The Perfect Setup - Debian
Version 1.5
Author: Falko Timme <falko [dot] timme [at] projektfarm [dot] de>
Last edited 03/07/2005

This is a detailed description about the steps to be taken to setup a Debian based server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters (web server (SSL-capable), mail server (with SMTP-AUTH and TLS!), DNS server, FTP server, MySQL server, POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc.).

I will use the following software:

Web Server: Apache 1.3.x
Mail Server: Postfix (easier to configure than sendmail; has a shorter history of security holes than sendmail)
DNS Server: BIND9
FTP Server: proftpd (you could also use vsftpd)
POP3/IMAP: in this example you can choose between the traditional UNIX mailbox format (we then use qpopper/uw-imapd) or the Maildir format (in this case we will use Courier-POP3/Courier-IMAP).
Webalizer for web site statistics


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more at

i'm no fan of debain. but its a great info to have incase i needed one.

No fan of Debian? Debian is by far the best base distro. I decided that I needed to get out and see the world of Fedora that everyone was raving about and I tried it for about 6 months. I set an arbitrary amount of time and couldn't wait for it to be over to wipe that crap off my box and move back to a Debian based system, this time Ubuntu. Unlike Fedora everything worked right out of the box and no RPM hell whatsoever.

In any case, great article I hope it gets more folks to try out Debian.

--P>G>>

I have yet to try ubuntu

only noticed it on distro-watch a couple weeks ago

where have i been hiding, a distro climing the ranks of the HDI ranks w/o me knowing was surprising, not having a big head, but i wouldnt thought SOMEONE wouldve mentioned it

Ubuntu is a more user-friendly distro. More geared towards new users, relatively new.
Personally I'd go with either Debian Woody, Adamantix (if I need ACLs), or any of the *BSD.

when i mean "no fan" doesnt mean i dont like the product. its just easier to implement oracle db on a redhat enterprise linux than debian.

there's always a place for each distro in any implementation, but curently i dont use it.

jmho.

Zing! Got me there! yes lots of commercial software is much easier to install on RHEL (or even Centos) and much (much) easier to get support on.

And I would say that "More geared towards new users" is not entirely correct. It is geared to anyone who doesn't want to worry or doesn't have time to screw with an install. They just want all their hardware to work and have a nice base system ready to start tinkering with. So far on my IBM Thinkpad T41 it has been fantastic, no issues and no futzing to get it going like on FC3, RHEL4, and CentOS4. And what can I say, I'm an APT junkie.

--P>>G>