Post by Mark (fat)Hi list,
Currently I have a home LAN consisting of several different OS client
machines. I want to add a linux file server to it and am looking for
everyones opinion. As with all things there are many options but my
SSH
Open SSH
Post by Mark (fat)A distro design with this role in mind
Web managament without a keyboard, monitor or mouse
Windows file sharing
SAMBA
Post by Mark (fat)Print server with good printer driver support
CUPS
Post by Mark (fat)Free, minimum cost or donation based
Easy to achieve, see below.
Post by Mark (fat)Stripped of all uneccesary components
"Necessary" is in the mind of the local sysadmin. If you use an rpm
based distribution, it's simple to get rid of the stuff you don't want.
What's not so simple is to know what it is you want to get rid of.
Post by Mark (fat)Secure (well as secure as a file server can be)
I'd install Nessus and scan myself as often as changes are made and not
less than weekly.
Picking a distro that Bastille will run on is a great starting point.
I've never seen a modern distro that didn't.
Snort amd snortsnarf.
Post by Mark (fat)Simple update management
Ok, now this is a debate. RPM or apt-get. Both have their upside and
downsides. RedHat offers up2date which I've used and it's outstanding,
but generally a little conservative on rev levels. Mandrake offers a
update manager as well. I've used them all, they all work.
Easily available with every one mentioned below, but I'd probably go
with ReiserFS instead. It's also journalled.
Post by Mark (fat)Runs on a P166 with 64Mb
Not a problem. You're not in a hurry, eh? (In Linux, add ram first,
then cpu)
Post by Mark (fat)A wish list that is not essential
A media server (for MP3, video etc)
Should not be a problem, but I've not done it. Don't know if this is
cpu bound, but probably not.
Just install it.
Comes with Debian, Mandrake and Redhat.
Post by Mark (fat)A log analysis suite that can concatenate all my LAN logs and present
in a summarised manner and mail alarms
Choose one of many and install it. This will take a while to get it
like you want it.
There goes Debian. You can use Alien, but it's not the same level of
integration.
Post by Mark (fat)IDE raid support (a cheap way to get over tha large hard drive bug
with my hardware)
Unless you run the escolade controller, you are better off with
Software RAID 0, 1 or 1+0. Cheap and fast. Quite stable. Many of the
'so called' ide raid controllers are crap and don't do a credible job.
I can point you to extensive conversations regarding this.
A P-166 is probably not a good choice here. Why worry about a high
performance disk i/o on a low performance machine? It will pretty much
negate any gain you might have. Just using SCSI would be faster.
Modern Linux kernels ignore the bios and mount large hard drives with
no problem. This is pretty much a non-issue these days.
Local CVS
tar
Post by Mark (fat)MAC based access lists
I don't think any mainstream distribution comes with this, but it's
easy to implement.
Post by Mark (fat)A nice Ipchains front end
Install one. However, if this is to remain behind a firewall, it's
probably a moot point, and if you are going to be putting a server on
the internet, there's so many other things to deal with.
Post by Mark (fat)I understand that it is unlikely I will get all this by default but I
am prepared to mod it. I would rather add missing components though
than start with a stock red hat box and strip it down (for fear of
missing something).
I have found a few options so far
E-Smith www.e-smith.org
ClarkConnect http://www.clarkconnect.org
Pizza Box http://www.kyzo.com/
I realise this is off topic but I suspect that allot of IPCOP users
(like me) require a two box network solution and if we can come up
with a nice solution to "recommend" it think it would be appropriate.
So does anyone have any recommendations on either distros that I have
not listed or advice on the ones I have?
I've built and installed lots and lots of Linux boxes and I will say
this: I would go one of three paths.
1. LFS, or Linux from Scratch. This gives you the ultimate power to
define your OS.
Advantages are that everything is compiled from source code,
_everything_, and that you will know exactly what is in there because
you put it there.
Disadvantages, only one. It's time consuming.
2. Redhat 7.2 or Mandrake 8.2.
Advantages are that this gives you the ability to easily find RPM's
that fit and work without banging on them with a hammer. There is a LOT
to be said for running a mainstream distro and the more you install
onto it the more you will be aware of a non-mainstream distro. You will
fight it at many turns.
3. Debian base install and apt-get to get the pieces you want to run.
Advantages are that this is guaranteed to be totally open source and
freely licensed. Anything that is in apt-get repositories has been
rigorously inspected and packaged. Very stable.
My choices, in order of preference would be:
1. Mandrake 8.2's minimal server installation which I'm told can be a
~65 meg install. Then, you can add packages with RPM to go from there.
You will have a very late model kernel to work with, tons of software
that come on the three disk distribution, and a huge user community to
help you.
2. Redhat 7.2 Server install and then spend about 30 minutes with
rpm -qa
and
rpm -e
to list and uninstall everything that I didn't want. This has the
advantage of being a very stable distribution with virtually EVERY
package you would ever want to install being available as an rpm. One
of my favorite choices for a server bacause of addon availability. When
third party vendors release a package, this is always in their 'must
include' list.
3. Debian. This would be a great choice due to the integration of
apt-get and how well everything fits together with minimal fuss. Don't
underestimate this distribution. It's powerful and stable and easy to
administer. Requires slightly more Linux knowhow but gives back to you
in spades.
4. LFS primarily because it's so time consuming. This is the ultimate.
This is very off topic for this list, so may I invite you to join our
Linux User Group mailing list where we can discuss this at length and
there are lots of experts (in every category above) who can help you as
much as you need.
Go to http://leap-cf.org/mailinglist.php3 and join the main mailing
list. Very high signal to noise (very few off topic messages), newbies
-> experienced are welcome. The only real topic limitation is the
discussion of Linux. We have lot's of mailing list subscribers from
around the world, so it's not a local thing at all.
Phil Barnett
Former LEAP President, Vice President and current Ambassador.