[Web Server] Idea's

[sutsurikeru]

My pc is quite the beast and i was looking at running vmware player to test some linux distro's to act as a webserver running apache, php and mysql while i work on a few projects

Been looking at Kubuntu - looks nice gui wise - kde is pretty magical

Any ideas/tips?

 

[Daevius]

I've tried VMware for some OS development, wasn't my favorite, I gone with Boch's, but for a server it might be nice. It will slow down things, but it's worth a try .

Best option, though, would be to run a dual boot.

 

[FragFrog]

Pro-tip: don't bother with the virtualisation :icon6:

Seriously, Windows is perfectly capable of running MySQL, PHP and Apache and a lot faster too than running them in a virtual machine. If you really do wish to work with linux, use the command line interface, that's the only interface you'll get on real webservers.

 

[john_d]

Pro-tip: don't bother with the virtualisation :icon6:

Seriously, Windows is perfectly capable of running MySQL, PHP and Apache and a lot faster too than running them in a virtual machine. If you really do wish to work with linux, use the command line interface, that's the only interface you'll get on real webservers.

what he said. ^^

stop with the linux fans boyish love. linux good but not that good.

 

[sutsurikeru]

"running vmware player to test some linux distro's to act as a webserver running apache, php and mysql"

Its to test - then i can run it on a machine if im happy with it

 

[solpreto]

Completely pointless. If you need a webserver, linux not windows.

Linux is that good. Also, Shut up with the CLI bullshit, He's a new user and would not have a clue how to install any of the stuff from command line.

Ubuntu server edition, install it on a spare HDD, when it loads type:

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Then you have a nice, lightweight GUI to work in. For example, if your username is john, place all your website in /home/john/public_html/ then go to http://dyndns.org and change the dns details for a domain name you register their to your IP address.

Then surf either to your IP address or the domain name and boom, webserver.

PM me for a more detailed guide if you wish

 

[FragFrog]

Bullshit? Have you ever actually managed a webserver? I work as a senior developper at a webhosting / development company, since we write quite exotic applications we often have to modify or install modules onto our linux servers, none of those have a GUI - and this is about a company with over 2000 clients hosted over several dozen webservers. What use is learning how to work with a GUI if you're never going to use it? The only adventage of linux over windows when servers are concerned is a smaller memory footprint, you completely nulify that by using a GUI.

And as for your information, our linux servers tend to get abused more and have more downtime than our windows servers. If I want an additional PHP module to work on windows it's a matter of copy-pasting it's DLL into the link directory and turning it on in the PHP.ini, with our linux servers it often includes having to recompile PHP - you can guess which takes more time. Linux is not that good.

 

[solpreta]

Bullshit? Have you ever actually managed a webserver? I work as a senior developper at a webhosting / development company, since we write quite exotic applications we often have to modify or install modules onto our linux servers, none of those have a GUI - and this is about a company with over 2000 clients hosted over several dozen webservers. What use is learning how to work with a GUI if you're never going to use it? The only adventage of linux over windows when servers are concerned is a smaller memory footprint, you completely nulify that by using a GUI.

And as for your information, our linux servers tend to get abused more and have more downtime than our windows servers. If I want an additional PHP module to work on windows it's a matter of copy-pasting it's DLL into the link directory and turning it on in the PHP.ini, with our linux servers it often includes having to recompile PHP - you can guess which takes more time. Linux is not that good.

He's looking to try out a couple of projects. NOT run a business with 2000 clients. Also, Ubuntu server edition is free, and has everything he needs pre installed.

He won't be advanced enough to use the command line for everything. He just wants to start up a small home server to try things out. The GUI lets him sort that out.

As for the RAM advantage being nullified by this GUI, a simple press of Ctrl + Alt and F5 is not a huge leap to undertake to regain this RAM advantage now is it?

He is not looking to run exotic applications either.

Also, sorry for the double account, but it is only being used to help the OP.

 

[FragFrog]

No, he's trying to learn how to work with Linux webservers. There are no linux webservers with a GUI in the reall world, so how exactly is he going to learn if he only uses the GUI?

The free argument is irrelevant since he already has a windows box. Running it on windows would cost him nothing either.

A decade ago nobody in the linux community would dream of using a GUI for a server, all of those learned the hard way. Hell, untill '98 most people hadn't even heard of a GUI as primary means to control a machine, except the few graphic designers that used Apples. If all of them could learn how to work with a CLI, why shouldn't the TS be able to? To be honest I would find your lack of confidence in his abilities insulting.

 

[Anne Hiro]

No, he's trying to learn how to work with Linux webservers. There are no linux webservers with a GUI in the reall world, so how exactly is he going to learn if he only uses the GUI?

The free argument is irrelevant since he already has a windows box. Running it on windows would cost him nothing either.

A decade ago nobody in the linux community would dream of using a GUI for a server, all of those learned the hard way. Hell, untill '98 most people hadn't even heard of a GUI as primary means to control a machine, except the few graphic designers that used Apples. If all of them could learn how to work with a CLI, why shouldn't the TS be able to? To be honest I would find your lack of confidence in his abilities insulting.

I disagree, I think that a GUI is a great way to learn the basics, and still be able to use it as a normal PC as well with FireFox and other apps that need a GUI

Ubuntu is a great example of this because it puts you in the shallow end and you don't need to do a lot of CLI work. This lets you build up the basics of sudo, mv, cd etc with relative ease.

Why learn the hard way when you can do it so much easier in the GUI? You can alway go out of the GUI by closing X Windows anyway if you wish to use the command line or save on RAM.

 

[john_d]

Frag is right.. ur arguements are stupid and not realistic.

1. Yes! Linux is good
2. but windows can do anything linux can do.
3. windows servers eats more memory ( but hey your not running a website for 100k page views per seconds )
4. apache runs on both windows a linux... ( duh! )
5. GUI for linux servers is just stupid. ( GUI was made for those fanboys who can't impress people with their fancy commandlines ^^ )
6. Memory issues... dedi servers now have 2+ gig in ram. i highly doubt your small website script is going to eat all of that. so why make your life harder?

 

[sutsurikeru]

Im fair new to linux, had a look at it whilst i was doing networking at college few years back not really touched it since - i've been looking at linux with a gui to make my life easier - im not tryin to impress any1 (im sat in my room on my own - who am i going to impress?) or intend to run a dedicated server

Im also going to look at windows 2008

 

[danse]

Despite i'm an anti-fan of Windows i must say that for learning and testing, Windows is much better, especially if you wish to use OS with GUI. As frag said to add a new library in Windows you just do copy paste job. You said that Ubuntu has preinstalled what he need ? How the hell you know what ? The preinstalled distribution of php on linux systems are real crap, they support just the most,really just the most basic functions. And to add any not standard library he would need to recompile the php wich force him to drop the fancy GUI and move to good old terminal. And trust me that sometimes compiling php with the option you want can really make you insane. I've tried to compile myself a php with firebird support on OS X ( i had not terminal knowledge as i used GUI ) it took me few days to learn how the fuck to do it, then i found that im lacking some libraries. One found already compiled ( thank god ), for one i found source ( compiled myself, thank god x2 ) third one i have never found neither compiled, neither source.

 

[theRAGE]

Im also going to look at windows 2008

Really and truly there is no reason to look into Windows Server 2008.

In the XP/2003 era, Server 2003 had IIS 6.0 and you were stuck with IIS 5.1 if you chose XP. Now with Vista/2008, both operating systems ship with IIS 7.0.

From what I understand you're going to be using Apache anyways so... any OS will do fine :X