[ale] Help with server setup

[Ed Cashin]

On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 5:26 PM, Craig Button <craigb.rn at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've been a linux desktop user for a long time 12+ years I think. I have
> never done a server set up though.

The hard thing about a server is setting it up so that only the users
you like use it.  If you pay close attention to security, the server will
be less likely to be taken over by unscrupulous folks who want it to
serve pirated media or software, etc.

But paying attention to security will not really qualify as "non tech",
so you might need to make a transition from non tech to expert.  :)

If you aren't doing this for pay, you'll probably want to do it in a way
that minimizes the chances that you'll need to noodle with the system.
When I was in that situation, I used FreeBSD, which has an immutable
files feature.  With Linux you could get a similar effect by customizing
a live CD, so that the server runs off read-only media, so that a reboot
could undo any malicious attempts to take over the server.  Just a
thought.

-- 
  Ed Cashin <ecashin at noserose.net>