setting up my first server

[cheesecake42]

I've set up a few peer to peer networks, but I've never set up a server. I'm turning my old desktop into a server and really am not quite sure what distro to install (i promise this isn't a "which distro" question). Are there specific server distros or do I just install any of them. For now, it's pretty much just going to be a bunch of hard drives hosting files.

[daark.child]

Maybe you should just install the distro that you are most familiar with. This makes things like administering the server easy because you will have alot of knowledge about the OS.

[Roxoff]

Yup, familiar is often best. If you want to branch out, however, there was a thread on server distro choice in the coffee lounge recently. The popular vote went to Debian followed closely by CentOS/RHEL. You'll probably find Debian closest to what you're used to (your profile says 'Ubuntu edgy') but feel free to try several out if you want.