 Ubuntu Server Edition attempts to put a powerful Linux server into the hands of anyone willing to try. They make the claim that you can install the whole sever, including LAMP (Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP), in about 15 min. I had to try it out for myself. So, I downloaded a copy of the Server edition and booted it up on my 5 year-old notebook to see what would happen (yes, I know, a notebook is an odd machine to make into a web server). For those interested, the specs on the notebook: P4 1.8Ghz with 1GB of memory and a 40GB drive. Keep in mind, it's 5 years old.
Well, I won't keep you in suspense for long. The installation was a breeze, it was not that dissimilar an experience to installing the standard Gnome-edition of Ubuntu. Once the base system was installed, I was prompted with what server applications I wanted to install. Making the server LAMP-ready was as simple as checking off the LAMP tab. Afterwards, I sat back in my BarcaLounger and watched it fly away, nimbly installing everything I needed to run a website or run as many virtual servers as I wanted. I was impressed, amazed, elated. The installation process was a snap, and by giving me the freedom to specify my desired set up on install, it saved me the time of finding and installing the individual web applications. It's all there with any distro; you can turn just about any of them into a web server pretty easily, but Ubuntu Server just took any challenge whatsoever out of the equation.
Once the system was installed and ready, I was greeted with a command line interface. Without the graphical interface, some might be a little turned off, but all of your applications are there and easy to install using the apt-get manager. I installed the helpful Webmin application via the command line, and now with the aid of a browser, I could configure and administer my entire system with ease. It was too simple really; if they keep making these servers and desktop installs simpler and simpler, the Linux IT guy won't have much of a job in a few years. For those curious, here are the steps I took to install Webmin:
wget http://heanet.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/webadmin/webmin_1.390.deb
hit enter and it should download, for the next step:
sudo dpkg -i webmin_1.390.deb
hit enter again
You will now see webmin installing and doing its thing. If for some reason you are missing dependencies don't get stressed out, fixing them is easy:
sudo apt-get -f install
Now you should be ready to use Webmin on your new Ubuntu Server! Simply go to your main PC on the same network and type in https://TheLocalIPofTheSever:10000/
If you have the server behind a router make sure you enable the virtual server functions and forward the following ports (if needed) to the local IP address of your new server:
FTP: 21 HTTP: 80 HTTPS: 443 DNS: 52 SMTP: 25 POP3: 110 Telnet: 23 SSH: 22 MySQL: 3306 Webmin: 10000 Virtualmin: 20000
If you have a static IP, everything should start to resolve now. All you need to do is configure the server via the Webmin interface – note that if you do have a static IP, you will need to configure it in Webmin. You may also sign into the server with your static IP from anywhere by typing https://TheStaticIPofTheSever:10000/ If you are behind a router and using port forwarding, this IP will be the IP of your router as assigned by your provider.
If you have a dynamic IP, say on a home cable connection, then all you have to do is check this site out: http://www.dnsexit.com . I am sure there are many versions of this kind of service, and this one happens to have a free Linux client. The site will instruct you to change the name servers on whereever you registered it to their name servers, so that can work their magic. I know there are at least a few free DNS services out there like this one, so if you prefer another one please share it with us as a comments.
Don't forget to configure your firewall, BIND DNS, and Apache; the webmin application comes in handy for this. If you're interested in webmind and need some help with it, check out their documentation here http://www.webmin.com/docs.html It's easy to follow, so you won't run into many headaches.
Overall I am very impressed with Ubuntu Server. As I stated earlier, the install was brilliantly simple, and with the aid of a tool like webmin, administering it is a piece of cake (especially for those hesitant about command-line work). It's really fast; the boot up times were excellent. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in administering a server but new to the idea.
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