Creating a server - What OS to use?

J

jnick

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I have a spare dell box just sitting around, so I'm going to use it for server purposes. I'll host my vent, game servers from the machine. I will also begin experimenting with FTP and other servers, just to get the experience.

I have Fedora 5, Win XP Pro, or Windows Server 2003 that I can use on the server. All are legit, licensed OS's. I'm just curious as to what you guys think will be the best bet for me to use? As of right now, I'm thinking fedora. I don't have to much exposure to linux, and knowing how powerful linux is as a networking OS, I figured I should start messing around with it. Not to mention, I have a linux class this semester :p.

If I do use fedora, there should be no trouble with a windows machine connecting to and transferring files to the server, right?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!
 
If it's just to play around and learn a bit, sure, give linux a try.
 
Linux is a good system to use but if you have a legit copy of windows 03 I would prob use that.
 
Yeah, Linux is a great OS to play with. I personally run Gentoo on my own server box.
 
Use Linux. I enjoy running game server related stuff from Linux. You should have no problems transferring files from and to Linux/Windows as long as you setup Samba correctly. Plus using Linux will be good to prepare for your Linux Class.
 
Add another vote for Linux, however, please don't use Fedora Core 5. It's been end of lifed.

Get yourself a copy of CentOS 5 or 4.5; it's basically Red Hat Enterprise, but free. It's also designed to be a server, while Fedora is also used as a desktop.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I guess I'll give linux a shot :p.

Being the above poster mentions not to use the Fedora distro, is CentOS 5 the distro of choice? Or is there something else I should be looking at?

Thanks!
 
Linux. for sure. CentOS is nice and fedora isn't so bad as a server

look into samba.

there are many http / ftp / ssh etc programs out there that you can find too. it's more or less trying a few and seeing which you like best.
 
Depending on the power of the server, why dont you load up vmware and play with all the OSs your machine can handle. :)
 
Install Windows, go download a free copy of "VMware Server" and then experiment with linux in Virtual Machines. And the above poster didn't say "don't use Fedora", he said "don't use Fedora 5." Go download the latest fedora release. :)
 
personally I like gentoo, but probably easiest out of the box distro to use would be ubuntu
 
Orinthical said:
Install Windows, go download a free copy of "VMware Server" and then experiment with linux in Virtual Machines. And the above poster didn't say "don't use Fedora", he said "don't use Fedora 5." Go download the latest fedora release. :)
Click to expand...

This makes more sence. That way if the OP really screws something up in the linux side why making changes it is no big deal.
 
I would suggest the opposite. Install Linux and VMware server for linux and then virtualize your Windows and other Linux distributions.

This way you are not tying up a license on a box providing services to you. I did it this way so I can have a server providing reliable services (file shares, print server, etc) that I don't really touch, and virtualize the rest. It allows me a little more freedom in moving my Licensed OS's around, as well as provide reliable services. (i.e. The old lady wont complain that the music or pictures are not available because I fubard Samba up.)
 
Yeah, sorry for the confusion.

Fedora is fine, if that's your bag, but at least go with 6. I personally prefer CentOS (if we're talking RH based flavors), but quite a few people like Fedora. The newest version of Fedora is 7, but 6 is still supported. I believe 8 is coming out soon, isn't it?
 
Yep, iirc they just recently release rc1. Probably a few months before 8 comes out.
 
Ive you arent savy with linux, you might want to start with a debian based flavor like ubuntu or something.
Debian os's are just as powerful as others, and they have a very nice software aquisition system (aptget) setup, and a huge comunity for support etc.

P.S. Please dont flame me for suggesting ubuntu. I really dont care if any of you think it isnt leet enough beacuase its semi user friendly. You can do everything on it that you can on any other os.
 
thedintedcan said:
P.S. Please dont flame me for suggesting ubuntu. I really dont care if any of you think it isnt leet enough beacuase its semi user friendly. You can do everything on it that you can on any other os.
Click to expand...

Really?

Code: 
NB:~# ssh storage
root@storage's password:
Last login: Tue Aug 21 13:35:26 2007 from nb
Linux storage 2.6.18-4-686 #1 SMP Wed May 9 23:03:12 UTC 2007 i686

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
root@storage:~#

:D

Just kidding. Debian is actually my first choice as well. Apt > Yum IMO.
 
Thanks for the information guys. The only reason I stated Fedora 5 is because last semester, I took a "Network Operating Systems" class, of which we worked solely with Fedora 5. Because of this, I have some exposure to the OS and I also have the install CD on hand :p.

Though, don't get me wrong, I'm very much a linux nub!

I also like the idea of using VMware. I've used it at work, just to mess around (loaded windows 3.1 as a virtual machine :p). However, I'm confused on what moetop is suggesting. What's the difference if I use Windows as my base, compared to Linux? I understand it has to do with licensing, but if I use Windows as a VM, I still need to activate it, don't I?

Thanks!
 
Linux is, usually, less hardware intensive.
This means more resources for the virtualizations.


And linux is just cool :cool:
 
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