Help Setting Up an Ubuntu Server

[fastfood15]

So I'm trying to set up a server just for random fun. I had messed around with Ubuntu a little before, so I know that it's well run and supported by a lot of people. I decided to give Ubuntu server a go.

I came across this tutorial and decided to give it a try.

I had downloaded the new Feisty Fawn beta server edition the day before, so i decided to use that instead of the release used in the tutorial. That might of been my mistake, but I assumed things could only be made easier, i guess i was wrong.

So i installed that server distro of Ubuntu. After installing the base system it gave me the choice between installing a DNS server and a LAMP server. I know that LAMP is a bunch of things already installed. So i googled around for tutorials about setting a server up like that. I tried to follow those instructions, but they didn't seem to fit and didn't work out (i got errors and such).

I went back to the original tutorial and followed that until I decided that I must be messing up to many things. So i came here to ask for help.

So,
Is Ubuntu Server any good?
Is it ok that i used the latest release?
Should i install a LAMP server or DNS server?
Is there a better tutorial you would recommend?
Is it ok if i have my server plugged into my router? (When ever i try to go to my ip I am asked for my router username and password. That's not good is it?)
How do I put my website files onto the server?
Will the server just be my ip address?
What's your favorite color?
Is there a graphical server client?
Do i want php4 or php5?

BTW, i don't know if it matters, the computer I am trying to turn into a server is kinda old. P3, i think 512m ram, and 20gb hd. Is there a more ideal server client for low-end computers? I assumed the computer doesn't need to be powerful if it's just me playing around with it. No serious traffic.


Thanks for the (to be) help.

 

[Q-Ball]

I dunno how much help I'll be, but I'll try to take your questions one at a time:

Is Ubuntu Server any good?

I've played around with it a bit, but I've never tried to do anything with it really, beyond installing and testing Apache and PostgreSQL. It's probably going to act a lot like Debian, but with more options to give more functionality out of the box (or at least at install).

Is it ok that i used the latest release?

Since Feisty is still in a beta stage, it would not be ok to use it in a production environment (that is, if you wanted to be absolutely sure of stability), but for mucking around it's fine. Documentation-wise things might be different than the tutorials you are finding for earlier versions.

Should i install a LAMP server or DNS server?

Kinda depends on what you want to do. Use LAMP if you want to play with developing web applicatons, DNS if you want to host your own domain. Read up on each type of config to see if it's what you want.

Is there a better tutorial you would recommend?

I can't really speak to that except to say that the Ubuntu Wiki and the forums have a lot of good information.

Is it ok if i have my server plugged into my router?

You have to have it plugged either into your router or a switch if you want to access it from other computers. A router won't hurt anything. Just remember that you need to connect to the address of the server, and not your router to get to it. (To find your server's address, type 'ifconfig' at the command line to see your ip address).

What's your favorite color?

Green

Is there a graphical server client?

You can install X-Windows (and it would be a lot like Ubuntu desktop), but if you want the "real" UNIX/Linux server experience, I highly recommend you learn the CLI. When you get good on the command line, I think you'll find things to be even easier than clicking stuff on a window

Do i want php4 or php5?

Go with PHP 5. No sense in not having the latest tools available to you.

BTW, i don't know if it matters, the computer I am trying to turn into a server is kinda old. P3, i think 512m ram, and 20gb hd. Is there a more ideal server client for low-end computers? I assumed the computer doesn't need to be powerful if it's just me playing around with it. No serious traffic

Your hardware is way beyond sufficient for just playing around. You could probably even host a small e-commerce website on that machine if you really needed to.

Hope this helps

 

[bashPenguin]

Is Ubuntu Server any good?

I have used it before, or what was the equivalent of a server install before the Server edition came out. It was fine to use, since it's pretty much like Debian, but I still use Debian 3.1 on my server.

Is it ok that i used the latest release?

I agree with Q-Ball. For production environments, you probably want to use an older, more stable release that (hopefully) has more tested software and software configurations. For play though, it's not a problem. I use Apache 2.0.5x for my real website, but in experimentation I use both Apache 2.2 and Apache 2.0.x.

Should i install a LAMP server or DNS server?

Entirely different things. A DNS server is for DNS name resolution. LAMP is a commonly used application stack used in serving websites. Linux, Apache, mySQL, and PHP (very uncommonly Perl or Python).

Is there a better tutorial you would recommend?

I couldn't say, I used a mish mash of knowledge to set up and configure a server.

Is it ok if i have my server plugged into my router? (When ever i try to go to my ip I am asked for my router username and password. That's not good is it?)

This is fine. However, I don't know why it's prompting you for a password?

How do I put my website files onto the server?

