I want to set up a server for our clan.
It is a PII @ 401Mhz, 256MB SDRAM, HD1 4,1Gb, HD2 1,7Gb (later on I'll have an 80Gb Maxor @ 7200RPM), 10/100Mbit NIC, normal VGA card, 2 USB port's, SiS chip's, ..

I want it to fill out several tasks:

* First of all he has to connect with the internet through an USB ADSL modem (Webc@cer 850 USB modem) and also share this connection on a small network through the 10/100Mbit NIC (this meens he also need to run an DHCP server). I hope it's possible to share such a connection with GNU/Linux.
When the line has dropped he schould reconnect automaticly so that the downtime is as small as possible!

* Secondly, he has to run a webserver on that internet connection AND on the 10/100 netwok connection. It has to be a webserver that support's PHP/MySQL and where I can make accounts on it so that different members have their own limited webspace. I also want to limit the traffic speed (I have an upstream of 384kb/s and a downstream from 3,3Mbit) to 256kb/s for the whole webserver (so for all accounts toghether).

* Thirdly I must have an FTP server running, also with limited upload speed to 256kb/s max. I should also be able to create acounts on it with read and write rights for everyone with a webspace acount so that they can upload their files. And the disk space they're using for their webspace/ftp account must also be limited.

Now when I want to run all this stuff on such a PC, wich Linux Distribution should I use? And wich programs should I run for the webserver and the FTP server?? And where can I find them?
I have small Linux knowledge but am 100% ready to learn. I have been working with SuSE for six months now.

Hopefully someone can help me with this, ty.
Grtz.

Use what distro your familiar with, Suse in your case. In the end you can customize and see put they are fit to your needs. I wouldn't run X though, get familiar with the command line. X will only slow your system down.

Everything you asked is possible from what know. That's alot of questions and If I were you, I'd be hitting the howto's now to get a jumpstart on all this configuring..

Most of the apps you will need come by default on most distro's. Most popular FTP is most likely proftpd.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/search.php
www.tldp.org

I've never heard of that modem but it should be possible. You will need some sort of hub if you want to link your computers together.

Well if you are happy with suse then stick with it. For the webserver see:
http://lamps.efactory.de/e-lamps-2-0.shtml

For the ftp server see:
http://vsftpd.beasts.org

Aha, alright then I'l use SuSE. I wasn't planning use SuSE coz isn't that distro designed for home use? Or doesn't that mather if I want to run some server?

Indeed, X is running the system slow. But how u mean working without the X? Configuring and installing EVERYTHING through the command line or when everything is running switching to runlevel 3 (init 3) ??

Thx for ur reply.


I live in Belgium and here those modem's are very popular for ADSL. I found some driver for that modem but don't know how to share my connection. Driver's are @ http://eciadsl.flashtux.org/index.php?lang=en
My computer's are already on a LAN, now a windows pc is serving the internet so that has to become a Linux server.

Thank for the links!

Any distro will work, suse straight out of the box is geared more for the Desktop use, but doing a custom install, etc will create the perfect server for you most likely.

And yes, if this is just going to be strictly a server, I would not install X but rather do everything from a command line which is perfectly fine. I myself have 4 Slackware servers running, none in which have X installed.

Cheers.