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Making the switch...

S

Stompp

n00b
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
14
Okay, I have zero experience with linux... however I am going to take the plunge and switch from Windows/IIS/ASP/SQL (too expensive!!) to Linux/Apache/PHP/MySQL. Obviously I'll have the seperate issues with learning the language parts, but that's not why I'm here hehe.

Does anyone have (I'm sure you do!) any suggestions on what distro I should use? I want it to be scalable, ie. adding more boxes later, so if anyone also has any suggestions as to replicating software (so I can have redundant webservers and whatnot, but not have to manually update all of them), I would greatly appreciate it.

Currently was thinking of trying ubunto, but I am open to any suggestions. Also, I'll be converting over some dell dimensions/optiflexes to linux, so driver support is also a consideration.

Also, any tips on remote management software would be greatly appreciated. I am going to buy some "linux for dummies' type books, but I don't really want to have to try 50 distros of linux to find the one I like best (yet).

Thanks in advance!
 
Well Google currently uses a stripped down version of Red Hat for their servers. Guess that indicates how well that distro scales.

You can also try Fedora Core. Wikipedia.com is run on servers with Fedore Core.

Just a few facts.
 
I've found Suse Enterprise to be really simple for the non-unix people but it costs money. I'm a huge gentoo fan but its not a good beginners distro since it basically makes you boot-strap your whole system. Basically what i'd do is try out Redhat Enterprise or Suse Enterprise. Then if you like them do that or if you want to get more down and dirty with linux you can try Gentoo, Debian, or Slackware.

As for redundant servers and the such I'm not real familiar with. But for kicks I skimmed through a guide on setting up a high availabilty load balanced Apache cluster. Same thing with mysql. Heres the guides..

http://www.howtoforge.com/high_availability_loadbalanced_apache_cluster

http://www.howtoforge.com/loadbalanced_mysql_cluster_debian
 
Thanks for the tips/links. I'll have to stop back in when I get em setup :) This looks like it'll be fun!
 
You can get Open SuSE10 for free, that may be a good option.

I run freeBSD 6.1 for my apache/mysql/php/samba server. From an admin of the software perspective, it's the same. But with the free BSD ports system installing software is MUCH easier than on any linux system (nothing beats automatic dependency installation). Plus there's the freeBSD handbook, which covers pretty much anything you could want to know about any of it. There's even a whole section devoted to running a web server, what software you need, and how to set it up and configure it.
 
Lich said:
You can get Open SuSE10 for free, that may be a good option.

I run freeBSD 6.1 for my apache/mysql/php/samba server. From an admin of the software perspective, it's the same. But with the free BSD ports system installing software is MUCH easier than on any linux system (nothing beats automatic dependency installation). Plus there's the freeBSD handbook, which covers pretty much anything you could want to know about any of it. There's even a whole section devoted to running a web server, what software you need, and how to set it up and configure it.
Click to expand...

99% of linux package managers have had automatic dependency checking for the past few years. As a matter of fact, Gentoo's portage is based off of the BSD ports system.

I won't get into an argument about BSD vs Linux, because personally I think BSD is better for certain things, but saying ports is better because of dependency checking is just plain wrong. That would be like me saying that portage is better than apt because I know it better.
 
disturbed said:
99% of linux package managers have had automatic dependency checking for the past few years. As a matter of fact, Gentoo's portage is based off of the BSD ports system.

I won't get into an argument about BSD vs Linux, because personally I think BSD is better for certain things, but saying ports is better because of dependency checking is just plain wrong. That would be like me saying that portage is better than apt because I know it better.
Click to expand...

Very true.

Apt, yum, emerge, etc. have been around quite some time and very easily install software with all dependencies included.

Apt will even recommend other packages you may want to install that could add more features to whatever you're installing.
 
thanks for all your replies. I got ubuntu installed and running a LAMP setup... it is smokin fast!

threw in samba for some file sharing, it is SO much faster than xp pro doing the same thing, it's sick! probably going to go with a similar setup on my main dev machine (wonder if it'll fold any faster or not heh)
 
Theres also CentOS (community enterprise operating system)... it's basically RHEL with all of the Red Hat logos removed... Oh yeah and it's FREE !!!! :D

I'm in the process of replacing NT4 servers with CentOS, seems to be a good choice
 
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