Best Distro for Web, FTP, and Mysql Server

canadiantechie · Post by **canadiantechie** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 7:35 pm

I'm contemplating chaning the my software. Currently I use Fedora and with my limited resources (system and financial) I would like to fine a distro thats lightweight and fast, but still powerful enough for all my needs.

Post by **dann** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 7:57 pm

Slackware will do all that with a pretty small foot print and no interferrence. Only what you want.

Has apache, ssl, php, mysql, ssh and proftp in there already.

tom · Post by **tom** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 3:28 am

I'd have to agree. I run apache mysql glftpd and a samba server all on a 700mhz. It runs like a champ..

mrben · Post by **mrben** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:06 am

Or Debian

Post by **Patrick** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:09 am

My dad gave me his old machine:
Emachine 466mhz Celeron with 64 meg of memory. I'm going to put Slackware 10.1 with xfce and run apache. It'll be my web blog site. I'm doing the install this weekend.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 2:11 pm

Patrick wrote:My dad gave me his old machine:
Emachine 466mhz Celeron with 64 meg of memory. I'm going to put Slackware 10.1 with xfce and run apache. It'll be my web blog site. I'm doing the install this weekend.

My entire website and gateway runs off a p3 450 with 192 megs of ram. I run mysql and lots pf custom php among other things on Slackware. Never had a problem.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:24 am

My notebook is a PII 366Mhz with 256MB RAM. It runs Fedora Core 3 and has both server (apache/mysql/php) and desktop (x.org, multimedia etc) stuff.

Why would you want to leave Fedora? It's not a good idea to get into oddball distributions that are irrelevant to the real world. If you rent a dedicated, guess what OS it'll have? If you deal with a big customer, what is the upgrade path to a stable enterprise fork?

In any case the performance issues on Fedora can be resolved by downloading the source code for x.org from cvs and recompiling it. That will make your computer fly.

Best,

Gordon H.

mrben · Post by **mrben** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:33 am

Anonymous wrote:My notebook is a PII 366Mhz with 256MB RAM. It runs Fedora Core 3 and has both server (apache/mysql/php) and desktop (x.org, multimedia etc) stuff.

Why would you want to leave Fedora? It's not a good idea to get into oddball distributions that are irrelevant to the real world. If you rent a dedicated, guess what OS it'll have? If you deal with a big customer, what is the upgrade path to a stable enterprise fork?

In any case the performance issues on Fedora can be resolved by downloading the source code for x.org from cvs and recompiling it. That will make your computer fly.

I think you have missed the point - for a lightweight server box, a desktop oriented, bleeding edge distribution is probably not the best idea. I would be very surprised if you can find a dedicated server company running Fedora - more likely it will be RedHat, but they are very different things, and the likelyhood is that RedHat has been chosen for its support options rather than the OS. Of course, you may find that it is running Debian

If you're running your own server, then you are probably not wanting to fork out for a support contract, and so you can run what you like. If you want to run a RedHat option, then you'd probably go for CentOS. However, most people do end up using Slackware/Debian/Gentoo because they are a) customisable and b) have a lightweight default install.

Post by **Patrick** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:55 am

mrben wrote: I think you have missed the point - for a lightweight server box, a desktop oriented, bleeding edge distribution is probably not the best idea. I would be very surprised if you can find a dedicated server company running Fedora - more likely it will be RedHat, but they are very different things, and the likelyhood is that RedHat has been chosen for its support options rather than the OS. Of course, you may find that it is running Debian

If you're running your own server, then you are probably not wanting to fork out for a support contract, and so you can run what you like. If you want to run a RedHat option, then you'd probably go for CentOS. However, most people do end up using Slackware/Debian/Gentoo because they are a) customisable and b) have a lightweight default install.

mrben,
You're spot on. Fedora is a nice distro if you have a fast machine with a decent sized hard drive for the 3 gig install. I use fedora on my mythtv box because setting up mythtv is much easier with apt-get with everything pre-compiled and dependency checked. I got apache running on this machine (466mhz, 64 meg ram and 10 gig hard drive) without any issues so far. For shits and giggles I tried to install fedora and it bombed out about 10 minutes in. Slackware 10.1 installed like a champ. No burps or farts at all!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 5:38 pm

mrben wrote:
(snip)

I would be very surprised if you can find a dedicated server company running Fedora - more likely it will be RedHat, but they are very different things, and

(snip)

However, most people do end up using Slackware/Debian/Gentoo because they are a) customisable and b) have a lightweight default install.

Unfortunately MrBen you have blown your credibility with the above. The first is simply untrue -- I suggest you look at EV1, ServerBeach, etc.

Based on what source or metric do you assert "most people do end up using Slackware/Debian/Gentoo." This is not borne out by distro download counts, netcraft, or any other objective measure. I think you just made it up.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 5:41 pm

Patrick wrote: mrben,
You're spot on. Fedora is a nice distro if you have a fast machine with a decent sized hard drive for the 3 gig install. I use fedora on my mythtv box because setting up mythtv is much easier with apt-get with everything pre-compiled and dependency checked. I got apache running on this machine (466mhz, 64 meg ram and 10 gig hard drive) without any issues so far. For shits and giggles I tried to install fedora and it bombed out about 10 minutes in. Slackware 10.1 installed like a champ. No burps or farts at all!

Uh, dude, apt-get works on Fedora. Keep your skills current.

Post by **dann** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:34 pm

Anonymous wrote:
Patrick wrote: I use fedora on my mythtv box because setting up mythtv is much easier with apt-get with everything pre-compiled and dependency checked.
Uh, dude, apt-get works on Fedora. Keep your skills current.

He said he got mythtv installed on Fedora using apt-get.

mrben · Post by **mrben** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:52 am

Anonymous wrote: Unfortunately MrBen you have blown your credibility with the above. The first is simply untrue -- I suggest you look at EV1, ServerBeach, etc.

I hadn't before, I have now. Both of these companies are running RedHat Enterprise Linux not Fedora. As I said before, Fedora and RHEL are different things

Based on what source or metric do you assert "most people do end up using Slackware/Debian/Gentoo." This is not borne out by distro download counts, netcraft, or any other objective measure. I think you just made it up.

I didn't just 'make it up', neither did I use any published metrics. I based it on my experience talking with Linux users over the past 5 years, and the fact that, from what I've seen, hosting companies tend to offer either RedHat (remember, != Fedora) or Debian (which is the choice that ServerBeach offer).

Actually - I suspect that many people 'in the know' don't use Linux at all, but use one of the BSDs instead, when it comes to servers.

If you have metrics to prove otherwise, by all means post them.

Nintenduh · Post by **Nintenduh** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 7:21 pm

I might suggest Damn Small Linux if system resources are a big issue. If its like a +300mhz machine I might suggest Mandrake. I run it on my personal workstation and my samba server foot rest

tclark · Post by **tclark** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:16 am

You can run just about any distro on your servers and be fine. I run Debian on my servers for two reasons:

1. I don't have to worry about changes in my distribution due to changes in the supporting company's marketing strategy, etc.

2. Debian does a good job providing security updates. (As do others.)

On my desktop and other personal machines, I like to play with the newest software, but on my servers I want stability and security above all else. I get that from Debian.