Study Plan

[El Fluffo]

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When you work get your own mail server running you will run into a bunch of dependencies along the way. You will have to:

1) Learn how to register a domain name for yourself (I recommend www.godaddy.com)
2) Learn how to set up DNS not only to allow you find a website when you are surfing the net, but now to let the rest of the work know your domain name (Important if you want to get mail)
3) Learn to set up a firewall using IPtables or IPchains to protect that mail server.
4) … and more…

Along the way you will learn a host of smaller tasks, such as how to install rpm's or compile and link new utilities... all in the name of getting your mail server to work.
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I saw this on another thread and would like to hear what different Linux users think about what makes a decent study plan for Linux. The books I'm using are fine when it comes to learning the basics but I guess that the reason I've installed Linux is to learn a lot more about server technology (I'm basically starting from scratch). I'd thought of setting up simple FTP and mail servers first, but before I take the plunge, I'd like to know what you think I should study and in what order. I'm a complete newbie and know no more than some basic file commands and how to download and install progs, so please keep this in mind.

[chrism01]

That's a very open qn....
Basically, it depends what you want to do with your machine. If you have no specific proj in mind try to narrow it down. eg do you want to focus on programming or sysadmin or webserving....
Then, read your books, srch web for ideas techniques to do that one thing.
Definitely, you should try to do as much stuff as poss from the cmd line instead of gui, otherwise you won't learn much. Also important if anything breaks; if you don't understand what's really going on behind the scenes, you'll have much more trouble trying to fix it.

As the quote says, you'll generally run into a bunch of "dependencies" ie things you need to get running in order to do what you want.
In any case, if connected to internet, you should definitely learn basic security first, as otherwise you get hacked and lose stuff etc.
Mandatory you need a firewall; I can lend you an ipchains file, but more recent distros are moving towards iptables. Your choice.
Also learn about perms/ownerships: see man chown,chmod.
Goto www.chkrootkit.org and install their checker.
Basic DNS/routing is prob worth learning, as other networking stuff eg samba, ftp etc depend on networking stuff working correctly.
Use ssh, scp not telnet. scp easier than ftp unless you need that kind of thing. see sftp?


HTH
PS Bet you wish you hadn't asked eh?

[El Fluffo]

.........I'm off to the pub!!!

[chrism01]

Have a cerveza for me

[iomayho]

the thing is that for a noob, there is so much to learn that i sometimes don't know how and where to start..... what should i learn first...etc......
and sometimes it just depresses me when i can't figure something out....and i end up giving up linux for a few month only to start completely again.....

i could never actually stick with linux for more than a week..... without going back to windows

[sharth]

To get a mail server running... thats the impression that i got for the question. Well, in all actualirty, the stuff up there is just recommended stuff to do. An insecure unfirewalled mail-server is still a mail-server.

If you are going to make a mail-server for personal use, (no real use on it), I would say to just learn how to work it. I wouldn't worry about the other stuff yet. Once you get the server itself to a production levelish state, then I would say that if you wanted to continue its use for every day tasks, to go into the dns name (which as far as I know, is not that hard, just sign up for one, pay money, and it should re-direct the dns name to your ip). The security shouldn't be too bad either. Assuming that it would be production level, you would want everything closed or stealthed that isin't being used.

But I dunno. just my 2 cents.

[El Fluffo]

Several cervezas later!
Well, to be honest, I guess the problem lies in that I don't know where to head because I haven't got a bloody clue what's out there. I've only had a PC for 2 years now and have become a total geek already, in that I spend all my free time stuck to the bugger! But, under Windows, I decided to specialise in web page design (Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc. ) but the part of Spain I live in is still pretty thirdworldish when it comes to that kind of thing! (Anyone who takes offence at this has never been to Cartagena!). So I decided that the more I learn, the more chances I'll have of getting paid for being a geek.
I realised a while back that Windows was a pile of mierda and that Linux was the 'hostia' (the dog's bollox) and I recently installed Mandrake 9.0 on my second PC (the ****ty one) and decided to learn more about servers and stuff. But there lies the problem...as far as I know, setting up an FTP server means I can share all the stuff I've pinched fron emule and fosi and so on, and if I set up an email server, I can send lordalmighty attachments too! But I can't see myself keeping my daughter in nappies that way, so that's why I put up this thread. Imagine me as someone who wants to get to Timbuktu - the yellow brick road of IT - the place where the money is, even here in sunny Cartagena (if, btw, anyone is wondering why I stay here, the beer is 5 times cheaper than in England!). You Linux dudes know loads more than I do, and maybe most of you are the kind of people who get kicks out of scripting and compiling all night and answering newbies like me. But if anyone knows how learning Linux could possibly get me a decently paid job...well, that's the knid of study plan I'm after.
Good grief...a few more cervezas and I'll be telling you all my life story!!!

[El Fluffo]

BTW, I have nothing against staying up all night compiling and so on. I spent all last night watching the Planet of the Apes saga on my PC (thanx Emule!!!)

[El Fluffo]

btw, iomayho...chill out mate! perseverance man! you know the saying..a journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step and all that! Unless you're going by plane of course!

[cnjohnson]

Originally posted by El Fluffo
The books I'm using are fine when it comes to learning the basics but I guess that the reason I've installed Linux is to learn a lot more about server technology (I'm basically starting from scratch). I'd thought of setting up simple FTP and mail servers first, but before I take the plunge, I'd like to know what you think I should study and in what order.

Two served me well when I was where you are: LPI Linux Certification, and the Redhat Bible (there's a version out now for 8.0). The LPI book was for "the basics" (quotas, setting up users, etc.) while the Bible was for learning Samba, Mail servers, NFS, etc.

I wouldn't part with either of them now.

Cheers--
Charles