Best 'All-in-One' web server distro for intemediate user
 

Hello

I've done a fair amount of Googling today but can't seem to decide on the best option.

I am looking to setup a linux web server for light use on an old laptop (Pentium 4 2.8GHz, 1gig RAM)but I would like to know if there are any all-in-one distros that I can install from a CD which already has all the necessary packages installed and configured without too much work, ideally it would have a nice web interface to administer all settings/domains/ftp etc...

I've had experience with many distros in the past but never really used them long-term so my knowledge is limited. Possibly my favourites are Ubuntu and CentOS but I just don't have the time or knowledge to setup all packages manually so I want one that I can install and it will just work right out of the box (I can configure network settings as necessary).

The server will only have light traffic, mostly for my personal use of Ampache music software but it would be nice to have the possibility of other uses (Samba shares and other basic things, nothing too intensive)

As I say I've had a look on google but not sure what keywords to use so wondered if anyone has any suggestions?

Thanks very much for reading
Rob

One of the things about linux is that it can be built to suit your needs. Some one else may have completely different set of needs.

Ubuntu does have a lamp server download or you could just install apache.

There are plenty of docs here, just search around.

If you just want to practice, try installing apache.

You can take a look at my blog posts for further info.

Learning takes time, one way or another either by research first or just diving in :)

Sorry I totally forgot to post my requirements, I did intend to :)

PHP, MySQL, Apache2 and FTP.

I guess a normal LAMP system would suffice, I have attempted to set this up before and installed all the separate packages but I remember the problem I had back then was getting PHP, Apache and MySQL to all work together, I could get them all up and running but for example I couldn't connect to MySQL from a PHP script and I got stumped and just installed WAMP5 on my Windows machine.

Are there any web interfaces that you have had experience with, like a hosting control panel kind of thing? I've seen a few floating around but most seem to be commercial and costly. I will keep researching and see what I can find in the meantime.

Thanks for your reply

Take a look here

The Perfect Server - Debian Squeeze (Debian 6.0) [ISPConfig 2]
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-se...ze-ispconfig-2

Should be able to follow for an Ubuntu install if you want.

Take a look at http://www.webmin.com for internal control.

I did a blog series on linux webservers earlier this year that you're welcome to follow. On day two it goes over the install of nginx (FAST webserver), MYSQL, and PHP. It's all done on a debian system (closely related to ubuntu).

The Road to Raildom

Here's the link to where I go over the webserver installation.

day-2-installing-mysql-a-web-server-named-nginx-and-php-in-debian

Btw, the Debian distro has been lauded as one of the most ported to operating systems while still maintaining industry standard stability.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Just had a look at XAMPP, looks very promising and seems simple enough from what I have read. I can't seem to find any mention of what distros it is supported on, should it work on most distros? I'm torn between Ubuntu and CentOS which I have used in the past and like a lot, I guess CentOS would be best as it seems more 'lightweight' than Ubuntu and I've used it previously for a PXE server and found it to be excellent.

Webmin is good too I've used that in the past so I think I'll go with that. I will have a play around on the laptop and see how it all runs with CentOS, XAMPP and Webmin. Will let you know how it goes hopefully in the next couple of days.

I've just seen your response omgiamlinux, I've had a read of page 2 and it seems easy enough to follow. Are the actual server softwares pretty universal? For example, are there any features supported by Apache2 that wouldn't be by nginx or vice versa? I'm used to using .htaccess files with Apache, does nginx support those? I've read a few threads about people 'converting to nginx rewrite' and having issues

It runs on any 32bit distro. If you have a 64bit linux, you'll need to install the 32bit compatibility libraries

Regards

When installing centos just choose the option to customize package selection. Then choose the web server option and further customize it to add all the apps you need. It's very easy.

I'm afraid I've never set up .htaccess with nginx, so I can't give any advice, but it does give me a good idea for what I should tutorialize next on my blog. The only experience I've had with .htaccess is when it's already setup on a shared web host for me.

Here's a link that might help if you're needing pass protection
http://blog.dhavalparikh.co.in/2009/...on-with-nginx/

Hello again, sorry for taking so long to reply to you all.

In the end I decided to go with CentOS and run Xampp, it seemed like the simplest route that does what I need it to. I decided against the hosting control panel too as I didn't really need it. It's been up and running for a week now running the Ampache music streaming system and hasn't let me down yet.

Next project when I've got a bit more spare time on my hands is to transfer the whole system onto a machine with dual Athlon MP processors and a bit more memory than the current laptop that it's on, then I can get started hosting a Minecraft server on it as well, that'll be my next project anyway :)

I will be posting another thread soon for some networking help...

Cheers for all your suggestions.

turnkey linux
 

have a look at www.turnkeylinux.org LAMP-server

Comes ready made with webmin, shell-in-a-box, apache, php, mysql, etc, setup and running in less then 10 minutes, and only 250mb download for the whole OS. Ubuntu-based.

KR
kamaradski