Suggestions solicited, server bring up

Alan Johnson alan at datdec.com
Sun Nov 15 07:22:49 EST 2009


On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 2:44 PM, Bruce Labitt
<bruce.labitt at myfairpoint.net>wrote:

> In the pursuit of more computation power, I've been promised a server
> class machine to 'play' with.  I believe it is a Dell 2950.  Yes, it is
> already obsolete, but it was free and has double the amount of memory I
> have on my desktop.


If it does what you want, it is not obsolete, IMHO.


> Anyways, I'd like to install Ubuntu 9.04LTS on it.
>

Assuming 8.04LTS is intended here.


> I've never done a server install before, what is recommended?  What
> baseline packages are in Ubuntu Server?
>

Very few, but it is super easy to get what you need once you know a couple
tricks (see below).  I suggest only selecting the SSH server when asked
during install.  Even the Mail Server option installs a lot more than you
might want compared to "apt-get install postfix" depending on what you want
to do.


>  I believe there is hardware
> raid on the 2950, can Ubuntu server deal with this?


The umpteen raid controllers I have worked with over the years all expose
the raid volumes as a single device to the system bus, so the OS just sees a
SCSI block device that looks like any other.  I expect the same for you so
the only issue is if the OS can manage or monitor the RAID controller.
You'll have to visit the manufacturer's website to check for that.


> Any other gotchas I
> should be aware of?
>

I've had a stint of recent bad luck with software raid on 8.04 Xen hosts,
but that should not affect you.

Incredibly naive question:  Since there is no GUI installed in Ubuntu
> Server (I believe), how does one easily search for packages to install?
> I can, of course, do this on my desktop first and then write stuff down,
> waddle down to the server room and do this, umm, but that gets rather
> tedious after a couple times...
>

During the install, you will be asked to create a user.  If you log in as
this user, the dash shell will try to suggest packages and apt-get commands
if it cannot find the command you are looking for already installed.  It
works for sudo command as well.  Also, tab completion is stunning in this
shell.  You can use it all the way up to the package name on a sudo apt-get.

Beyond that, I expect you will find the rest of what you need in this handy
reference even if you don't know the yum/rpm equivalents:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromLinux/%20RedHatEnterpriseLinuxAndFedora
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