Base linux distro for db server

[Drakkon]

I'm looking for opinions on what would be the most robust yet smallest base install distro to get a mysql database server on to. It would likely be installed on a virtualized system and thus be on an internal network so don't need any fancy firewalls or extra drivers and junk. Seems like every distro i go to install just a database I'm given apache or a full install of python/ruby or any other combnation of a buncha other crap thats relatively unnecessary.

Is there any distro that is configured/optimized for just a mysql database instance?

 

[Crusty]

I run Ubuntu 8.04 LTS on most of my VM's. I've got a base install that takes up < 9mb of ram and 500mb hdd space IIRC. During the setup just choose to only install ssh. Then once you boot into the first login just sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install mysql-server

mysql Ver 14.12 Distrib 5.0.51a, for debian-linux-gnu (x86_64) using readline 5.2

Is the version I have installed through Ubuntu.

With only ntpd, sshd, syslogd, cron, and xinetd I get 9036k used of memory.

 

[Nothinman]

I'd personally use Debian. Ubuntu is based on Debian and I don't really know of any server-type changes that they've made like they do for the desktop so I don't see a reason to not just use the parent distribution.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I'd personally use Debian. Ubuntu is based on Debian and I don't really know of any server-type changes that they've made like they do for the desktop so I don't see a reason to not just use the parent distribution.

me too. The netinstall cd image will get you taken care of, you can chose mysql there and it will go out and grab it, done.

 

[Crusty]

The only reason I chose Ubuntu instead of Debian is because I like Ubuntu's steady release cycle. I haven't used Debian in a few years, but I remember there not really being any releases so to speak just kind of gradual upgrades.

 

[Nothinman]

Debian puts out releases but the time between woody and sarge and etch was pretty long. But for servers I don't usually care about having the newest version of something so it's worth it for me to wait on Debian because I trust them more. Lenny's supposedly on track for later this year so

And on a desktop sid rocks because it's a rolling distribution, as soon as something is packaged it appears in sid so I generally have the latest versions.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Debian puts out releases but the time between woody and sarge and etch was pretty long. But for servers I don't usually care about having the newest version of something so it's worth it for me to wait on Debian because I trust them more. Lenny's supposedly on track for later this year so

And on a desktop sid rocks because it's a rolling distribution, as soon as something is packaged it appears in sid so I generally have the latest versions.

Yeah, I used Debian sid while the Xfree86 -> Xorg switch was happening. Was painful for several weeks, and what finally made me check out Ubuntu.

 

[Nothinman]

I just put the xserver on hold until it was sorted out, once all of the Xorg packages were migrated into sid I unheld it and everything went smooth. I think I had to wait for a new version of the binary nvidia driver too but that's it.

 

[Drakkon]

Tried debian - when you choose SQL server during the setup it doesn't give you the option of choosing which one so it installes postgre (not what I wanted) - but once i fugred that out and got it configured with mysql - ended up being about the same footprint as ubuntu (figures)

Then tried CentOS - went through its install process - does allow you to install mysql but seems to install all of the graphics stuff (total install ended up being around 600MB). seems a bit larger than expected in other words and this was just for a server (no GUI) install.

Tried solaris (Sun OS and so thought should work well with mysql) - they dont allow you anything other than a desktop install however.

So I'm kinda confused here as I didn't think it would be this difficult to find a good solid text based server thats fairly bare bones and then only install mysql. Seems like every distro I try it installs all the graphics interface build files (but not the actual core components).

 

[Crusty]

I don't know about Debian, but make sure you are using the server ISO for Ubuntu. For Debian I think you want the net install ISO. Since each VM I usually install has a different server configuration I never install anything but the base OS and ssh in the installer. Everything else gets installed/configured later on.

The important thing is to grab the server ISO instead of the desktop one. The biggest difference on ubuntu is that the server doesn't install the ubuntu meta desktop package which has all of the GUI tools.

 

[Drakkon]

yep using ubuntu-8.04-server-i386.iso - seems to make a fairly large install (~550mb) even with just the base (no dns/lamp/anything checked)

 

[Crusty]

Make sure you do stuff like apt-get clean to remove old cache files and such. That size isn't too bad though, that's around what my VM's sit at. Usually by the time I get finished installing the software on them they sit from 700-1.2gb depending on it's role.

