Emil's blog

So, here is my first attempt to build a server.

The computer used is a Dell P3 500Mhz with 128Mb Ram, 6.5 Gb HDD and 2 network cards. Later on i want to add another 80Gb HDD for a file server and FTP server, but first things first.

So, I've settled to 3 possible candidates for the server :
IPCop - the smallest and fastest firewall
Ubuntu Server - "has a strong heritage for reliable performance and predictable evolution"
ClarkConnect - a very nice, easy to use and configure server and gateway

Before anybody start jumping on me, i know it's not the best idea to have the firewall and web/file/ftp server on the same computer, but i don't have another spare computer to put the firewall on.

So, here's what i would need from the server :

1. web admin (as in remote administration)
   
2. firewall
   
3. Web-server (Apache + PHP + MySQL maybe even Perl/Python)
   
4. FTP server
   
5. Printer server (only for the internal network, no outside control if possible)
   
6. File server (probably Samba since I need to access it from Windows computers, this should also work only on the internal network)
   
7. antivirus/anti-spy (Clamwin, FProt or any other I can find)
   Also, maybe later on (but first i have to get the other things working):
   
8. maybe a torrent client (if possible with web interface)
   
9. maybe also a download (and even P2P download) client (if possible with web interface)
   

So my first try was with IPCop.
It was very easy to install using the Quick Start Guide. But as any user of IPCop will tell you, IPCop is just a firewall, so it has support only for points 1 and 2 (maybe even 7 with some addons).
So, even tough i liked it, i won't be using IPCop. Maybe later on I'll add another computer that will be just the firewall, and then i will install IPCop on that, since i really liked the easy of installation and the fact that the entire installation is less than 100Mb.

Second try was Clark-Connect.
This one is very nice, very well built, you don't have to "thinker" too much with it to work, all i had to do was that after install i had to configure and enable the DHCP server, from then on all the configuration has been done from the web interface. I have to say it's a very nice distribution, and one of the best things is that if you register your system (and registration is free) you'll be able to see reports and warnings sent by the system from your "homepage" on ClarkConnect's servers. Another very nice feature is that you also get a free DNS from Clark-Connect, so you don't have to remember your IP in order to access the computer. Except for points 7,8 and 9, all others worked "out of the box" (even those might work easily, i just didn't have time yet to play with them).

Third try was Ubuntu Server (6.10).
Well, i can't say much about it yet, since i didn't manage yet to configure it to work as i wanted. I'm not saying the distribution is not good, since I believe Ubuntu has the most forums on the net, i just didn't have time yet to play with it. All i can say is that I've heard a lot of good things about it, that's why I want to try it out and see how it works.

Untill i have time to play a little more with Ubuntu, i'll keep using ClarkConnect. Then i'll decide which one to use for the server.

I'll keep you up to date with my experience.
I'd also like to hear other people's thoughts about such a server configuration (specially about if the given hardware would even be able to handle it)