On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 10:48 AM, Jason Hsu
<jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com> wrote:
Since I'm looking for a job as a Linux IT consultant, I need a portfolio of favorite server applications - firewall, DHCP server, mail server, print server, etc. Just as I have favorite distros for the desktop (Puppy Linux, Linux Mint, antiX/Swift Linux) and favorite desktop applications (like OpenOffice and Sylpheed), I should have favorite server applications.
I can tell you about one application I don't like: the Firehol firewall program. It's pre-installed in antiX Linux. Every time I boot up or start this program, I get an error message about get-iana.sh. I did a Google search and tried some of the suggestions I found but still couldn't get Firehol working properly. I'd rather use something that doesn't require so much tweaking. I'm looking for an alternative for Swift Linux (www.swiftlinux.org, the distro I started).
I'd like to hear what you use and why. Some of the criteria I'm looking for are:
1. Security: Any client I work for will need a very secure system, ESPECIALLY one that does financial work, does business over the Internet, or has intellectual property.
snort, splunk (semi commercial log monitoring), selinux, (it should go without saying, but learn everything about) ssh, /etc/shaddow and pam, closing ports / turning off services, logrotate.
2. Stability and reliability: Since a downed server affects the whole company and not just one employee, I understand this is of paramount importance as well.
i've already covered this pretty verbosely in another thread earlier today.
3. Popular: If an application is widely used, then there's more help available, and the more likely the Debian developers are to support it.
???
4. Consistent from one version to the next: Since I'm obligated to keep everything up-to-date for clients, I want an application that doesn't change that radically from one version to the next. I know better than to expect a smooth upgrade process for even Debian Stable, much less other distros.
most things should be pretty consistent (it's why i don't use python :) )
5. Well-supported by the Debian developers: I don't want to use a particular application, only to find when I upgrade that it's no longer supported.
all applications have a chance of going out of style - look at windows' fileman... no longer there since '95. however, bash, bind, vi, emacs, gcc, perl, and a few others may be on unix for a long long time.
6. Easy to use: This criteria is the reason I don't use minimal Debian on the desktop. Of course, I may have to make some sacrifices on this criterion in favor of more of the above.
i don't know what you mean here. are you looking for strictly gui front-ends to server apps?
7. Lightweight operation: I want something reasonably lightweight, but I'm willing to compromise on this criterion in favor of more of the above.
lightweight? depends on what you're doing. sqlite is lightweight until you try to process a million records. then it might bring a system to a crawl whereas mysql / postgresql should handle that million records without an issue. oh, and telnet is lightweight compared to ssh, but i won't be caught dead using telnet.