For example, my rails development VM server runs apache2, subversion, trac, mod_dav_svn, mod_ssl, Ruby, Rails, mysql, and the rest of the usual services like ssh, cron, inet. Uses 1150MB of HDD space not including my source repositories for subversion which are stored on a different file server shared with NFS.

If hard drive space is your only concern then I wouldn't worry too much about it considering it's quite cheap to expand

 

[Drakkon]

I'm not concerned about HD space - I'm just wondering why I have to install cups, aspell, sendmail, nano, any other countless number of packages when all when im not going to be using them at all. It seems like every main distribution out there your stuck installing a ton of packages. I guess I'm just too used to my slackware days where everything was fairly small and simple.

 

[Nothinman]

I don't see why 550M is a big deal, I just did a base Debian install with MySQL and most of that used space seems justified. There's some things I wouldn't mind getting rid of like translations in some packages but I don't really care.

 

[Crusty]

If you really want that much control use something like Gentoo then, but IMO it's not worth the hassle.

If you plan on rolling out a bunch of VM's then you should probably script the deployment anyways, in there you can remove packages such as nano and such.

 

[Nothinman]

I'm just wondering why I have to install cups, aspell, sendmail, nano, any other countless number of packages when all when im not going to be using them at all.

I didn't get cups or aspell. And I don't think I even got an MTA out of the box on Debian since I ignored all of the tasks, although I did install postfix because an MTA is standard on any unix system and something eventually needs one. And nano is there for the people who don't like vi.

If you really want that much control use something like Gentoo then, but IMO it's not worth the hassle.

Gentoo would be even worse because you need all of those development tools.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I'm just wondering why I have to install cups, aspell, sendmail, nano, any other countless number of packages when all when im not going to be using them at all.

I didn't get cups or aspell. And I don't think I even got an MTA out of the box on Debian since I ignored all of the tasks, although I did install postfix because an MTA is standard on any unix system and something eventually needs one. And nano is there for the people who don't like vi.

If you really want that much control use something like Gentoo then, but IMO it's not worth the hassle.

Gentoo would be even worse because you need all of those development tools.

Hence the more hassle . You can get a finer control of the rest software that gets installed but with the hassle of having to deal with all the dev tools being installed.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
I'm not concerned about HD space - I'm just wondering why I have to install cups, aspell, sendmail, nano, any other countless number of packages when all when im not going to be using them at all. It seems like every main distribution out there your stuck installing a ton of packages. I guess I'm just too used to my slackware days where everything was fairly small and simple.

The only package you listed that Ubuntu Server installs by default is nano. If you really do want to get streamlined AND you are installing in a VM, try Ubuntu JEOS. It is an official release from Ubuntu that is basically the already-slim Ubuntu Server with some packages removed. It doesn't even have nano, so you better know how to use vi (installing nano is one of the first things I do). It does have apt though (of course), so it is trivially easy to install any packages you want.

For a mysql database server, the only package you will need to install is "mysql-server" and then you may want some packages to make managing the server a little more useful such as nano, openssh-server, and screen.

I'm not sure how it would run on bare metal though, as I believe even a lot of drivers are stripped out. It is designed to be the bare minimum need to run in a vm.

 

[Brazen]

I just went through in install of Ubuntu JEOS to check and after the first boot, it is using 27447k of memory (as provided by top), and 270M of disk usage (provided by "sudo du -h -x -s /")

 

[Drakkon]

Ubuntu JEOS = Perfect! :thumbsup:

Thanks!!!

 

[Brazen]

Also, in case you are wondering, JEOS stands for Just Enough OS, and is pronounced like "juice."

 

[sourceninja]

I use ubuntu here for one reason. Debain does not include non-free drivers on their install media. We use a san for all our storage. Ubuntu finds and configures the fiber card with no extra work. I would have to do work to make debian install, and ubuntu is 'good enough'.

 

[aceO07]

This seems interesting. How do I keep Ubuntu JEOS updated with the usual security updates?

 

[Nothinman]

If it's just standard Ubuntu with a different default package set then you should be able to use the normal Ubuntu security sources.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: aceO07
This seems interesting. How do I keep Ubuntu JEOS updated with the usual security updates?

Originally posted by: Nothinman
If it's just standard Ubuntu with a different default package set then you should be able to use the normal Ubuntu security sources.

Yep, just "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade" will take care of it.