The Installation Of A Home Server

[fila 0]

The installation of a home server

 

A home server is the name of a computer. This computer is connected with the internet. The home server makes websites available for the internet.

 

Nowadays it is in a way very easy to install a home server.

 

Ubuntu offers a server operating program. Most of the installation steps make their own choices. There are just two steps where the installation process asks for a decision. The second step the installation program asks about what kind of server you want to install. You need to make a decision about this step and 1 other step. All other steps are made by the installation program or the option to choose is pretty much obvious.

 

The operating program for the server can be found here:

 

https://www.ubuntu.com/download/server

 

This operating program is available in 64-bit only.

 

Edited June 21, 2014 by fila (see edit history)

[yordan 10]

 

This operating program is available in 64-bit only.

Sorry, fila, I cannot accept this statement.

Most of standard Linux distros have a 32-bit and a 64-bit version, I'm pretty sure that ubuntu has a 32-bit release.

32-bit or 64-bit choice depends of your hadware, 32-bit OS can run on 64-bit systems, and 32-bit hardwares cannot take benefit of the huge memory 64-bit access features.

Also, "server" is a bad way to name your thing. If your hardware hosts an Oracle database, your computer is an Oracle database server. If your hardware has an apache service started, your computer is a web server.

When you boot your computer on the installation media (a DVD or a USB flashdisk), you are prompted for the stand features you want to install (a standalone system, a web server, a thin client, or a custom install).

And at any time you can add features to your installation, when you add server services your system moves to the server state.

We have serveral tutos around here in the Xisto forums explaining how to install some linux systems, and the features people like or not.

Regards

Yordan

[fila 0]

32 bit version and 64 bit version

 

Dear Mr. Yordan,

 

Thank you very much for your friendly and smart reply. Your kind comment is very helpfull.

 

The information on the linked website is shown in the screen captured picture in this post. This information and your post make it clear that the available versions of Ubuntu Server need a little bit of further research. Making a statement based on the information found on one website might not be the best way to collect information to post in the forum of Xisto.

 

The linked website states:

 

64-bit only.

 

This phrase is visible in this picture.

 

It is indeed very doubtfull that this information is correct.

 

Friendly greetings from fila.

 

Edited June 21, 2014 by fila (see edit history)

[yordan 10]

OK, this distro is for 64-bits system.

That does not mean that you need a 64-bit system if you want to install a linux server. Only if you want th server version of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

[fila 0]

Version

 

It seems a 32-bits version of Ubuntu Server is available on the internet.

 

A picture with a capture of the computer screen with the website of Ubuntu shows the option to download a 32-bits version of Ubuntu Server using a torrent download way.

 

The link to this webpage of the website of Ubuntu is:

 

http:// https://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads

 

https://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads.

 

The words: '64-bits only' on the download page of Ubuntu have probably to do with the link, that opens the download of the 64-bits version only.

 

Easiness

 

Dear Moderator yordan explains in his post, that the forum contains some topics with tutorials explaining the installation of Linux.

 

The only threads about the installation of Linux found at this moment are threads, in which the poster assumes Linux is already installed on the computer of the reader. The installation of Linux is not explained in these tutorial topic.

 

The point of this topic is to show, how amazingly simpel it is to create a home server nowadays. And the second goal of this topic is to explain the way to install a home server from the start and from scratch. The third idea behind this topic is to demonstrate the pleasure a self controlled home server delivers. For these reasons this topic seems to have some value in itself.

 

The found topics about the installation of a Linux Server are the following topics:

 

http:// http://forums.xisto.com/topic/56873-gnulinux-webserver-install-apache-webserver-php-mysql

 

http://forums.xisto.com/topic/56873-gnulinux-webserver-install-apache-web-server-php-mysql/
'>http://forums.xisto.com/topic/56873-gnulinux-webserver-install-apache-web-server-php-mysql/

 

http ://http://forums.xisto.com/topic/56875-gnulinux-web-server-apache2-php-mariadb/

 

http://forums.xisto.com/topic/56875-gnulinux-web-server-apache2-php-mariadb/
'>http://forums.xisto.com/topic/56875-gnulinux-web-server-apache2-php-mariadb/

 

This topic uses VirtualBox. This seems pretty complicated.

 

http: //http://forums.xisto.com/topic/18547-installing-lamp-kubuntu/

 

http://forums.xisto.com/topic/18547-installing-lamp-kubuntu/
'>http://forums.xisto.com/topic/18547-installing-lamp-kubuntu/

 

This topic assumes Linux is installed too.

