported for the last two versions (in this case 9.0 and 9.1) With debian apt-get, the current stable version is always supported. I know I can use swaret to upgrade, but some of the stories I've heard make me nervous. It's not that I can't fix any problems that arise, It's just that I want an essentially no maintenace web server. Maybe that's not possible.

Thanks for the input. I need to re-think some things.