Re: [Sheflug] Lots of colocated Linux box admin questions

[lance <xxxxx [at] xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 4 Jan 2002, James Wallbank wrote:

> Hi Folks,
> 
> I have a confession to make. At the moment Lowtech webspace is hosted 
> on SUCKY colocated NT4 boxes. They're cheap and convenient but poor, 
> though they work most of the time. Please help me put an end to this 
> proprietary software madness! I want to move all colocated Lowtech 
> domains to Linux ASAP, but it needs to be a smooth changeover.
> 
> Routine activities we'll need to do include:
> 
> Issuing and deleting FTP accounts (50+ accounts)
> Issuing and deleting mail accounts (100+ accounts)
> Hosting multiple domains from a single box. (200mB+)
> Spawning and deleting subdomains and serving them as well. (20+ subdomains)
> Registering and hosting new domains. (20+ domains)
> Transferring away old domains.
> POP3 for multiple domains. (many - as above)
> CGI with Perl & PHP (and more stuff if it seems like a good idea)

Richard mentioned webmin - it will do some, but definitely not all of the 
above.

> 
> At the moment I'm super-happy, because all of these admin issues are 
> NOT MY PROBLEM. I can control all of these functions via a stupidly 
> simple control panel provided by our web host. Also, security is not 
> my problem, which saves me a headache. However, the do-it-yourself 
> ethos of Redundant Technology Initiative suggests that we should take 
> on as many of these tasks as we can.
> 
> And anyway, I'm curious!
> 
> If we change over to a dedicated Linux server, then I'll be able to 
> connect via ssh to a command line and do admin tasks, but what I'd 
> like to know is:
> 
> Can I (conveniently) do all of these things (above) from the command 
> line, and avoid significant disruption while I learn the system and 
> get it operational?

Most - you would have a problem Registering & Hosting new domains and 
transferring away old domains, as you would either need to use a web 
interface or an email service depending on the registrar.

> 
> If not (and bear in mind that "conveniently") then is there a good 
> web admin tool that I can use via http or a similar GUI in order to 
> sort them out?
> 
> What distro should I use? (Excuse me while I retire to the bunker)

We use mainly Redhat.

> What daemons should I have turned on?

As few as possible.

> What remote admin tools should I use?

The ones you like.

> What security tools should I use?

The ones you need .

> Is there a reasonably-priced ISP that leases colocated Linux boxes 
> that will do the job I require?

uklinux.net are just launching a co-location service.

> If not, and we beg, borrow or build a server, then is there a 
> reasonably priced ISP that will give us rack space?

For a fee - yes.

> And if the answer to that last one is "Yes" then will *you* help me 
> to build and install a server locally so that we can test the setup 
> and see how feasible it is to make the changeover smoothly?
> 
> By the way, what I mean by "reasonably priced" is pretty flexible, 
> but doesn't run to the 100+ quid a month that our current host 
> proposes to charge us for a dedicated colocated box. Maybe half that 
> would be more like it, and less would be even better!

The basic entry level service for co-location from uklinux.net is - you 
guessed it - £50 per month _including_ 
a basic PC that will do the job, with 1 GB of data transfer per month.

If you need more then you have to pay more.

There is also a small installation charge.

We take care of installing the distro (RH7.2) and services that you 
require for basic web/mail/ftp hosting, including firewall and dns and you 
get as many ip addresses as you need . We also provide backup mail and 
secondary dns facilities.

And we are locally based - well Stockport isnt that far away :)

Contact me if you want further details.

Regards
Lance
 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> James
> =====
> 

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