Advice, Distro, etc.

RockLobster

RockLobster

RockLobster

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Joined
2 Sep 2007
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Hi All

We have a Windows 2003 Server in work running our Moodle setup. It falls over now and again, heavens knows why. We have a spare server and I have mentioned to management that Moodle would be probably be better off running on a Linux distro with Apache.

Which distro would you recommend? The only problem is, I am a noob when it comes to Linux, etc. I used have Ubuntu installed on my laptop but that's how far it goes. My other concern is security, is it difficult to secure a linux distro? Moodle will be available on our Intranet and via the Internet so it needs to be fairly secure.

Cheers
 
For a server I'd recommend Debian (especially as you have Ubuntu experience, and Ubuntu is based on Debian)... but you could always just use Ubuntu nonetheless. It works as a server OS as well as it does a desktop OS.

In terms of the securing your server I'd recommend having a look at Bastille, which is a Linux "hardening" program... http://bastille-linux.sourceforge.net/ It not only hardens your server, but it also explains why you should make the changes as opposed to just doing it and not teaching you anything.
 
I think shifting moodle to a linux based server is a good idea. I personally wouldnt touch ms server with a 90ft barge pole. I suggest maybe trying one of the easier to use distros to start with maybe something with a gui if your computer stats allow for it. It might be worth giving something like debian a try. someone else may tell you a different distro but it's horse for courses really pretty much any distro can be made into a server without very much effort at all. Maybe you could give the guys over at linuxquestions a shout and they could direct you a little better than I have. (I just find it really difficult to help people I guess I'm not cut out to be a teach lol)
 
RockLobster said:
Hi All

We have a Windows 2003 Server in work running our Moodle setup. It falls over now and again, heavens knows why. We have a spare server and I have mentioned to management that Moodle would be probably be better off running on a Linux distro with Apache.

Which distro would you recommend? The only problem is, I am a noob when it comes to Linux, etc. I used have Ubuntu installed on my laptop but that's how far it goes. My other concern is security, is it difficult to secure a linux distro? Moodle will be available on our Intranet and via the Internet so it needs to be fairly secure.

Cheers
Click to expand...

I would also second that choice of Debian for a Linux server.

Security wise, you could try SELinux and/or apparmour - depends how important the information you are protecting is... The most important thing is keeping up to date with the security patches released and on top of upgrading.

There is too much to mention about security here, it really is a huge area. If you want to know something more specific feel free to ask.
 
I'm friggin fuming, I wasn't in work today and they got some consultant to install all this. They want me to administer this server including the moodle setup. How the heck are am I supposed to learn? I wanted to quietly setup this step by step and run it side by side with our existing Windows server until I was confident with Linux. Now I'm faced with trying to learn something which has already been setup, hell knows what distro this consultant has used probably something hard for me to pick up. :(
 
It's probably Debian or CentOS. Perhaps you should take that spare machine and do what you were going to do anyway using a backup copy of your data and the distro the consultant used. You'll then have a testbed on which you can experiment and learn without risking damage to the live environment.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
It's probably Debian or CentOS. Perhaps you should take that spare machine and do what you were going to do anyway using a backup copy of your data and the distro the consultant used. You'll then have a testbed on which you can experiment and learn without risking damage to the live environment.
Click to expand...

Hey now that is a good idea, I'll put that forward to them next week to see what they say. Cheers.:)
 
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