What do you mean? If you mean from some other machine to the server, then you could use a variety of things like scp, ftp, sftp, crossover cable, whatever.

If you mean, where you should put the files so the server software can serve it, then that's a configurable setting in Apache or whatever server software you're using.

Will the server just be my ip address?

Yes...?

What's your favorite color?

Blue, though I do like the occasional splash of red like on my Converse sneakers.

Is there a graphical server client

Do you mean some graphical front end to managing a server program?

Do i want php4 or php5?

If you haven't touched PHP and want to learn how to write it, then go with PHP5. For serving, PHP5 as well.

BTW, i don't know if it matters, the computer I am trying to turn into a server is kinda old. P3, i think 512m ram, and 20gb hd. Is there a more ideal server client for low-end computers? I assumed the computer doesn't need to be powerful if it's just me playing around with it. No serious traffic.

That's more than enough for a server unless you're some major site. I buy VPS hosting and am only guaranteed 256 MB of RAM, I get 4 GB of space, and I guess I get some significant portion of an Opteron's CPU cycles.

 

[fastfood15]

Thanks for the input Bash and Q.

I think tonight i will attempt to install with the 6.06LTS version of Ubuntu. I'll try to follow that tutorials intructions more carefully, and hopefully i will come back with specific questions.

If i ran a DNS server would i have to pay for domain hosting? If i want to just mess around with a small website i want a LAMP then right?

 

[Blackknight]

You don't need to register a domain to run a DNS server, you can just run it as a caching only name server. LAMP Is what you want if you're going to run a web site, it's just a predefined set of packages.

You may also want to check out CentOS which is what most hosting companies use. We've been running it for a few years and it's a really nice server OS.

 

[fastfood15]

While downloading i tried the ipconfig command in the command prompt in windows. I assumed that because both my pc and what will become the server are connected to the same router, the ip would be the same for both. I got this result:

Isn't that just my local network id? Don't i want my external ip? Checking whatismyip.com i get 65.30.88.47. Do i want that one? And if so, how do i find all the other options like subnet mask and default gateway?

 

[bashPenguin]

The 192.168.x.x IPs are reserved for local networks, so your machines behind the router have those IPs assigned by the router. However, your external IP known to the world is 65.30.88.47, so if anyone wanted to get to your server, they'd type that into their browser.

Also, you will have to set up port forwarding and forward some ports to the server if you want the server to be externally accessible. For example, if you configure Apache to listen on port 112, and people try to access it through http://65.30.88.47:112, the router won't know what to do with those incoming packets. You have to port forward, specifying that packets on port 112 should be routed to the server.

If you want to access your server internally though, use its local IP (192.168.1.x I guess).

 

[fastfood15]

Thank you Bash.

Also, when in this tutorial the guy says,"My system's IP address in this tutorial is 192.168.0.100, and my hostname is server1.example.com." What Should i use as my hostname? Isn't that just the random name Ubuntu tells you to name the box? Or is there something specific i need to name it?


Thanks all for help.

EDIT: I decided to install the LAMP server from the 6.06 LTS release. From what everyone said that should be easier. So far so good.

 

[bashPenguin]

You can set the hostname of the system to anything you want. It's just a way to identify the system on a network instead of via IP address, essentially it's the computer's name.

For example, at home my laptop is called "sakura" and my desktop is called "tiamat." I can connect to my desktop from my laptop at home by using the name tiamat.

Most people probably aren't as...obsessive about their choice of hostnames like I am.

 

[Q-Ball]

Thanks for the input Bash and Q.

I think tonight i will attempt to install with the 6.06LTS version of Ubuntu. I'll try to follow that tutorials intructions more carefully, and hopefully i will come back with specific questions.

If i ran a DNS server would i have to pay for domain hosting? If i want to just mess around with a small website i want a LAMP then right?

6.06 LTS is a good idea, especially since it's the install that Canonical is committed to supporting for 3 years (I think it's 3 years). Most of the documentation you find will probably work for that version.

 

[general]

I setup a LAMP server with Ubuntu last summer. I'm not sure if this is changed, but the install didn't install a GUI. I had to manually add one and was rather pissed that people at Ubuntu didn't feel the need to install one since, you know, pretty much every commercially available server OS comes with a GUI.

I suggest you deeply consider what your goals are, what you want your server to do and how much time you have to invest. I spent a day trying to get just Hamachi working properly and was never really successful. That's even after many many posts on the Ubuntu forums and also on the Hamachi forums. Just be aware that anything you want to do that isn't installed by default (such as say install a graphical FTP server program) will take you LOTS of time. Should you not have lots, a WAMP server might be better for you.