I'm am trying to find a free version to doawload that offers server functions.

I am in the process of upgrading a p3-800 512mb tyan/mb with linux that can serve as a server for my home network.

This will only be for learning purposes.

i have downloaded a 3 cd set from mandrake but then did more digging and it seems to be only a workstation distro.

I just downloaded rh9 3cd set.

I did have 7.1 once and I rememebr during the install there was a server install.

I am unsure if this is still available with rh.

Anyone offer any info or advise.

Server will be a file server for windows clients and maybe apache for intranet purposes. Also need to provide dhcp and internet sharing.

Tlan

All of them you can setup as a server. They might not all have that server specific install like redhat has during the install but you can always customize and only installed what you need.

Also is there a version that you can recommend.

and which linux distro's have the most install base.

well, that's really all opinion based. personally i'm going to tell you slackware, as that is my distro of choice. i'd also recommend redhat, its the most popular choice and most used by commercial businesses as well.

not sure what you mean by "most install base"?

Redhat is usually considered the most popular, and Debian is up there too.

The server is simply a program, like Apache, that comes with basically every distro. Unless the distro specifically says it doesnt come with it, I wouldnt worry.


And Mandrake DOES come with all the standard servers.

Administering a server is the admins job, one wont be "better".

Thanks for everyones reply.
It would seem that whatever distro you choose is only as good as you configure it.

I'll try the RH

Redhat's Server version of it's distro is very expensive and not practical for your purposes. What kind of server do you want? A webserver? A fileserver that your windows machines can download mp3s from? A firewall? You need to know the answers to these functions first.

You can strip down ANY distro and make it a "Server" distro with a little time and effort. It isn't really all that hard if you have a little bit of time to waste. I do have a reccomendation for you though... I know of several schools that have set up esmith server on a monster server with dual cpus and gigs of ram for servicing hundreds of thin clients with LTSP. Esmith scales very well.

One of the main schools I would be talking about would be a medium sized K12 school in Vassalboro, Maine and the great work done by Mr. David Trask. I have spoken with him personally over the phone and like his idealogy. Several schools in Oregon are following suite from what I hear. Mitel Networks just recently purchased esmith, inc along with esmith server but it is still available to download. They just tried to say that it is unsupported and would prefer you pay them for support.

I have also heard very good reviews of Astaro Security Linux

Links
http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT8952848817.html Interview with David Trask
http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT7388668448.html Interview about Astaro Security Linux
http://www.astaro.com/php/statics.ph...=asl40&lang=gb Astaro Download
http://www.e-smith.org/ Esmith SME Gateway

you already have mandrake... i see you didn't try to install it as you'd seen the "server" options plainly on the screen. my wife could not have missed them and she is legally blind (really).

apache, sendmail and postfix, proftp, etc all installed at setup time.

good luck, you might need it if you didn't see this.

--cheers

Enigmasolder, This is exactly why I would like to switch to linux and this server would be setup as a internal webserver, firewall, internet gateway, File server, print server, Authentication server and Bandwidth throttler.

Iggy man,

I installed Mandrake and yes did see the server functions but I had serious video problems with my 3dfx voodoo3 card. I had to install it twice and to me redhat was just more steady and reliable.

Anyways I installed Redhat and had nothing but problems getting samba to work. I read all the documentation here and on the web but no luck.

I also noticed redhat 9 uses iptables not ipchains and I could not find any docs on this new format needless to say that did not work either.

I havn't given up yet

Slackware is a good choice cuz it don't enable XFree86 by default, so it doesn't waste memory on creating a graphical framebuffer that you probably don't use, cuz it's a server. Other distros require you to get waist-deep in shell scripts to disable X from starting, from my experience.

HTH

B.

-- addendum:

Here are some links to help you along the way:

http://www.unixreview.com/documents/...104l/0104l.htm
http://www.redhat.com/support/resour...amba-Tips.html

and here's the smb.conf file I use (works on samba 2.2), note that encrypt passwords is necessary to connect from win2k/xp. and you will have to man smbpasswd (and use it) to create user accounts to log in with.

[global]
workgroup = HOME
encrypt passwords = yes
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
hosts allow = 10.1.1.0/255.255.255.0 127.0.0.1
hosts deny = ALL
hide unreadable = yes
hide dot files = yes
browseable = no
veto files = /*.exe/*.dll/*.com/*.vbs/*.{*}/

[homes]
browseable = yes
guest ok = no
read only = yes
write list = root jamin

HTH

B.