best distribution for web server
 

I'm a relative newbie (haven't touched a linux installation in 10 years and haven't worked on a unix platform in about 2.5 years). I've decided that I want to setup a web server at home and I'm wondering what is the best distribution to use.

Thanks,
Sean

Re: best distribution for web server
 

Use the one your most familiar with, that's the best one. If your not for sure, try several to find the one that suits you best.. ;)

I'm not familiar with any of them - I can't remember what distr. I used 10 years ago, plus a lot has changed since then. I was hoping to at least get some input from people to help me decide at least where to start.

You can basically pick a distro and go with it. Personally I use Slackware and found it stupidly easy to set up apache and start a website. Took 5 mins.

EDIT: I should mention that I had been using Slack for a little under a year before I attempted it.

I went with Fedora Core 1, having never used Linux prior. Had no real issue that this forum couldn't redily get me through, and setting up the Apache webserver was a breeze. The post earlier did not exaggerate, it took 5 minutes...

Plus, Fedora is free...not that I mind giving money to the Linux revolution ;-)

Red Hat or Mandrake
 

Well... Since your not really familiar with any Distro, then I would start with a Distro that has an easy learning curve, and that is somewhat Industry standard.

I would recommend Red Hat, unfortunaly will soon leave the GNU scene. My other choice (equal) would be Mandrake Linux. Mandrake has a learning curve that is easy on the brain, and they won't be leaving GNU anytime soon. Mandrake is Red Hat compiled on x686 vs x386 (Red Hat), so on newer machines Mandrake technically will out-perform Red Hat. Other than that they are about identical, including the URPMI RPM manager. Mandrake has a bit more newbie administration tools than Red Hat. I have four servers running on Mandrake. Read up on MSEC it's a wonderful tool for security, makes iptables (firewall) easy.

Then once you get back in the flow of things you can with confidance go to another Distro.

Remember, the important thing is to get back into linux, even if you have to use training wheels for awhile... :)

Mandrake can be stripped down to your specs.

Hope this helps...

Cheers, Zegos!

i'd recommend gentoo ... i'm bias tho :) you will be okay with any distro for sure. as was stated ... if you have been out of the linux scene for awhile you might want to look at mandrake as it has a pretty low learning curve.

Go to distrowatch.com

Any LINUX distribution can be stripped down to run on any system.

Re: best distribution for web server
 

Save yourself some time and trouble and go for a server distro. I'm personally quite fond of clarkconnect but a redhat or suse server version will probably work just as nicely.