You have seen it a thousand times....

[jsundquist]

I know I know. Its been asked a million times. So which one is right for me. I have tried quite a few but I still don't think I have found the one that is right for me. So I am looking for some help.

Here is the list of things that I currently am in need of, also let me mention this is going to be used as a server because well, it is a dell 2500 poweredge server.

Apache
mySql
php
tomcat (for jsp)
ssh
ftp (of some kind)
mail (possibly for sure send mail)
phpMyAdmin
GUI interface (still haven't learned command line enough yet)
vncserver

I think that does it atleast for now. If possible I would like for the distro to include it all. Any suggestions. The biggest one that I would like for it to have out of all that is tomcat as I am currently learning, or atleast atempting to learn, jsp.

So please any help would be great.

[ph34r]

CentOS or if you can afford it (or are a student for the cheap copy w/o support) Redhat AS.

[psych-major]

CentOS is an excellent choice, and Slackware should also work.

[JamminJoeyB]

I'll join psych-major and put a vote in for slackware. Not really a fan of RPM based distros. I have heard that Gentoo is excellent as a server and should have all of you require in the portage system.

[psych-major]

I guess I could revise my Slackware statement from should work to is working here at my office...

[jsundquist]

I've tried to install slack a while ago, and I mean quite a while ago when I was first starting out. I had tons of problems and was never able to even get it to work correctly. I guess it could have to do with back when it was "hard" for a newbie to use it. I have heard good things of CentOS and heard it is much like Red Hat AS and ES. Is this true? I also have never heard of Gentoo being used as a server so I might have to look into that.

Any other suggestions?

PS. ph34r - Red Hat AS is kind of out of the budget but thank you for the suggestion.

[psych-major]

CentOS is essentially the same as RHEL server, but with all of the logos removed.

Slackware is pretty easy, just make sure to selct the right kernel at boot time, i.e. scsi.s, sata.s etc.

[jsundquist]

Hmm...Ok so I guess if I was loading it onto a server with scsi drives I would need to load the scsi.s kernel... I guess I might possibly go the CentOS route as it seems a little bit easier.

Any other suggestions on things I might need or need to know to get this running correctly with the things I would like to have?

[Icarus]

CentOs is good for the 'free' choice, I have Suse Pro 9.1 running on my 2800 and 2850's and haven't had any problems...just be sure to get that floppy or driver CD for the scsi drivers or you won't get very far in the install

[XiaoKJ]

Gentoo is going to be fine

Personally, I liked slackware's installation. Just choose to install the complete CD and you shouldn't even expect problems. But that also means that you get a huge load of junk with it.

Other server distros include debian (surely has everything you'll possibly need in a server) and if you want a fast, non-compiling system, Archlinux.

Personally, Gentoo will give you the best control over your system for the least effort (compared to LFS). If you need it to run blazingly fast (and easily update-able), Gentoo's the way.

[Calipso]

Another vote for CentOS here.
Since you say you don't really know the command line that well, the Redhat style GUI's will really come in handy.

[jsundquist]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It's really helping. I'm currently installing CentOS 4.4 on the server to see how I like it. Hopefully it will help me learn more about linux. If not it will for sure give me a testing ground to learn more about php and jsp, but thats a whole differnet subject.

However my biggest question about the CentOS install is whats the difference between doing a standard install and a i586 install? Or better yet, what is a i586? I used to always download the i386 so didn't know. Also if I do decide I dont like CentOS for some strange reason, what version of Gentoo should I try.

Also aren't all linux distros suppose to be the same, its just the way they are packaged makes them different? Or am I wrong by saying that?

[crow2icedearth]

GUI interface (still haven't learned command line enough yet)
vncserver

my advise would be not to run GUI for a server machine. its another port and process running that doesnt need to be. just take some time learning CLI and you will be all set. on my server machines i never run GUI.

i use gentoo linux as my deskop and its amazing.. I'ts not easy to install. but once its installed you will never have to reinstall it again : )

[Calipso]

my advise would be not to run GUI for a server machine

Or a good idea would be to run the server in runlevel 3(no gui) and then whenever you need to change some settings, start X so you can use the guis and then shut X off once you are done.

[blackbelt_jones]

Or a good idea would be to run the server in runlevel 3(no gui) and then whenever you need to change some settings, start X so you can use the guis and then shut X off once you are done.

This is what I do, not because I'm running a server but because I like to do my writing in the console with emacs. There are several ways of doing this. With most distros, you can set the runlevel by editing /etc/inittab.