Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Colocation and Data Centers : Getting prepared for a dedicated server or co-lo

[riverpast]

Hi guys,

I will have to move to either a dedicated server or a co-lo in two to three month. I need some suggestions.

I am very familiar with computers, Windows, Mac, and have used a little bit Linux Mandrake, but I am not a console type of person - prefer GUI.

Right now I am thinking about getting Linux Mandrake ProSuite, and getting a used 1U server (the one I am thinking of is a 650mhz PIII/1 GIG RAM/2x18G SCSI HD). The web site is for my software, so the main traffic is download. Right now it is about 2G/day, has been going up steadily over the last three months and I expect it to continue. About 40 to 60 visitors per hour average, and again, I expect this to be up.

My questions are:
1. Is the server spec good enough for the kind of traffic I have?
2. Is Linux Mandrake ProSuite a good choice? would like to hear from anyone who is using it.
3. To reduce security risk, I think I will only run HTTP, mySQL and FTP on this box. Is there any other server I should enable?
4. What's the best way to learn? Any book recommendations?

Thanks

John

[webworkz]

1. Yes, the specifications of your server will handle your current load fine, and would actually handle much more load.

2. Mandrake isn't really a good server platform choice. As much as I hate to say it, I would be looking into RedHat as it is more thoroughly supported. If you're looking to learn command line and true Unix, you might want to use FreeBSD. If you ever get lost, you can use Webmin [see below].

3. You may need to run SSH if you are going to use remote command line. If not, you might want to look into VNC [ http://www.realvnc.com ] which will allow you to see the machine's GUI over a remote connection. Its default port is 5900.

Another good choice would be Webmin [ http://www.webmin.com ] for remote administration. Its default port is 10000.

4. The best way to learn would be to load up a local copy of the same OS and play with httpd, mysqld, etc. on the machine. That way, if you make a mistake; it won't take down your production web server.

Also, once you get into Linux; buy a book called "Linux Server Hacks", published by O'Reilly. It has a lot of neat tweaks/etc.



EDITED: I made it sound like your server specifications would just not support anything above your current load, which is incorrect.

[riverpast]

Thanks Justin,

One more questions:

One option is to use Windows 2000 or 2003 server for this. I know most people run the hosts on Linux here. I would like to hear arguments on why I should choose one over the other.

Thanks

John

[xisp]

Linux is cheaper and there are fewer patches install.

However, I would choose the OS that best suited what I planned to run. .NET, ASP, MS Access, etc would be far better on Windows and PHP, MySQL, etc are more suited to Linux...

alex