Best FTP/Web Server software setup?

[razor2025]

I'm looking to build a webserver / ftp server. I've already built the box, but having some issues installing and picking software & OS.

I've tried WinXP Pro (MSDN) and uploading to server remotely was disaster due to lack of file/folder permission control.

I've tried Fedora Core 5 Linux, but the setup is a bit of pain + I can't seem to get phpMyAdmin to work.

Here's my objective:

To have a server that will run FTP and Web-Server. I want to be able to remotely admin it via SSH/Telnet/VNC. It should be relatively secure, but not neccesary OMG LOCK DOWN level. The FTP is private, and Web-server will mostly host test sites for my projects and maybe personal blog or whatnot. Maintenace should not be too frequent. I don't want have to keep monitoring it 24/7, but would love to be able to get some statistics easily.

Hardware wise:

A64 3000+ on MSI K8NGM2-FID w/ 1GB of RAM
Extra Realtek NIC (nVidia's 430 chipset isn't well supported driver wise for server enviornment)
2x 320Gb Seagate 7200.10 SATA drives (I've been using JBOD for Windows and single-volume spanning 2 disks using Linux LVM)

I plan on adding another SATA drive and another PATA drive. That should bring the capacity to 1TB.


So, please point me some good guides, direction, and/or links.

 

[Nothinman]

No offense but if you can't figure out how to properly setup IIS+NTFS permissions you probably shouldn't be running an Internet facing server, even though the too restrictive setup you had is better than too loose if you don't know how they work you're just asking to be broken into.

Personally I would go with either Debian or Ubuntu, Ubuntu latest release is supposed to have extended support so you'll be able to run it for a few years with just patches and no major upgrades. Debian sarge is in the same situation but it was released a while ago so the versions of the software will be lower, if that matters at all for what you want to do.

 

[razor2025]

Eh, I'm using this as oppourtunity to learn. It's not like anything I put there is enterprise level or valuable information. I've followed few guides, but always one of the steps goes awry (especially Linux ones) and things grinds to halt. I know how to setup permissions, but it seems like Win XP Pro doesn't have that option natively or easily visible configuration for me to setup.

I've tried latest Ubuntu distro, but somehow it dies on creating the filesystem. I prefer not to use IIS. If there was a distro that has a simple install process, that would be great.

 

[Nothinman]

It's not like anything I put there is enterprise level or valuable information.

That's irrelevant, there's tons of bot/scripts out there automatically looking for poorly setup setup boxes to take over. No one has to want your data to use your box to store warez, kiddy pr0n, help in a DDoS attack, etc.

I know how to setup permissions, but it seems like Win XP Pro doesn't have that option natively or easily visible configuration for me to setup.

I believe you have to turn off the simple file sharing for explorer to show you the filesystem ACLs.

 

[razor2025]

Thanks for the tips on turning off simple file sharing. As I've said before, I'll be regularly checking this server and learning to administer it remotely. Since the value of the data within is relatively worthless, I will easily wipe it clean and re-image the server if needed to be.

 

[Zugzwang152]

debian + apache + php were extremely easy to set up....

although i ended up being much more comfortable with windows, and went with windows versions of php and mysql + related tools when I was learning how to do it.

 

[jfall]

freebsd + apache + pureftp