Hi all.

Man, am I confused about all these distros. I recently purchased a domain name, and would like to get a web and email server up in the next year for my family (non-MS).

My buds at work tell me to run Apache for a web server, and "stick with Slackware, dude". I haven't asked them yet about an email server because they're on vacation.

Knowing how some people are closed minded when it comes to OS and server choice, I'd like to get some more input.

For a nb, what are some recommendations for web and email server? Also, is it bad practice to run both on the same box?

Thanks in advance.

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Most major distros come with Apache and SendMail (mail server), and both run well on the same machine. Apache and SendMail require some configuration, but there are a lot of books on the subject and there is a lot of places on the web where you can ask questions.

As far as distros go. Since you are a Linux newbie, I would suggest going with Mandrake. Mandrake has a GUI interface, somewhat similar to Windows, which it makes it easier to set up a webserver and maintain user accounts. Mandrake also runs an excellent support website www.mandrakeforum.com

Good Luck with your server

- WiLd

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quote:

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Originally posted by firechicken
what are some recommendations for web and email server?

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For the web server definatly go with Apache. For email you have more of a choice. Sendmail's a very capable server but like dmaftei said, the configuration's difficult. You may want to consider using postfix. It's less complicated to configure but not as versatile.

Mandrake's one of the easier to learn distros. I suggest starting with either it, Caldera or RedHat. After you learn the basics look into the BSDs. Linux and the BSDs each have their strong and week points and IMO web serving is one of BSD's strongest points.

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