The APACHE software is a 'free' piece of LINUX software that is available over the web, its so good, 54% of the professionals use it for their sites. This doesn't count amateurs like myself who have installed it purely as an exercise to see what could be done, indeed there would appear to be many such small servers on the web which are probably not included in the 54%, set up by individuals either just to play, as a college exercise or as an economic method of having a small presence on the web.
Hardware requirements for Apache
Apache, because its LINUX based does not require a powerful machine (unlike WIN NT) indeed a decent 486 or low pentium is sufficient for a home or small business server principally because it is the band width connection to the internet that is the problem. This is it in a nutshell, the most important single issue is bandwidth i.e. a analouge modem is only good enough as a test point, what you really need is an ADSL modem, or a cable modem, these give in the region of 20 to 60 times the bandwidth of a standard modem, either option would probably allow 10 to 30 people to be browsing your server at any one time......
The next issue is memory, I would suggest 16 MEG is a minimum amount of RAM, but hey a 64 MEG 10ns 66Mhz SDRAM module is $250NZ i.e. memory is cheap, look at 128 Meg if you know its gonna be needed. If you are going to buy a new machine get one with a single 64 Meg module and not 2 x 32 Meg modules because you have only got 4 memory module slots (intel Pentium 2 SE boards only have 3 slots ie dont buy one), if your loaded get a single 128Meg module, currently around $480NZ.
Hard drive depends on you but Apache itself is about 500K, a typical web page 6 to 10k of text pictures well, the skies the limit...typically all you would need would be about 5 to 10 MEG. Treat Paradise UDMA EIDE controllers with care as I am told they are not Linux compatible. So for linux a 2 Gig or 3.2 Gig drive is heaps. For those loaded types look to ultra scsi or ultra wide if you got money to burn, be careful of Adaptec the 2940, 3940 and most aic7xxx adaptec controllers built into high end motherboards as they are not always compatible, blame Adaptec not Linux as its Adaptec's BIOS revisions they will not release details to linux developers as they are updated also AIC7890 and 7895 will only run with 2.0.34 or 2.0.35 kernels. Adaptec did until recently have a "I hate linux attitude" but that is changing as they see 54%+ of the web server market slipping away....
Most documentation is designed for experienced Linux users not beginners like me. What I have done so far is to purchase and install Linux (repeatedly) which has been very frustrating, basically because there are no simple guides for newbies to follow, when generally given simple instructions linux is fairly easy. If you are an experienced DOS and Novell user Linux is pretty similar in concept. i.e. DOS with the security features like Novell (if you set it up properly!).
What I aim to do is write down my experiences and the fixes so anybody following after me will hopefully make less mistakes and suffer less frustration than I have.
Initially I was told/read/assumed that there is only 1 Linux, there is not, there are different flavours sold/distributed by different companies, all with their differences some quite critical for newbies. This site is dedicated to two flavours not because they are the best but because these are the one's I've used, at present I am using Debian 2.
Purchasing
My recommendation is to by either the 6 CDrom set entitled "LINUX Developers Resource" by Info Magic (which is commonly available). The June 98 set contains Redhat5.1, Debian, Slackware and SuSe, four good distributions of Linux for about $45NZ. The other option and my current favourite is Debian which you can get from www.cheapbytes.com as a book and a 7 cd set for $56US ($107NZ) incl air mail.
I do not suggest you buy the official Red Hat 2 CDrom distribution in a fancy box, you get a manual which assumes you have been using Linux for years and is useless for newbies. Its also sells at $130NZ for the 2 CDroms against $45 - 50NZ for the Info magic 6 CDrom set. I bought the Red Hat 2 cdrom set and now wish I hadn't, I consider it a waste of money.
The latest set Info Magic 6 cd set contains Red hat, Debian, Slackware, and Suse 4 differnet versions of Linux and is available from Quay in Wellington amongst other places. On the other 3 CDs is virtually all the other software you are likely to use in setting up a linux machine. The debian set from Cheapbytes contains 3 setup disks a binary Cd, a source and 2 extra disks for 2.0 if you want to upgrade to 2.1 it is only just stable/frozen (ie late Beta) so it is only available by FTP.
Linux Disks available in New Zealand
I also distribute Linux CDroms in New Zealand for the following distributions,
Linux CDroms
Debian 2.0 $15.00NZ + $2.00 P&P
If you would like current availability, then please email me at Sales
Useful sites
A very useful site is,
http://jgo.local.net/linuxguide
Installing Debian 2.0/2.1
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Repairing LILO in Red Hat 5.0 and Debian 2.0
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Editing LILO in Red Hat 5.0 and Debian 2.0
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Installing rpm packages off CDROM in red Hat 5.0
loading IRC
Using IRC
Loading Netscape
Notes on Red Hat 5.0 and Debian 2.0
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Compiling a kernel in red Hat 5.0 and Debian 2.0
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Eggdrop bots Basic Configuration in Debian 2.0 and red Hat 5.0/1
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Samba Basic Configuration in Debian 2.0
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Ircd 2.10 Basic Configuration in Debian 2.0
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Quake2 server Basic Configuration in Debian 2.0 and red Hat 5.0/1 To be completed.
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Thing
