On win server 2003 I tend to set up several maintenance tasks to run every night, eg.. defrag, disk cleanup, service restarts etc..

Is there anything similar I can do to a Linux server? For example Ubuntu Server…

I understand that Linux needs a lot less tlc than win server 2003 but if i am going to set up a machine and then never see it again I would like to schedule some sort of maintenance..

Thanks in advance

I think 2k3 needs less tlc than you're giving it

- defrag should be pretty much unnecessary
- service restarts ( not unless you have a known issue that will not be fixed)
- disk cleanup ~maybe

Most linux installs will be configured with logrotation and maintenance tasks via cron already configured. If you add an application eg. apache, then just ensure its logs are getting rotated. Logwatch is a very handy tool if your systems are not on the same network, just check the daily email to see server status

cheers

For Linux

1. disk defrag is not needed, in fact there isn't an official tool to do it
2. disk cleanup: as mentioned, long running services usually log under /var/log and have a logrotate entry. You may want to check those are set, and keep an eye on them for a while until you get a sense of the correct settings for each one. Depends how busy your system is and how much disk space you have
3. service restarts; should be unnecessary
4. I'd recommend checking the contents of /var/log/messages, audit, secure regularly, just to keep an eye on things. As mentioned, logwatch can automate this somewhat.