Linux Lightweight Server Distro

Discussion in 'Software' started by davidbacsik, 7 Jul 2006.

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  1. davidbacsik

    davidbacsik What's a Dremel?

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    The question every newbie asks: What's a good lightweight server distro. I'm going to have two harddrives, and share between Mac and PC using samba. What's your suggestion
     
    davidbacsik, 7 Jul 2006
    #1
  2. Elv13

    Elv13 What's a Dremel?

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    debian or slackware
     
    Elv13, 7 Jul 2006
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  3. crazydeep74

    crazydeep74 What's a Dremel?

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    Depends on what your using the server for.
     
    crazydeep74, 7 Jul 2006
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  4. ozstrike

    ozstrike yip yip yip yip

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    For a newbie: Ubuntu server install.
     
    ozstrike, 7 Jul 2006
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  5. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    Like hell no... Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu is good, but not for servers...

    For servers there are 3 options:

    Debian: STABLE, easy to configure, easy to maintain, great package manager => Good all rounder
    BSD: All that debian has, but a little less documented, and more complicated
    Gentoo: Due to custom compilation you get what you ask, optimised... Cons: Complicated, a bit more difficult to maintain (updates sometimes require some tinkering), great package manager (portage) => Power user...

    I would suggest Debian, or Gentoo if you have the time to go through the steeper learning curve...

    EDIT: If just for samba serving: FreeNAS ;)
     
    Glider, 7 Jul 2006
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  6. ozstrike

    ozstrike yip yip yip yip

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    What's wrong with it, for a basic home server (I am assuming this is what the OP is asking about)
     
    ozstrike, 7 Jul 2006
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  7. Elv13

    Elv13 What's a Dremel?

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    too many prosess runing
    less are running faster is the server, and more secure some time
    i dont think gentoo is the greatest distro for server, it is fast but for make it secure, only an user with a big knowledge will reach the level of security of debian or other pro server distro
     
    Elv13, 8 Jul 2006
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  8. Firehed

    Firehed Why not? I own a domain to match.

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    I'm with Glider - if it's just a fileserver, FreeNAS. The gigabit drivers were a bit funky for me and I'm not well enough versed in *nix to set them properly (managed to find them though, which was rather lucky I'd say), but setup was pretty quick and easy. As I needed proper gigabit speeds, I just reverted back to WinXP's filesharing, though that's not especially lightweight.

    tbh if it's just for the house, it really doesn't matter too much, since the chance of overloading it are just about zero unless it's a Pentium II or below. Might as well just cut the thing off from the internet entirely if it's appropriate, less to worry about.
     
    Firehed, 8 Jul 2006
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  9. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    Ubuntu isn't great for learning the way Linux works... It's great for a system that just works out of the box, servers are mostly fine tweaked and optimised... And my (altough limited) ubuntu experience tells me that it's more difficult. The config files aren't where they supposed to be and stuff... Something you (certainly as a newbie) don't want...

    I find Ubuntu closer to windows then to linux, altough that isn't bad for user who are witching from windows to linux, it isn't great for power users... Or server admins ;)
     
    Glider, 8 Jul 2006
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  10. simon w

    simon w What's a Dremel?

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    Last edited: 9 Jul 2006
    simon w, 9 Jul 2006
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  11. Philipp

    Philipp What's a Dremel?

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    You're a bit wrong here. :) The *BSDs are in fact very well documented - just look at the handbooks of [Free|Net|Open]BSD. ;)

    @davidbacsik: If you want a fast, small distribution, then use LFS :D Only disadvantage is, that it is rather difficult for a Linux-Newbie ;)

    Try FreeBSD (this is *not* Linux) or Debian for the beginning. :)
     
    Philipp, 9 Jul 2006
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  12. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    I said less documented... I have yet to find a thing where there doesn't exist a guide for on Debian, but I had that with BSD... But since it made it to my recommended list ;) what's to complain? ;)

    and simon, I said Debian was stable, I wasn't talking about the different releases... On the server I administrate, we use a mix of Debian Stable and Unstable... Testing is a nono for servers...
     
    Glider, 9 Jul 2006
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  13. Gushy

    Gushy What's a Dremel?

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    If all you want to do is share 2 drives between the systems then I would recommend a Linksys NSLU2 and a couple of USB caddies over a full system, it's linux based so can be (and has been) hacked to perform other functions, and is basically a NAS box into which you can plug 2 USB drives. It's a smaller quieter solution than a full system.

    In picking a distro I would choose an ubuntu server install; if you are not too familiar with linux and don't want to be (or just can't be bothered on this setup) then E-Smith is a pretty decent (or was I haven't used it in years) web interfaced distro for non-linux admins.
     
    Gushy, 10 Jul 2006
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  14. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    I don't know why everyone recommends Ubuntu for servers... I mean, you could use it, but then again you could use XP... Ubuntu (even the server install) is too bloated...

    If you want to do a quick job, go FreeNAS, doesn't get any easier... If you want a good job, go Debian, BSD (of if you are willing to invest some time, which will be rewarded on low spec hardware, go Gentoo)
     
    Glider, 10 Jul 2006
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  15. simon w

    simon w What's a Dremel?

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    Why would you run unstable and not testing?
     
    simon w, 10 Jul 2006
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  16. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    It's (in order of stability and guarantees about it) Stable -> unstable -> testing right? A server needs to be stable... and testing is just too much of a guess
     
    Glider, 10 Jul 2006
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  17. simon w

    simon w What's a Dremel?

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    Last edited: 10 Jul 2006
    simon w, 10 Jul 2006
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  18. davidbacsik

    davidbacsik What's a Dremel?

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    I Selected FreeNAS because it looks to be superlightweight, fast, supports samba and NTFS and easy to manage. Will update on experiences.
     
    davidbacsik, 16 Jul 2006
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  19. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    I would recheck the NTFS... No linux system supports full read/write NTFS ;)

    @simon: OMG, plz slap me... My bad! (allways seem to mix them up, everywhere)
     
    Glider, 16 Jul 2006
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  20. davidbacsik

    davidbacsik What's a Dremel?

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    Right, it can't write NTFS, but it's own filesystem works with Windows (as i found out) and it has services to communicate wiht Mac. I installed, and it seems to be great. Web based controls. I'd say go with it if you have a straightup file server.
     
    davidbacsik, 17 Jul 2006
    #20
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