Linux Distro Recommendations..

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hboogz

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Mar 8, 2007
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Since i'm going to use the distro in a coorporate environment, i figure i will post in this forum to hear feedback from other network junkies.


I have an older Dell poweredge 600c server laying around and i want to throw a linux distro onto it -- The first thought is Ubuntu -- but anyone have other suggestions ? which are free.

I'd like a GUI - gnome/kde doesn't matter and i'm relatively inexperienced with linux - but i have done minor installations before with Ubuntu and have familiarity with apt-get.

I'd like to use the box mainly for all the network tools available ( although i know some have been ported to work on windows) such as but not limited to: cacti,ntop;dhcp-probe;wireshark.samba;cups etc.
 
Since you mentioned you have had experience with Ubuntu before, I would suggest going with it. If you want to try something different though, you could look into CentOS, which is a distro that takes the RHEL source RPMs and rebuilds them into a free distro.
 
I've had good experience (albeit not a whole lot though) with ubuntu. However we just got a new dell server, and for some reason the RAID controller won't work with it, so we had to switch to SUSE (Red Hat also would have worked). Just something to be aware of if your using RAID.

I think Ubuntu is a lot easier to install and configure that either SUSE or Red Hat though.
 
Thanks Guys.

Hurdler --which PERC version do you have ?

I'll try ubuntu -- does the server version come with a GUI ?
 
The server install CD doesn't include x.org or any windowing environments, you can install them though. Now that doesn't mean you can't use the desktop installer to setup a server, you will just need to install the services you want to run after you finish the install.
 
Kubuntu vote from me.

Also try the AD integration program. SADMS I think.
 
Where I would normally suggest Debian here, but since it's corporate and you already have the experience, go with ubuntu (It has long-term support anyways, which is good for covering yourself).

My onyl other suggestions would be to switch to something lighter than kde/gnome though (Openbox and Fluxbox work pretty well) and make sure you lock ports down that would normally be used for remote access with X and such
 
Personally I always find myself running back to Fedora.

If you really get a wild hair up your ass you can try Solaris for x86. Unix is better anyway :eek:
 
Eickst said:
Personally I always find myself running back to Fedora.

If you really get a wild hair up your ass you can try Solaris for x86. Unix is better anyway :eek:
Click to expand...

Solaris x86 on anything but approved hardware is something that should never be attempted in my opinion. I had a generic box that had hit and miss support and it was the most agonizing process ever since the driver system is very unintuitive for a novice Solaris user. That and it wasn't particularly capable of doing anything I wanted it to do...

For an inexperienced Linux user who can't live without a GUI (we all have to start somewhere, right?) Ubuntu is probably a good idea. SuSE/Red Hat are basically your only other options should you seek out business/corporate support. I myself am a gigantic fan of the Gentoo Hardened project however there is no support contract available for it, nor is it easy for a novice Linux user. Sometimes security with performance means everything though :)
 
For starters, the box isn't going to be thrown into production. Eventually an OS with some sort of long-term support would be ideal for any corporate environment looking to introduce linux/*nix -- IMHO.

As you said, it's a start -- eventually i'd like to be comfortable enough to run a hardened OS and do what i need do via command line - which i'm comfortable with on any level. But i just need to get the linux file structure down, permission settings and basic overall comfort with an OS that i've come to accept with Windows.

I'll try the desktop install of Ubuntu and remove unnecessary services. I'm interested in a lighter weight X such as flushbox or any others -- do i install this after the initial installation is complete ?
 
Where I would normally suggest Debian here, but since it's corporate and you already have the experience, go with ubuntu (It has long-term support anyways, which is good for covering yourself).
Click to expand...

Well ubuntu is debian just wrapped up in a packaged distro to thier liking...so I don't get the whole corporate statement. There's got to more support for debian out there than anything else since nearly everything is based off of it. And it seems to be you would have to pay for guaranteed ubuntu support anyway.
 
Zlash said:
Well ubuntu is debian just wrapped up in a packaged distro to thier liking...so I don't get the whole corporate statement. There's got to more support for debian out there than anything else since nearly everything is based off of it. And it seems to be you would have to pay for guaranteed ubuntu support anyway.
Click to expand...

You are mixing up the idea of support. Ubuntu has a paid service that gives you phone support and all sorts of other neat things.

http://www.ubuntu.com/support/paid

Debian offers IRC channels, mailing lists, Usenet... but no paid long term support contract.

http://www.debian.org/support
 
Yea paid, no thanks...tons of resources out there to use and not have to pay for that.
 
hboogz said:
Thanks Guys.

Hurdler --which PERC version do you have ?

I'll try ubuntu -- does the server version come with a GUI ?
Click to expand...

In all honesty, I have no clue which one it is. I can find out though if you want.
 
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