Dedicated Server Reviews

Thanks to some hard work from Oden Eriksson and Frederik Himpe, MySQLTuner 0.9.1 is available in a Mandriva package.

You're looking to start hosting a website.  This could be for yourself, you family, friends or as a full on business.  With all the choices out there, where to begin can be a bit daunting (even more than a bit).  Not too long ago, I was faced with this very thing.  I had been hosting my own website at home for a while and a collegue was in need of the same.  I was able to make a deal with a local data center, picked up a 1U server and started the madness that has ensued since.  The rest of this is going to be directed towards setting up a web/email hosting system as a business, for the sake of making money.  Not all of the software is going to be free.  I'll touch on setting up a totally free version in the next post.

I knew I wanted to go with a Linux OS and that was about it.  I started with Fedora, then tried OpenSuse (then shortly tried SLES), followed by Debian and then OpenBSD (not a flavour of linux, but i tried it anyhow).  Why no Windows server?  Well, for me it is simple, I want to be able to dig deeper than Windows will allow me to do should the need arise.  I did finally decide on an OS and the rest of the pieces.  They are:

• CentOS (now running the latest version 5)
• Apache (webserver)
• MySQL (database server)
• AtMail (Web based email system)

               Exim (mail/SMTP server)   
               Courier (POP/IMAP server)   
               Spamassassin (anti-spam software)   
               ClamAV (anti-virus software)

CentOS -- (CentOS Home) --  I'm a fan of RedHat based systems.  I find they are easy to set up, maintain, secure and if I need to assist someone else with a problem, I've found easiest for someone less familair with Linux than me to grok.  With the size of hard drives today, I have no issue installing an X window system and a GUI (gnome/kde) for management.  these have come a long way in recent years and work well.  Utilities can be installed via RPM (RedHat Package Manager) or using YUM (Yellowdog Updater Modifier).  The other reason I like CentOS is it is almost a straight accross clone of RHEL.  If I get into a situation where a customer needs to use a version of Linux that has some sort of corporate support, they can use RHEL and it will behave almost exactly the same.  This can come in really handy as you grow and have hardware needs that require some sort of commercial hardware that only has drivers for either RHEL (RedHat Enterprise Linux) or SLES (Suse Linux Enterprise Server).  A recent issue with Emulux drivers and a SAN (Storage Area Network) device comes to mind as an example.

Apache -- (Apache Home)  In my opinion there is no other web server to use.  Apache has been around since people have been serving web pages on a regular basis, there are a tremendous number of modules available for any sort of web based application you may want to build.  It is easy to secure manage and maintain.

MySQL -- (MySQL Home)  I really like MySQL for all database intensive jobs.  I work with it daily and have found I like it more and more the more I use it.

Exim -- (Exim Home)  I choose Exim for a couple of reasons.  First I am familliar with it and Second it is available in another package that provides a web based configuration utility.  I'll touch more on this later.

Courier -- (Courier IMAP Home) Again, familiarity and inclusion with AtMail

Spamassassin -- (Spamassassin Home) Spamassassin is the leading open source anti-spam software out there.  There are so many modules available for it, I would have to start two new blog posts to list them.  It really does a good job.

ClamAV -- (ClamAV Home) Similar to Spamassassin, Clam is the leading open source anti-virus software on the market.  They have become so popular and received so many requests for a commercial version, they now have one.  A fantastic piece of software.

AtMail  -- (AtMail Home) OK, the version of AtMail I am recommending isn't free.  They do have an open source version, but if your looking at setting up a system for profit, quickly and easily, I recommend their commercial version.  If your using CentOS, have GCC (Gnu C Compiler) installed and are connected to the web, the AtMail installation utility will tell you what you need for dependancies and if you agree, fetch and install them for you (using YUM).  This includes installing the dependencies for Exim, Courier, Spamassassin and ClamAV (as well as building and installing these for you). It has a nice web based admin panel as well as a nice web based mail client on top of these other packages.

OK, a couple of things you should know about my choices.  I have been working with the AtMail software package for about six years.  for the last 3.5 - 4 years, I have been contracting directly for them.  My opinion is almost certainly biased in this direction.  That being said, I wouldn't have come on board with them after working with them as a reseller if I didn't feel as strongly about what I was doing as I do.  All of these choices are my personal choices and what I recommend most of the time for clients of mine as well as clients of AtMail.  I have played with most of the other software package available that are in this same class (cost money and offer commercial support) and this is still my first recommendation.  Please remember, the entire focus of this post is convenience.  This convenience is a balancing act at best.  How can one set up a solution easily, securely and with the highest probability of success. All of this while at the same time allowing it to grow! I do think there is a better way to go about things, a way that is by far less convenient, costs no money (for the software end of things anyhow) and in my opinion is more secure.  This will be the focus of my next full post and would be what I would be recommending if my client told me they wanted it done right, from the ground up and security was the focus over convenience.

I know this is a bit to absorb in a blog post, I'll answer any questions posted in the form of a comment and you are welcome to email me directly with questions or just to tell me my methods are wrong because you have a better one....  I'm not afraid :-)  -> jason at mailtps dot com

 JB