Linux Tutorial

Linux Mint Server

This tutorial will this base and user not starting because it contains only useful information but if you want a full tutorial on a step or several steps of this tutorial and is not available on our database, we simply advise on the forum.

Otherwise look at the other tutorials you will probably find the answer and if it is not the case the forum is there for.

>>> Why Linux Mint as a server?

Indeed there are plenty of distribution server?

Here are the pros and cons:

To:

• To compare many distributions like Ubuntu for example, it is more stable because the Mint community is very strong on update
• All the benefits of Mint know that … It is 2010 and the directors also like to use a graphical interface, play videos or listen to MP3, etc …

Cons:

• Must have a powerful machine (because the GUI uses a lot of resource)
  Mint is designated primarily for basic experience “out-of-the-box” for desktop / laptop
• Finally, as to installation and configuration of a server, it takes patience not only with a server Mint (although personally it is less capricious than I had to install such a server versus FreeBSD)

>>> Installation (finally!)

Installing Linux Mint on your server

To make it less cumbersome we will take the Gnome version of Mint. You choose if it’s the normal version (32 bit) or 64-bit applies to you.

So for this tutorial I chose Linux Mint 8 64-bit.
Download this version on the official website -> http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=46

Is a blow, burn the ISO to a DVD. Remember to check the integrity of the DVD before rebooting on it.

So start the DVD and choose the function Start Mint 8 Live CD.

Once Mint click the Install icon.

• For partitioning (such as a 1TB HDD)
• 80 GB for / (system files)
• 12 GB for the swap (if you have 1GB of RAM, set as it always x2 2GB memory for your swap)
• 100GB for / home (for the base directory users)

The rest we create two logical partitions:

• 200 GB / important (Score or important files are stored and a backup is done regularly)
• 608 GB / home2 (Score unimportant or files (mp3, etc. ..) are stored and no backup is done)

I suggest you do your partitionsen ext3 but you can use other file systems.

* Important note for users of SATA and PATA *

If, as in rare cases you use a SATA and PATA same time, Linux will not boot after installation due to a bug in Grub.

So in the last step of the installation click the Advanced … and change to the partition where the installation of Linux is installed hd0 change the value (eg hd1).

Grub will crash and says he can not find the installed system after the restart. You must edit the startup parameters and after several trial and error you should find the correct partition to be.

For more details, or search on Google http://linux.knightnet.org.uk/2008/01/more-on-grub-bug-with-mixed-pata-and.html grub bug with mixed PATA and SATA.

After installation you have a functional Linux Mint on your server.
>>> Network Configuration

This part is a little more difficult but necessary because it must be done via the console directly from the server (you will see why shortly).

Open a console and type: sudo echo 1> /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

However it is temporary so it must be enabled to be activated at each restart routing.

Console open the file /etc/sysctl.conf:nano/etc/sysctl.conf

Find the line net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 and remove the pound sign # in front and save the file.

Later, unfortunately, we must remove the NetworkManager works well. However, the NetworkManager prevents the DHCP server to start at startup. See http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1094344.html for details.



*** ATTENTION, from this point you will lose your Internet connection / network then read the information requested below before and it should be done directly on the machine.

It must be uninstalled the Network Manager or via the Package Manager or in console: sudo apt-get remove network-manager

We will configure the network interface manually.

You must console edit the file /etc/network/interfaces: sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

You should normally find this file:

Therefore change with the right information will give something like this:

A stroke is save the file and exit. Note that I’m on cable modem and a router configured for DHCP.

Subsequently we must modify the /etc/resolv.conf sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf

You need to change the correct information from your ISP. (Provider Inernet)

If your server is hosted elsewhere and supports a different area and NameServer ask your host configuration to be the same for the interface.

If your ISP to NameServer with names such ns1.videotron.ca ns2.videotron.ca and IP instead of replace the IP in this configuration.

To finish this part that remains is to restart the networking.
In console:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

If everything is correct you will have access to the network again as well as internet.

* It may, however, that you should restart or do with your ISP or web host if it does not work in case of configuration errors.

 


>>> Optional – Install Remote Desktop

For X reason, you want to connect to remote desktop to your server?

Simply follow the same steps as the tutorial for NX/FreeNX available on our website -> HERE
>>> Installing Webmin

I believe this step is important because it allows you to install a Configuration Manager “graphic” in web interface.

There are tons of configurations to more easily (eg firewall, user access, etc. …).

In console:

sudo apt-get install webmin

Read the configurations and even if Apache is not installed it will install what it needs to automatically.

Normally it is accessed through a browser bookmark with: http://votredomain.com:10000 default.

If it’s local you can use the server name instead of ip domain or local,”up to you.”

Example Webmin via your browser:

You see the resources are not necessarily that much vs a FreeBSD server, Ubuntu, CentOS, etc …

>>> List server application to install (suggestion)

Here are some tips to install the package manager or console via sudo apt-get install software

• Apache and PHP
• Mysql and PhpMyAdmin
• PostgresSQL
• SpamAssassin
• Team Speak Server
• FTP Server
• SSH Server (should already be installed from the beginning)
• TCL / TK
• Phpsysinfo
• etc …

And the list goes on and many of these programs are more or less easily configured via Webmin.

Hope this helped you get started in the server world feel free to ask questions on the forum.