Best Choices for a webserver?

[RobCote]

Hi i am currently running a windows webserver and i want to switch to linux, but i don't want to rip my hair out.
I would like to know what would be the bes distribution of linux for my needs. All suggestion of packages would need to preferably be free.
I need a Fully functional Webserver, so i know i need apache, php, mysql..etc
but i would like to know what is the best FTP manager, with the best performance traits, most importantly, speed and managing ability(multiple users)
Also i would like to be able to have a file server for my internal network of valiant M$ machines. to be able to store files here for the ones that don't have that much space on there own, i'm guessing this is samba or something.
I would also like to know if there is something out there that is simialr to cPanel but is open source, something that i can use to get some of my friends some webspace and be able to manage the databases and ftp accounts and everything, but i don't want to pay for a liscence because i wouldn't be charging anything to any of the people using it.
Thanks in advanced

[jledhead]

best webserver IMO is apache. I run it on redhat or fedora because thats what I am used to. all is free and runs very good for my orginazation (we have about 7 web servers all running redhat/apache, some with php and mysql). you can't beat the price of that

I searched for a while for something similar to cpanel also because I like cpanel. have you tried webmin? its not exactly like cpanel but you can use it to restrict access, and with something called virtualmin you could emulate individual webmin for your users. and it is free $0

I use webmin on my servers, it just makes things a little easier for me and others

[bulldozer]

Yeah. RedHat / Fedora is the best choice as almost everything comes ready made. All our servers (web, mail, file, CVS, print) are running on redhat 9. Not a single problem. Webmin is not really a cpanel as in you cannot give webspace through it (Or at least i haven't been able to do it) it is a web based admin tool for your servers.


Cheers

[wassy121]

Webmin in a powerful tool. Sometimes too powerful. Also, it's defaults are sometimes really confusing. You usually have to change 5-8 values when you want to set something up. Adding a user? You need to set their shell, their name, their password. However, you also have the option of setting many other parameters that don't need tweaking. To figure out which ones you want to change and which ones you don't can be a daunting task.

Something similar to webmin, but with better defaults, and a prettier client/domain based setup (instead of webmins function/service based setup) is called Plesk. It is really very functional, and will help keep things "more Windows like". It is not free though . Take a look at swsoft.com.

Best,

Samuel