Linux Tips & Tricks

I went up through setting up and configuration of Fedora server. The installation went incredibly smooth. I must admit that Sulphur is lightning fast, although I loaded my server with over 1200 files. I followed almost to the point the advice of another Howto on Forge.org who recommends to stop the following services in order to free system resources and enhance security. The guy tells us to disable the following:

• acpid
• anacron
• apmd
• autofs
• bluetooth
• cups
• firstboot
• gpm
• haldaemon
• messagebus
• mdmonitor
• hidd
• ip6tables
• kudzu
• lvm2-monitor
• netfs
• nfslock
• pcscd
• portmap
• rpcgssd
• rpcidmapd
• sendmail
• smartd
• yum-updates

I agree with most of his choices but would recommend to proceed carefully. I recall that once after I disabled cups services on one of Linux machines(because I did not intend to use the server for printing), the machine kept on generating errors until I just damned it all and enabled it back. For that reason I would not recommend for you to disable messagebus, kudzu and lvm2-monitor. Besides, some of you may be using Midnight Commander, so you will definitely need gpm. And those of you who prefer sendmail as your SMTP and iptables for security would, naturally, keep them too.

There is another suggestion. If you have time and resources don’t move your critically important stuff to the newly set up server. Give it time and let it steam for a while. Check the logs from time to time and see how it runs. This is especially true with experimental platforms like Fedora. You don’t wanna get stressed with unusual kernel panics or unexpected freezing of some services at the time when you don’t expect it.

By making sure that everything is in sync and working well, you will save your time and money and will have a hi-quality server that will run headache-free for the next several years. Among servers park of our web analytics company we still have older versions of Fedora servers running smoothly for over three years without causing us problems. We tested each platform for thirty days each before moving them to do some serious business for us.

Fedora 9 has arrived at last. Naturally, I already downloaded and burned the discs. But before I start setting and testing Fedora as a server and a desktop, I need to do my reading. As an ancient Chinese proverb says: “if you participate in the unknown game, never make a first move”. I already brushed through multiple reviews of beta and pre -release versions. But I need to read a review of somebody with reputation about the final version. This is the requirement of our web analytics company too.

There is already some interesting material in HowtoForge written by a famous volunteer Falco. There is also a new material describing setup of a Fedora 9 desktop as well. Falco’s recommended server configuration is based on the following applications: Apache web server (SSL-capable) with PHP5 and Ruby, Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, and ISP firewall.

I am not much into Ruby, so I will get by without it. And I prefer Sendmail to Postfix, so I will go along with it. As usual, Falco does not use Iptables firewall but chooses ISPConfig, while I like Iptables and plan to use it.

There were several bugs that Falco discovered during setup, probably for the first time, especially with Network Manager that prevents to connect properly to Internet. I have encountered minor problems with Network Manager too and always disabled it, so it would not interfere with my network choices. He also disables SELinux and I wholeheartedly agree with this choice because SELinux caused me a lot of grief before. There are other more comprehensive ways to make your system secure unless one has some kind of paranoia.

I don’t recommend installing either proftpd or vsftpd unless you plan to provide web hosting services or want multiple users to access your server. You can also decide for yourself whether you want to install Webalizer or you would like to process your logs differently.

You also have a choice to install your server with or without Gnome. If before visual interface for the server created unnecessary overhead, now with all dual core and quad core processors and abundance of memory of modern computers, just indulge yourself a little. Go wild and install the GNOME.

Fedora 9 is almost here! I installed a counter which I will naturally remove as soon as Fedora 9 will be available for download. This new version is called Sulphur and promises new exciting features, like Firefox 3, Bluetooth enhancements, ext4 filesystem support.

Developers also promise to improve USB support - live USB images will persist between booting at last.  There is much more, but I will just wait and see. True, there will be bugs to clean and adjustments to make. But if you go through with customization, it is very rewarding experience. In spite of what people say about Fedora, its instability and all, this Linux version is great for experimentation. I have several Fedora servers that I customized personally, and, surprisingly, they outlived some RedHat and CentOS machines. Besides, Fedora is great for learning Linux and understanding what future holds for Linux.

As for comparison between Fedora and Ubuntu, it is hard for me to say. I have a couple of Ubuntu desktops and they are fine. But I am not much into desktops anyways. Sometimes, there are tasks that require a robust small server and customized Fedora is the way to go.