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Are there any good resources (videos, ebooks, websites, etc) which allow you to self learn how to configure and manage:

  • Securing a server
  • Web Server (Apache, PHP, MySQL, Perl, TomCat, etc)
  • Mail Server
  • DNS Server, etc

I have a dual Xeon workstation setup with Cent OS and a static IP address with the workstation directly connected to the internet (i.e. the connection is not shared).

I have currently installed Apache on it, but i need further resources to configure it. Also I have bought a domain name but I'm a little confused about what they mean by host name

Also i would like to later configure the network if i want to add more workstations to the network.

I'm configuring this setup to host a few web-apps that I've written, but I have very little experience in configuring a linux based machine, earlier i worked with ready made solutions like WAMP and XAMMP on a windows setup but now there is a need to work with a dedicated machine and I would rather learn webhosting and managing servers.

rzlines
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    Securing the server should be at the top of the list. Then, after you have secured it, install apps one at a time, make sure they are secure too, and move to the next one. – Michael Dillon Oct 22 '09 at 18:59
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    A domain name is something that you buy like serverfault.com. A hostname is something that you makeup and add onto your domain name like www. People often refer to the combo of the two, www.serverfault.com, as a domain name. Every machine should have one main hostname, but if you are going run virtual websites, then it will need to have many hostnames, perhaps in many different domain names as well. – Michael Dillon Oct 22 '09 at 19:01
  • yes i would definitely be looking at hosting multiple sites, would I need another software to manage virtual websites and multiple hostnames? I would not necessarily want to have a different IP per site if possible – rzlines Oct 22 '09 at 19:30
  • No, you don't need extra software. You just need a text editor and an understanding of what to do. – John Gardeniers Oct 22 '09 at 21:38

3 Answers3

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I would check out the resources on Howtoforge.

For example:

Do a search on what you are looking for, the setup you describe (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP goes by the LAMP acronym.)

Dave Drager
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  • I have actually been following the Cent OS 64 bit tutorial http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-centos-5.3-x86_64-ispconfig-3 but the host name part confuses me a bit i have bought a domain name and pointed an A record to my static IP but host name they ask to write as this: server1.example.com do i just blindly replace example with my domain name and do i have to make a server1 as a subdomain and point that to the IP as well? – rzlines Oct 22 '09 at 16:54
  • If you mean you use somedomain.com as your hostname, then that is what you would need to use. Most folks use a subdomain as their server hostname; because if you used the main domain you would need to purchase a new domain for each server. The server hostname does not have to be the name of the website you are trying to launch. Also, since you want to have www.somedomain.com work in addition to somedomain.com, you have to set that up anyway. – Dave Drager Oct 23 '09 at 11:06
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As far as a mail server goes:

I'm a complete noob, working through How to set up a mail server on a GNU / Linux system today. This Ubuntu Postfix guide comes highly recommended!

I can't post any more hyperlinks, but other suggestions for setting up a postfix mail server include:

  • Linux Mail Server Setup and Howto Guide - http://www.linuxmail.info (found this one via google, but it looks good, if you are going to be using the GUI on CentOS)
  • Tutorial: ISP-style Email Service with Debian-Sarge and Postfix 2.1 - http://workaround.org/articles/ispmail-sarge (Debian focused, in-depth look at postfix)
Niel Thiart
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My suggesgtion:

  • apply latest updates, move ssh and ftp to other ports (do not leave them on default ports) and disable root login remotely
  • apache with mod_fcgid
  • postfix/dovecot is the very good combination
mangia
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