setting up a linux server...

[the ex]

so i got an old computer and id like to turn it into a server...

an application server for file storage on the home network
a web server for hosting files

its an old AMD K9 300 MhZ, so what linux would run well on those circumstances?

for the web server ill have to get apache, i dont want any monitors, keyboards etc. connected to the server so what can i use to get on to it (cpanel, remote desktop?) MySQL?

do i need anything special for network server?


thanks.

[the ex]

i just checked out Damn Small Linux, and damn its small

i think ill try that...

[alain_]

do i need anything special for network server?

Only knowledge of what you are doing.

[the ex]

i know alot about servers and stuff in XP, but i am quite clueless with this...

this would be a breeze with server 2003, but on that box, hahaha no way

[drakebasher]

You don't mention how much RAM you have. I assume you have adequate drive space for any distro. I have a box with a similar processor that worked fine as a server even before I added to it's original 256Mb RAM. I installed Fedora Core 3 on it just because I was familiar with Fedora. It's dog slow in graphics mode (when I'm doing configuration mods) but works great otherwise. It's my gateway/firewall and fileserver for my other 3 machines. While Fedora may not be the best choice, it's not a bad choice. The Fedora install has options for a server setup as well as the usual workstation and minimal setups. While Damn Small has it's place (I'm a fan), it may not be a good choice as a server: I doubt that it has all the services you would want, so you would probably have to find other sources to install ( I could be wrong). Of course, for a server, predictability of performance, even through upgrades, is even more important than in workstations.

[technossomy]

There are some security considerations you may want to take note of before deploying the machine as a server. There are plenty references when googling around and even this forum has a section on Linux Security.

Hope this helps


Tech

[the ex]

i dont acually have the machine in my possesion yet, but i assume its 256 maybe 128, if it is ill upgrade it

[technossomy]

Even 64MB will probably work fine albeit very slow. Since MySQL is fairly economical with RAM that will hold up quite well too, but with a database you will likely also want Perl/PHP. It really depends on how much performance and how much scalability you are looking to have. For a home network, if you have the cabling and a router, the distribution will take care of the software and middleware.

Tech

[yourname3232]

I have almost the same machiene. I used Fedora Core 3 only because of the vast selection of server tools. I found it very easy and it had everything I needed on the fedora core disks (MySQL, PHP, Apache, Samba, VsFTP) and I reccommend webmin to do remote administration. It runs kinda slow, but I am more comfterbile with it than a command line.

[kojak012]

You can run server on 300Mhz machine with the latest Linux distro you choose but you will need to turn off grafical interface X window.

You can doo really bunch of things with that machine since i installed Fedora Core 3 on a 366 Mhz with 64 Mb ram and it is working perfect.

The main thing is what do you exacly want to do on that machine ?

If you want to make a game server you can forget this whole thing but to be a local web server , FTP server , MySQL server , Router , etc you will have no problem at all