hey all, just wondering what everyone's ideal configuration for a general-purpose server would be. As, in the particular Distro and software -not hardware. I want to find a configuration that works and use it again and again. I've been checking out RH8 but .. ah .. it always installs junk I don't want. I don't know how many times I have explicitly denied sendmail during the install just to have it install anyway. I would really like to install pretty much all the software, cept the OS (not ready for Linux From Scratch yet) from source. I'd like to have a Distro installed, whether its RH or slack or whatever, that can be installed *very* minimally (not as in space but as in allowing me to grab the latest tarballs for the stuff I want and install without too many problems) and that already has one of the later stable kernels in it. So, I'd like suggestions on:
--Distro
--Mailserver -> was thinking qmail, but if there is a better option let me know, please ( i need pop3 access and all)
--Webserver -> I'm pretty sure this will be Apache2
--DNS -> .. is BIND the best option? I really need to read more about that
--DHCP-> I guess dhcpd is just plain and fine eh?
--Database-> I'm pretty much looking at MySQL for this
--Admin tool-> I've used webmin and wasn't too happy with it, I'm thinking the best way is to just edit the config files manually?
--Filesystem--> Ext2 or Resier?
--Firewall/Router solution --> whats the best way to configure and set this up?
--FTP Server--> proftpd?

Well, thanks in advance for any help!

SlackWare, or RedHat 7.3 (not RedHat 8.0)

RedHat's up2date is nice, and it keeps things secure as far as new vunerabilities and bugs go. Unless you want to do this manually.

If you want to maintain it yourself you should use SlackWare. RedHat can be used as well but is not as well suited for someone who wants to build everything like Slack is.

--mailserver - I like postfix..
if you have external clients you need to use tls to have secure logins. (no open relay) Use secure pop, or secure imap for users to retrieve mail over a secure connection. (no unsecure logins)

--Webserver - apache
--DNS - if you need it
--DHCP - no problem
--Database - good choice
--Admin Tool - My opinion is do not trust the gui's to do it for you.
--Filesystem - I use ext3, no problem for years.
--Firewall - iptables, using a solid set of rules to allow what you need and block all others..

http://www.linuxguruz.org/iptables/

--FTP Server - sounds good, I would consider sftp (ssh) if you are doing anything other than anonymous ftp. No users logging in using passwords over ftp.