Re: Possible convert to Debian
John Fleming wrote:
With my FC2 server (Dell 600SC), I have these things going: pop and
imap mail, Squirrelmail, Mailman, SpamAssassin, Webmin, and Apache
with several virtual hosts.
I've toyed with Debian and Knoppix a bit, but haven't tried to fully
implement the above services yet and have a few questions.
1. It sounds like Sid is actually pretty stable, I'm guessing
especially for the basic mail and webserving things I use. Would you
recommend I go with Sid, or with testing or stable?
It's usually recommended to have servers on Stable. The "unstable" in
Sid doesn't refer to the system that runs Sid, or even the individual
packages so much, but rather to the every-changing nature of the
available packages. Today you might have Foo version 1.2 and tomorrow it
might be version 1.25 and the next day it might be version 1.7. If you
setup a box with Sid and get everything working the way you like, you
can run fine for years without any problems, except if one of the
packages has a bug/vulnerability. Then of course you'd want to upgrade
that package, but if you upgrade Sid, you might wind up upgrading half
your system, and what will that do to your perfectly tuned box? Stable
has a special repository of security patches which is designed to keep
Stable stable with the ability to patch; Testing and Sid do not.
So if you need 24x7 uptime on your server, Stable. If it's just
something you're tinkering with and want newer packages and can live
with an occasional week-long brokenness is some package or other pretty
often, then Sid.
With Stable, you can also use Backports to get newer versions of
software, but I've never tried that and can't recommend it one way or
the other.
2. It seems that installing from the Knoppix CD might be a bit
easier for a newbie? I've never tried something like woody 3.0r2 on
new technology - only on an older limited computer, and I had
problems with NIC being recognized and others. I have installed Sid
using the Knoppix CD on my Dell laptop after first partitioning with
Partition Magic and have a dual boot going with Sid and that other
OS. I have done some preliminary experimenting using apt-get to
install Squirrelmail and Webmin, tinkering with the sources list and
so forth, so I'm a little familiar with how that works.
Installing from Knoppix is easier generally (provided you're on x86
hardware; installing on Sparc or PowerPC, etc, of course eliminates this
option). However, there are two disadvantages to this:
1) Last I tried, Knoppix wanted to install everything into one 2GB or
larger partition. I like to have separate partitions for /, /usr/,
/usr/local/, /var/, /home/, and /tmp. To accomplish this on a Knoppix
install means lots of partitioning "magic" after the install. Nasty.
2) You wind up with a machine that is a mix of Stable, Testing, and
Unstable, along with other 3rd-party repositories. Upgrading might get
pretty nasty in that situation.
3. If I start with the Knoppix CD, I really do end up with the same
Debian Sid distro as if I started with the unstable CDs themselves?
No. See Disadvantage #2 above.
4. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, if I use Sid and
keep it updated, I should never have to do a complete reinstall of
the OS as recommended for Fedora upgrades. And if I use the stable
version, I can do an apt-get dist upgrade and upgrade to the new
version(s) as available without a complete reinstall, right?
I believe a smooth upgrade is only guaranteed from one version of Stable
to the next. However, lots of folks here upgrade Unstable everyday. Of
course, lots of folks run into broken-ness everyday also. If you can't
handle glitches, stick with Stable. (Most of the glitches clear up on
their own (well, by the Developer's efforts, actually), but sometimes
you have to actually fix the problem, although this list and/or Google
and/or other resources will generally provide the Howto on the fix by
the time you decide you'll have to fix it yourself. But not always.)
5. I am interested in software RAID 1 and have 2 identical HDDs. Is
there an option during the install from Debian CDs (didn't see it in
the Knoppix HD install) to setup RAID? If not, any recs on the
easiest way to get RAID 1 going after the initial installation?
Never done RAID; can't speak on it.
Any other comments for this relative newbie that's old (>50) and not
a sysadmin by trade? Thanks a bunch for your time! -John
If you need 24x7 reliability; Stable. (Usually for servers.)
If you can stand periods of broken-ness, and want newer software, Sid.
(Usually for workstations -- still more reliable than Windows workstations.)
--
Kent
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