# Is Gentoo a good choice to set up a server?

## seppelrockt

This is my first post in the gentoo forums after a long time. I run Gentoo on my notebook for a long time and then switched to Ubuntu (because it is the more "polished" desktop IMHO and needs less time for maintainance). Don't worry, this is not intended to be a flame against Gentoo - I just want to tell you that I am (or at least was ^^) quite familar with Gentoo.

What I want to do is installing a small server with mediawiki (or some other wiki - still to decide) in a virtual maschine using VirtualBox on my desktop computer. The wiki is only intended to be used localy by myself to organize my university docs, thoughts, etc.

I do not have any knowledge in Apache, MySQL, PHP and server administration but I am willing to learn the basics. I first tried Ubuntu (Gutsy) server but had some problems with it. Now I wonder whether Gentoo might be a better choice for my "wiki project". Reasons: more flexible, "optimized" for CLI usage (Ubuntu sucks in this regard IMHO), usually good docs and great forum, you learn a lot about the "internals" of linux.

Security is not THAT important at the beginning because the server runs inside a VM and only localy - otherwise I would not have even started to think about the "my own server" project.But I want to learn the basics of a secure server, too with this project.

Now my questions are:

1) Are there any good reasons NOT to choose Gentoo for this project? Why?

2) Can you recommend me some good readings that describe the "first steps" setting up a server from the very basic Gentoo install (Apache, DB, PHP)? I browsed the gentoo docs and the forum but didn't found much.

3) What else do I have to know about the gentoo way of server administration, e.g. webapp-config? How does Gentoo compare to other distros? Are there any pitfalls specific for Gentoo? Of what quality are the ebuilds for Apache & Co.?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

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## Errtu

I use one Gentoo server for the same purpose as you (wiki). I have to say that if you're not very familiar with configuring everything then webmin is a nice solution. Nice interface and not too difficult to configure various services. On other gentoo boxes i usually have apache installed, together with php and openldap to integrate with my windows servers. Setting them up is pretty straightforward. Also, have you checked the Gentoo Wiki?

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## di1bert

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> 1) Are there any good reasons NOT to choose Gentoo for this project? Why?
> 
> 

 

The only slight "problem" is the initial install time. Once the system is up and running it's a breeze to maintain.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> 2) Can you recommend me some good readings that describe the "first steps" setting up a server from the very basic Gentoo install (Apache, DB, PHP)? I browsed the gentoo docs and the forum but didn't found much.
> 
> 

 

The Wiki is a great place to start for most things.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> 3) What else do I have to know about the gentoo way of server administration, e.g. webapp-config? How does Gentoo compare to other distros? Are there any pitfalls specific for Gentoo? Of what quality are the ebuilds for Apache & Co.?
> 
> 

 

We run Gentoo on all of our systems and client systems with various web apps running and it's a breeze to install, upgrade and maintain most of the time. There are the odd couple of issues that come up but the Gentoo forums

are very good at assisting with this.

To cut a long story short, go for it  :Smile: 

-m

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## jannis

Just wanted to say that IMO lighttpd might suit you better than Apache. It's faster and easier to configure than Apache. Of yourse lighttpd does support PHP, too.

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## zeek

Q: Is Gentoo a good choice to set up a server?

A: The best bar none!

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## blandoon

The nice thing about using Gentoo for a VM in particular is that you can customize it to load only what you want, and compile in only the drivers for the fake hardware that the VM provides. I've built a Gentoo server that loads in VMware with a very stripped-down config, that uses the bare minimum of RAM (which can be very important in a VM).

Choose your USE flags carefully, and pay attention to what you compile into your kernel, and you will wind up with a very efficient server.

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## JC99

I've been using Gentoo as a server (Apache, Qmail, Vsftpd, Courier, Samba, Squid and Bind all configured with Webmin) for years and I love it. I would highly recommend it.

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## snIP3r

hi!

i use gentoo for over 4 years now. i use various web, mail and file services. i love using it!!!

building new packages from source could be a disadvantage but i think its ok.

greets

snIP3r

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## obrut<-

hi everyone!

i have to build a server as a practice in defending a server in an unfriendly network. i chose gentoo cause it's my favorite distribution and quite lightweight. the "server" is a athlon 64 3200+ (socket 754) with just 512 mb ram. the system is a hardened gentoo with grsecurity and pax as security and stability are very important. 

on the server there must be a website with forum and wiki, a dns server and an address service. which ones are best suited for these special requirements? if the memory footprint is small enough i'd like to build a high availability cluster with two virtual machines (vmware server, virtualbox...). but the 512 mb ram are causing headache.

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## Scottix

On one hand yes it is a great server to use on the other it could slow your server down.

The advantages of having a Gentoo server is the ability to update easily. Everything is basically handed to you using emerge -va uaND world. This makes the server really secure. Also the customization is endless. You can setup anything you want basically.

On the other hand is the amount of time to setup the server is a huge processes. Comparing Red Hat I can have the server up in minutes. Updating config files is somewhat confusing at first. When updating you are compiling the whole package which can take up resources and a long time. You could put PORTAGE_NICENESS=19 but still takes time.

I think it depends on the situation that you are in. If computing power is a continuous must I wouldn't recommend Gentoo.

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