[Techtalk] Suggestions on setting new server up

[Carla Schroder]

Hi Terry,

Overall your plan looks good. Sticking with software you're already
familiar with is wise, because in all of these categories there are
multiple good choices. So the main difference is not any particular
feature, but how well you know them.

I would definitely go with Debian. CentOS is nice, but in the past
couple years they've experienced a lot of problems with getting
releases out on time. That is a red flag that signals possible other
problems, like timely patches and updates. Debian is wicked good. No
matter what distros I have flings with, I always return home to
Debian :)

best,
Carla

On Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:22:05 -0400
Terry Roy <tech at futurecourse.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I've been using a VPS with cPanel and CentOS for about 10 years now
> and want to move to an unmanaged VPS.  cPanel is serious overkill for
> what I need.
> 
> I've been playing with a Linode for about 6 months now and really,
> really enjoy it.  The specs beat the heck out of any cPanel VPS I've
> been able to find, service is remarkable, price is better and I have
> total control.
> 
> My question now is what OS do I want to go with and what's the best
> way to do things.  I know enough but then I don't.  I've had years of
> experience with Exim, Dovecot, Apache, MySQL, PHP, etc, but I've never
> really installed any of it, other than playing with my Linode.
> 
> My needs are:
> 
> OS - torn between Debian 6 and CentOS 6.  I'm trying to go with the
> smallest Linode available to keep my costs down.  I'm used to CentOS
> but have read that Debian, for a small VPS, is better in terms of
> size and memory usage.
> 
> Mail - thinking Exim & Dovecot, with spamassassin and clamav.  Need
> virtual users for several different domains.  Would like to use some
> type of db, sqlite preferable or MySQL for managing users and
> preferences.  I've seen some setups where the mail is stored in a db.
> Not really sure that I need/want that.  I really don't want to
> consider any other MTA as I don't want a steep learning curve for the
> mail.
> 
> Webmail - thinking Squirrelmail.
> 
> Web - thinking Nginx with PHP, sqlite preferable or MySQL.  I have
> only a couple of sites with different domain names - 1 static and 1
> with a Drupal installation currently using MySQL.  Not too concerned
> about having to migrate my current MySQL db to sqlite for Drupal.
> 
> Security, of course, is most important. After that, is mail. The plan
> for implementation is to first get the OS installed, secure it and
> then work on getting the mail server and associated packages up and
> running then move all mail functions over to the new server.  I have
> a couple of domains that I can test with that won't affect my main
> domains. Then, once I've got the mail server functioning, I can then
> work on the websites and transition over to the new server.
> 
> I've read so much stuff now about implementation that I have confused
> myself about which way is the best to go. Any comments, suggestions,
> experiences, links to resources, etc, that y'all can offer on any
> aspect of the above would be very much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Terry
> 
> 
> 
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