holy mac..
i took on a job this week, and a ton of it had to do with setting up an ubuntu server. i have never ventured out of the realm of slackware/redhat/fedora.
the trick with ubuntu is it’s supposed to be linux for the people. it is a variation of debian that installs with gnome.. i wouldn’t know about the gnome part, really, as i only have ssh access.. well, i take that back. i did finally set up vncserver so i could check out the gui config utilities. the colors were all whack, and it looked horrible.. but i am sure i just need to fix it up a bit. i ended up not worrying about it, and just using ssh.
for any of you who have not worked with ubuntu before, but have linux experience, and who want to set up a server painlessly, please remember these things.
- apache server - there is no httpd.conf file. the configuration is across several files. sooner or later, i am gonna have to figure out how to set up virtual servers. right now, i have folder redirection set up. i don’t think it should be too tough. also, keep in mind that /var/www/http/ is not the root for apache. i am not sure where it is, but it’s not there.
also, httpd is not installed. you must install it using apt-get. more on this later.
- msyql server - this is not installed initially either. use apt-get to install this. keep in mind that this is shut down to the network. find /etc/mysql/my.conf and edit it to remove the “skip networking” line. i have yet to be able to log in remotely, but at least i can hit it. this is a big problem.
- make sure you check the link above. there is a ton of information that make setting up your servers much easier.
- whatever you do, make sure you read the part about adding extra apt repositories. make sure you add the correct repositories for your version. this makes all the difference. enable the ones that say “universe”. also, don’t forget to remove the /dev/cdrom line.. if you don’t, it will want you to insert the cdrom. if the machine is in another city or state, it will just make you crazy.
- there is no ftp server installed. the site says to install proftp. i installed vsftp, just cuz i know it. BUT.. caveat.. check the config file. it is set up to disallow logins from local users. enable logins, and restart. that will fix it.
- there is no root account initially. when i got the box, it only had one account. somehow, the one account on the system allowed my account to sudo. from what i read, this is standard. it seems insecure to me, but i am not sure about it. i would suppose that someone would freak out if it was insecure. i want to install a root account, but i am not sure what it would mess up.
- webmin - webmin pulls the root account from the password account. since there is no initial root account, webmin does not work if you apt-get it. you have to either make an account in the config files (i couldn’t get this to work) or you can make a root account first, then install webmin.
i didn’t do either. i will just stick with the command line.
other than that, if you are used to the redhat type linuxes, you should be alright, but you will be hitting the forums alot. WHEW..
This is a really sweet project that i should give more air time to. the company i work for, Red Red Design, was contracted by Ashland University to build a virtual 3d replica of the campus. sounds interesting, but it does get more interesting. the campus model had to have the following aspects..