Unix or Linux for http server?

[pavekt]

For a while know I have been messing around with apache, mysql and php on a windows machine i had. Now i decided to use that machine as a domain controller. Through my school i can buy old pc's they do not use for really cheap so i picked up a p4 1.7 ghz with 40GB hard drive and 256MB of ram for $100. I would like to put some form of unix/linux on it but i am not sure which one. I am leaning towards Solaris 10 but if you guys would recommend somthing else please tell. Or even if you think i should use some form of windows even. Also is 256 enough or should i had an extra stick.. This is just a web server for testing use messing around with settings but i would like to have a real site sometime this summer.

Thanks

[anomie]

I am leaning towards Solaris 10 but if you guys would recommend somthing else please tell.

Well, you're asking this question on a Linux forum.

Linux / BSD / Solaris are all good choices.

[pavekt]

I realize its a linux forum but i would get the same response in a unix forum also... I just figured a lot of you guys have used both.

[likwid]

Solaris 10 will crawl on that. GUI might even not install without adding more memory. I would say use Linux.

[anomie]

i would get the same response in a unix forum also

Highly unlikely.

I'd say go with FreeBSD and this book: Building an Internet Server with FreeBSD 6, by Bryan Hong. To each his own.

Be prepared for a learning curve if you're coming from the Windows world with no *nix experience.

[adrenaline]

Here is my 02

Unix has a more secure kernel as far as not hackable. Linux is hard to hack but hard core's can do it. They usually don't I don't worry about it myself, but the thruth is Unix is stronger.

Linux has more support so I suggest that plus there are many flavors and you can find one that will run successfully on your hardware.

BSD is more a Unix than Linux but is compatible with both. OpenBSD is famous for being a really secure OS. I would recommend OpenBSD or FreeBSD but not as your first go round with open source.

Learn Linux there is more support and the migration later to BSD or Unix will be a lot easier to understand. Especially with hardware support.

[harner]

On a different note, I recommend you install Webmin on the Linux box. You can remotely manage the box using the Webmin interface, WinSCP3, and PuTTy. I host internal sites and maybe two other sites on OpenSUSE. I tweak them pretty well as far as security goes so I'm not concerned about the external websites.

[adrenaline]

harner,

Is Webmin good.? I usually just ssh in and use the cli, but I am going to look into webmin.


Thanks for the tip

[harner]

It's good, but like everything else if you want it done right do it yourself. Sometimes the scheduled cronjobs don't work as scheduled. But it's not all the time. The SSL is also kind of funky.

Otherwise, it makes life easier. We have a SUSE shop and almost every server has Webmin installed. It makes server management very easy.

[adrenaline]

nice I am running a red hat enterprise farm I will look into webmin. I've used it before years ago but it was very limited. I will give it another chance.

Thanks again,
Mike