To serve or not to serve? Create servers?
 

I've been studying Linux for a number of months and have a kindergarten's grasp of it so far. Perl is at about the same level.

However, I've been collecting PC's with which to install and learn on. I've got Ubuntu Lucid on this one and have two more coming in soon. These machines range for 2-8 Gig ram and have hard drives into terabyte levels.

This raises the question. As part of my learning process, should I create servers out of these machines? If so what; LAMP, email, file, etc.?

Does anyone have any opinions, advice or comment on this?

Duane

I think the answer to your question depends on what exactly you want to learn. If you are interested in learning servers then I would say that you most definitely should. So if you want to learn web servers set up a LAMP server. If you want to learn mail do a mail server. On the other hand, if you have no rhyme or reason or desire what so ever to learn anything about servers I don't see why you'd bother. I'm the type of guy that always loves learning new things, so I would absolutely explore the realm of using Linux for servers. In the end I would have to say that it's totally up to you though.

I say do it, because you can. And do any and all that you can, if you like to learn.

I totally agree with Mr. Majestic. It really depends on what you want to learn.

Thanks for the comments. A little more info. I'm the admin for a virtual server I have at WiredTree (who are terrific). I have 6 domains (people) around the world whom are friends. I slosh thru with cPanel and combined with the great help from tech support I seem to get it done.

But the reason I started learning Linux and Perl was to become more proficient with this and hopefully understand a bit more.

I guess the answer is to set up a LAMP or LAMPP and see what I can learn. Same for the mail server.

Any suggestions on how to get started?

Well, I have a suggestion for you (broadly agreeing with the Mr Majestic approach of letting what you have to do guide you); in that situation you need, or nearly need, a test/development server for trying stuff out before you roll it out. Why not set that as an objective?

Setting up a LAMP server can be trivial (and that's not the same as doing it correctly, necessarily) and that may not stretch you enough. You should also think about ensuring that it is secure, something which may not be strictly necessary, if the test server is firewalled off from the wider world and the situation on the local network is non-hostile.

Thanks. An objective of a test/development server makes sense and gives me a raison d'tra to proceed.

Now, I need to figure out how to proceed. Don't be surprised if I am back up here with specific questions (on the Server forum).

Thanks to all for your comments.

As you mentioned cPanel, that has some extra special concerns which still fall in line with Linux but it has its own quirks to deal with as compared to a basic LAMP server. If you install a basic Linux install you can then download cPanel and run a single instance of a domain with out buying license which would make a good test server. I also have a few links which would be useful to anyone learning to manage a cPanel server.

Tons of WHM / cPanel Tutorials
http://www.webhostgear.com/cid_4.html

cPanel General Maintenance, PERL CPAN YUM and other fun
http://forums.theplanet.com/index.php?showtopic=92035

cPanel User Ownership Conflicts
http://forums.theplanet.com/index.php?showtopic=92244

If you want a test/dev system at home so you can get better at adminning your hosted system, get the same distro and version. It'll save confusion.
After that, pick one service at a time and learn how to do it well.

That makes good sense. Thanks.

anytime :)