# Setting up a Linux server



## jwhitwort3 (Mar 4, 2011)

Hello all, I've got a few questions concerning the initial setup of a Linux server. I've installed xampp on several pc's to run a local server for development purposes, but here shortly I'm going to be setting up an actual server and these questions come to mind:

1. What would (in your opinion) be the best version of linux for this purpose?(I was thinking debian, or a server strictly distro even if it's just command line interface)

2. What are the differences between installing xampp on a pc for development purposes/and setting up the server?(would one just install xampp and then change ip settings around, or is installation of apache/mysql/php done separately?)

3. When creating the initial partions I asume it would be best to have the server/OS on it's own partitions and disallow privileges to anyone who isn't root, and then create separate partitions for storage of data?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for looking!


----------



## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

I have a different opinion about runing XAMP over just running a LAMP server, but I won't delve into that too much.

1. The best versions on linux is kinda personal. It all depends on what experience you have and how much time you have to invest in it. Since you have run Ubuntu before I would recommend Ubuntu 12.04 LTS for your server. It runs from terminal so no GUI but it will give you all the functionality that you need. 

2. There isn't too much difference between the two. If you are setting up XAMPP for development then you don't normally need to have it connected to the outside world. When you setup your Linux web server then you will want to either register a domain name or get a free dynamic dns address which is free. 

3. This is an interesting question and one that deals a lot with Linux and how the permissions are set up based on which distro you choose. To answer your first question about partitions it depends on whether you are setting up a box to have only Linux installed or whether there are going to be other OS's on the box. 

As for storage partitions you can set up just about as many partitions as you want but the main ones that you will want is / (or root), /home, then you can have different partitions for each user if you want. You don't really need to have a separate partition for that data like you would with Windows.

To answer your question about root, for the most part no one has access to root like they do in Windows. Root is its own user and has its own password. There are some files that can only be run by root or the user SUDO. SUDO gives a normal user powers to run a command or program with root like permissions for only that command or program, then the user goes back to the normal permissions.


----------



## trackme (May 16, 2012)

A couple of advantages of using *XAMPP* for development. 

1. You can start and stop the whole webserver+database stack with one command.
2. XAMPP is portable so you can carry it around on a thumb drive.
3. The security settings are strict by default, nobody but you will be able to access the web server.


----------

