fedora 16 as a server distro

[seby]

I have been running home fedora 10 /11 headless server for a while now, I have been pretty happy with it but I think its time for an upgrade to fedora 16.
Is fedora 16 suitable for a server or should I be looking at another distro?

Also I would like to know what would be the best way to backup my OS that resides on 2x 40G drives in a software raid with lvm2 to another 40GB drive.

[linuxwin2k]

It's suitable fo server.
You can also try CentOS.

[jpollard]

fedora 16 is drastically different in administration than F10/11.

Try Fedora 14 or CentOS instead - MUCH better for a server.

[seby]

Originally Posted by jpollard

fedora 16 is drastically different in administration than F10/11.

Try Fedora 14 or CentOS instead - MUCH better for a server.

I liked fedora. Is ubuntu server any good? I like the fact that its got good support. There is always a guide here or there for it when I search for solutions.


I am probably more interested in cloning my os to the single 40Gb HDD. I want it to be bootable and install the updated OS on the software raided lvm HDD's.

[seabird]

loads of ways to backup the operating system. You can just rar all the files to a other disk or home folder. Linux lets you access everything you need while it is running.

just run as root:

tar cvpzf backup.tgz --exclude=/proc --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/backup.tgz --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/sys /

You can edit this line to your needs. As you see it will skip some folders (leave it like this). Add --exclude=/home if you don't want to back your home folder. Once you are done, copy backup.tgz to a other location and you are good to go

[DBelton]

I have never had real good success in backing up the entire operating system since it's really easier to reinstall it rather than restore form a backup.

What I have backed up is a file that has all of the packages I installed with yum, then back up my configuration changes.

I can reinstall the OS, run the file with my installed packages through yum and install them again, then restore my config file changes.

That gets my OS back really close to how it was.

You can get a file with all of your currently installed packages really easily, too..

su -
(root password)

rpm -qa --queryformat '%{NAME\n} | tee rpmlist.txt

If you wish to read that list back into yum and reinstall all of the packages...

sed -i 's/^/install /' rpmlist.txt
sed '$a\run' rpmlist.txt > rpmlist2.txt

yum shell rpmlist2.txt

That's also good for when you do a fresh install instead of upgrading from one version to another, but you could have packages that don't exist in the new version.

I keep a list of packages that I always install when I do a fresh Fedora install, then it's fairly simple to install all of the repo's that I use, and run one yum command to install all my packages

[seabird]

Fedora 16 is a very good platform. Yes, coming from F10/F11 there might be some learning involved again, but what would the fun be without it.

besides, switching to a non-rpm based distro (ubuntu) there will be learning involved too... (no more yum install for examble. All of a sudden it is apt-get???)

[seby]

Originally Posted by seabird

Fedora 16 is a very good platform. Yes, coming from F10/F11 there might be some learning involved again, but what would the fun be without it.

besides, switching to a non-rpm based distro (ubuntu) there will be learning involved too... (no more yum install for examble. All of a sudden it is apt-get???)

BTW. My home server is a P4 3ghz 512MB ram. Fedora 16 installation requirements state 1GB RAM. will it still be OK?

I know yum just enough to get by, and learning apt-get shouldn't be a problem. If I am going to have to install new version rather than upgrade, then I it might be an opportunity to try ubuntu. Might be easier to support later on. Plus there are more of applications that have packages for ubuntu than fedora= easy installs. ie sabnzbd

[Bert Rolston]

Originally Posted by seby

[SNIP] ...... If I am going to have to install new version rather than upgrade, then I it might be an opportunity to try ubuntu. Might be easier to support later on.

Hi Seby,

I've been looking at server distros for a while now.
Ubuntu server does not run a GUI by default .... so if you aren't comfortable with the command line it could be frustrating to use.

CentOS another option.
It is recompiled RedHat Enterprise Linux source with all RedHat branding replaced by CentOS branding. A lot of information for this distro can be obtained directly from the RedHat forums or adapted from the Fedora forums. You can run a GUI on CentOS and from memory it uses KDE by default.
Support for CentOS follows the RedHat development / support schedule.

If you want a pre-configured server that will work well out of the box you could try SME Server, which (according to Distrowatch) is based on Fedora / CentOS. This distro is highly configured and uses a proprietary web management interface. But it just chunks along and is super reliable. I set one up over three years ago and it hasn't missed a beat. THe amount of software available is similar to Fedora / Redhat.
SME is a highly secured workgroup type server distro so don't expect to run Gnome or KDE on it. SME discourages a GUI for security reason.
Support is good through tehir forums, and I believe it would follow a similar schedule to Fedora / CentOS.

I've also investigated FreeNAS and Openfiler NAS distros but have yet to trial either. If you want fairly simple file sharing at home then a NAS may be all you need. If you want more info on these distros you can find it at
FreeNAS -http://www.freenas.org
Openfiler - http://www.openfiler.com

A useful website to get info about different distros is http://distrowatch.com

Well that's my 2c worth, hope it is helpful.

Bert

[seby]

Originally Posted by Bert Rolston

Ubuntu server does not run a GUI by default .... so if you aren't comfortable with the command line it could be frustrating to use.

CentOS another option.
It is recompiled RedHat Enterprise Linux source with all RedHat branding replaced by CentOS branding. A lot of information for this distro can be obtained directly from the RedHat forums or adapted from the Fedora forums. You can run a GUI on CentOS and from memory it uses KDE by default.
Support for CentOS follows the RedHat development / support schedule.

If you want a pre-configured server that will work well out of the box you could try SME Server, which (according to Distrowatch) is based on Fedora / CentOS. This distro is highly configured and uses a proprietary web management interface. But it just chunks along and is super reliable. I set one up over three years ago and it hasn't missed a beat. THe amount of software available is similar to Fedora / Redhat.
SME is a highly secured workgroup type server distro so don't expect to run Gnome or KDE on it. SME discourages a GUI for security reason.
Support is good through tehir forums, and I believe it would follow a similar schedule to Fedora / CentOS.

I've also investigated FreeNAS and Openfiler NAS distros but have yet to trial either. If you want fairly simple file sharing at home then a NAS may be all you need. If you want more info on these distros you can find it at
FreeNAS -http://www.freenas.org
Openfiler - http://www.openfiler.com

A useful website to get info about different distros is http://distrowatch.com

Well that's my 2c worth, hope it is helpful.

Bert

Thanks all.
I would not be running a GUI anyway because I administer it remotely via ssh.
This server runs SAMBA file shares,
Apache HTTP server
VSFTP
MySQL
SVN

[jpollard]

Actually CentOS uses Gnome, but both are available.

[beaker_]

If it's a server. Then no, you don't want F16. It's better than 15 but I'd go no further than 14 without a box to test on. However you really want to run either Scientific Linux or CentOS anyway. Both are RHEL clones with long term support and are about ~F11 - F13.

[seby]

I have been with Fedora since C4 and Red Hat on desktop. It's been fun with Fedora but now that Fedora 16 is not a good choice for server I decided to move from Fedora 10 to Ubuntu server. Considered CentOS but reading on the forums it does not have as much packages available as Fedora and Ubuntu.
I am now moving to Ubuntu land, thanks and goodbye.

[jpollard]

Lost another one.