 

http ://http://forums.xisto.com/topic/2602-howto-setup-dhcp-server-linux-allot-ips-dynamically/

 

http://forums.xisto.com/topic/2602-howto-setup-dhcp-server-linux-allot-ips-dynamically/
'>http://forums.xisto.com/topic/2602-howto-setup-dhcp-server-linux-allot-ips-dynamically/

 

This quote shows the assumption of the Original Poster:

 

 

 

Assumptions:
a. You have a Linux Server up and running with DHCP pre-installed on it. This will be referred to as your "DHCP Server" from now on.
b. You have another Windows 2000/XP workstation running and connected to the Linux Server. This is required to test if the DHCP is being able to allot the IP addresses properly. This will be referred to as your Client Host or DHCP Client from now on.
c. You have only ONE network card (NIC) attached to the Linux Server and it's name according to Linux Device List is eth0. If you are unsure about what your NIC is referred to as, type the following in a linux console:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
shell> ifconfig
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

 

The links and the quote might show, that the tutorials about the installation of a Linux server are complicated compared to the simple way of the installation of Ubuntu Server offered by Ubuntu in 2014.

 

Links to other topics with tutorials and information about the installation of an Ubuntu Server will probably appreciated.

 

Edited June 22, 2014 by fila (see edit history)

[yordan 10]

 

The links and the quote might show, that the tutorials about the installation of a Linux server are complicated compared to the simple way of the installation of Ubuntu Server offered by Ubuntu in 2014.

If you really felt this, something is wrong somewhere.

Ubuntu is one of the more complicated Linux distros. Most of competitors have distros which install very easily, really straightforward : you instert the installation CD, you power on your system, and you click "yes" each time a question is asked.

Of course, one of these questions is something like "I will install everything from scratch, all your data will be lost, do you agree", if you say "yes" you must have previously performed a backup of all your valuable files.

 

This topic uses VirtualBox. This seems pretty complicated.

Seem complicated, but it isn't. Virtualization is the major trend in the today IS business. You have to learn it, it's a necessary step in your future job if you want to play in the computer world.

Today most of computers are somehow oversized, and have more power than necessary for a single user, or a single "application" like a web service. So, the trend is to install several servers inside a single computer. Each of them is named "virtual" because they share the same hardware, but each one of them acts as a single computer, having it's CD, Ethernet adapter, keyboard, display.

Today, a guy who wants to learn Linux and needs Microsoft Windows for learning purposes needs two separate computers. He can play with dual-boot things, but this will allow a single computer at a time, no way to learn how to share filesystems between Linux and Windows.

In the virtualized world, you install for instance VirtualBox, and you have several computers inside your box. So, you can see the difference between a Ubuntu Server and a RedHat server. Each virtual machine will behave as a separate physical machine, and you can learn two things on the same computer, and see if the Ubuntu documentation explains better than the RedHat documents

And, obviously, in it's tutorial, the guy you are talking about supposes that you already did the standard things, meaning that you have a computer already physically connected to the internet with a tested uplink, so when you will install everything from scratch if you type "yum update" the computer will be able by itself to connect to the network, and go to the update fileservers and get the updated software.

I love this kind of topics, because,

1. First of all, you can forget all the virtualbox things, continue reading and following the step-by-step instructions for installing a standalone machine.

2. If you don't have money enough and you cannot buy a second and a third computer for tests purposes, follow the instructions for installing virtualbox and then continue the tutorial and have a second system inside the same box and have two operating systems. For instance having a Ubuntu server inside your Windows client machine, and start doing client/server things for accessing, inside your php on your Windows machine querying a distributed database, the data which are hosted on the central server.

[mastercomputers 0]

Hi fila,

 

Most of my guides that I wrote were specifically catered for my minimal installation which may have been mentioned in those posts.

 

If you know the difference between a desktop and a server operating system, then there is really not a lot of difference except for the software that is being offered to you. Server OS is a slimmed down version of the Desktop version removing a lot of GUI and non-productive software, it may even use different utilities to get the installation done, especially in a command line fashion. The idea with a server is that it should not have anyone physically using it unless it's undergoing maintenance by the server administrator, but even this is usually done remotely unless it involves hardware.

 

My minimal installation is like the server version without actually installing any services (software for serving clients). The reason I use Desktop version in the installation is because it has more software given and gives you more control over what you may want to install. I do not wish everyone to follow my guides exactly. They may base some of the information on it, but maybe they would prefer a desktop GUI because command line is too hard for them or they want it to be easier on them and know how to use their mouse better. My method is usually always start with the most minimalistic and cleanest way, then add only what you need, keeping the hundreds of software that you may never ever use out of your system as a lot of Linux is now leaning towards having too much bloatware but this is to give it the out of a box experience but not suitable for those who are already experienced.

 

 

Cheers,

 

MC

[yordan 10]

Yeah, I already suffered with so-called "server" installations. These things are terrific! As long as everything is running fluently, wy not. But if a problem occurs, debugging is almost impossible. When "ping" or "traceroute" or "xterm" commands answer "not found", the administrator feels rather stupid.