We currently resell and are wanting to move to a dedicated in the future. (more control etc)
How much maintence does a server need? on a daily basis etc.?
I know that have to check Cpu useage, load av's, bw analysis to check if everything is working.
But what about other things? security etc?
With Cpanel and its equliqant coming out soon dosnt that auto update security patches etc?

Just need to know how deep the water is going to be :)

Cheers

Craig

Hi Craig,

Go get yourself some good linux books NOW and start reading up. Set yourself up a linux box at home and go through the book chapter by chapter.

There is a lot more to server administration then using a control panel. The more knowledgeable you are, the easier it will be on your clients. Some dedicated server providers will support you from beginning to end, while others will let you sweat it out or ask you to pay for things you should know.

Tabernack said it already, but I have to add:

With Cpanel and its equliqant coming out soon dosnt that auto update security patches etc

I think most admins wouldn't want a cpanel (with all its bugs) that applies patches to the system automatically on sensitive things.

That sounds like some good advise.. I was planning to get a dedicated server but I setup a Linux box to learn with for now. When I feel I know my way around the system as good as ol' DOS, i'll be ready to go. I wouldn't base the decision on how much a control panel will help you with administration. Once you know your way around it should be used more for convenience.

cpanel will only update any security patches/fixes that the cpanel development team adds to the latest build.

Therefore, you're leaving it up to them to update your server with security patches. With the cpanel guys being pretty busy lately and the cpanel split, I'm not too sure that you would want to rely on them to keep your server secure.

From my experience when practising on a linux box at home, don't get too dependant on X Windows as all the server admin is done through telnet/ssh terminal. (Happened to me, especially with Mandrake's rpmdrake)

Thats my little tip, good luck :)

fruitsalad i already have a linux box at home, its used as my little firewall and routing box to serve the internet (just isdn like) to the other computers here at home.

I was just really wondering about all this update stuff that cpanel did i didnt know if it was for just the cpanel program (such as bug fix's) or actual server wide.

We have 2 linux nuts that are partners they just enquired on how much damage the cpanel would do to their work hehe

I will need to brush up a wee bit however because at home i hate to admit it but im a bit dependant on Xwindows.

Anyone recommned some books? i got a 20£ amazon voucher hehe :)

Thanks again

Regards

Craig

If you are talking about auto update the linux system, I would use a perl script called frpms. I've used that script for awhile and I think it's pretty good, make your job a lot easier.

You can put frpms in a cron which run weekly and every week it will check to see if there's a new update then it compares it with your installed rpms. If the script see that you're running an older version of something..and the new updated one is available, it will download the new rpm and automatically install it for you.


drhonk