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This would make a FINE tutorial too, and I'd be happy to format the collective answers into one should this thread reach a conclusion.
Here's the deal:
I'm running a remote high traffic server on Red Hat. I want to create a partition, and on this partition install something easy to update (Gentoo? Mandrake? Perhaps somebody could provide tips here regarding a good distro that's easy to maintain and update on a high traffic server.)
I would like to compile/install this distro on the seperate partition, preferrably from SSH terminal in current partition. This way the site experiences minimal downtime. It's very important the installation not be too painful. Being a remote box, if something goes horribly wrong, it'll be a LONG time before it gets fixed, at substantial cost, no doubt.
I would like to configure subdomains / mail server / ftp server / apache.
I would like to install a good anti-virus (Clam?)
Keep in mind since this is a remote box, I'll need to do everything through SSH, and in the partition Red Hat resides in.
Obviously a secure setup is EXTREMELY important on high traffic servers.
Save the part about partitions, this would be a perfect "how to setup a server" tutorial.
I have a moderate amount of Linux experience, both hands on and book oriented. But I'm no server tech yet.
I'm doing the critical first step already: backing EVERYTHING up to my computer.
Appreciate any help this community could give --> and in turn we could create a long time tutorial for everybody.
If you want minimize downtime, gentoo may not be a good choice, because of the lengthy compiles. It depends on what the server is serving. However, the installer is pretty well suited for what you're looking at. (build a basic system, chroot onto that, and setup manually) I'd also look at Debian, although I don't know how easy it is to setup remotely. I don't think mandrake can be installed without having local access, since it boots from a CD. Debian and Gentoo are both extremely easy to maintain.
Originally posted by p-static If you want minimize downtime, gentoo may not be a good choice, because of the lengthy compiles. It depends on what the server is serving. However, the installer is pretty well suited for what you're looking at. (build a basic system, chroot onto that, and setup manually) I'd also look at Debian, although I don't know how easy it is to setup remotely. I don't think mandrake can be installed without having local access, since it boots from a CD. Debian and Gentoo are both extremely easy to maintain.
Thanks for the response.
Shouldn't have any downtime if Gentoo can be compiled from a diff. partition than it's own. I believe it can be.
Specific info on what the server will have:
A heavily used network of message boards. Invision based. Heavy on the php / mysql.
maybe you should take a look on debian. i use it for a while now, and it's becoming my favorite for sure. it's easy to keep up to date and remote managing isn't a big deal. for virusscanning i use clamav (updates twice a day) with the exim mta. havn't looked at gentoo so far...
Well, there probably won't be a problem compiling gentoo on a different partition, but it will slow the normal web traffic to a crawl if it's heavily php/mysql. Though I suppose that's better than downtime.
Distribution: debian (when I can) RHEL (when I must)
Posts: 98
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I second the debian suggestion.
It's not primitive. It's just a bit minimalistic. If you're going to compile your own kernel anyway, I doubt there will be much a problem with hardware.
well, debian isn't that colorful ;-), that's right. it's a logic and stable system. i've used red hat, suse and sol and took a look at mandrake and slackware.
debian is, in my opinion, easy to configure, maintain and upgrade and has no fancy futures which you anyhow don't need to get a very useable system. it may be right that medium knowledge of linux is necessary to admin a debian system, but if anything goes wrong on other distributions this is the case too since tools covering the failing part are rare or not implemented in a easy/mousedriven way. also the debian philosophy 'bout sofware and licence pleases mine.
installing a debian system never got me into difficulties, and they are very up to date at their drivers and newer hardware is quite good supported.
i'd recommend to do a install via cd and then via ftp. needless do say that you'll have to reboot the box.
it's also possible to get the debain-base onto your free partition by downloading and installing it on a running sys. i can't remember where i saw that so you'll have to search the web (maybe www.debian.org is enough) for further information.
oh! i remember.
time to wake up, just got my coffee ;-). i did it with debootstrap. but since this is a debian thing you'll maybe have to look for something similar useable for red hat. debootstrap normaly should do it there too. you'll need to get it on your system (ftp.debian.org).
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