server questions

[Yu Meng Chong]

----- "Andrew Gould" <andrewlylegould at gmail.com> wrote:

> Are Ubuntu or OpenSUSE easy to administer from the command line
> without breaking the installed system configuration tools (yast,
> etc)?
> 
> Can anyone recommend a good tutorial on iptables?
> 
> Background:  I used to run a FreeBSD server with ssh and https
> exposed
> to the internet.  I used pf for firewalling and secure web for forums
> and webdav.  I'd like have a similar setup again.  I'm purchased a
> zotac zbox id40 (atom d525 dual core, upgraded to 4gb ram) for lower
> energy use.  The wireless adapter, ralink 2860, works in OpenSUSE
> 11.3
> and 11.4 but not FreeBSD.


Hi Andrew!

Fascinating!

I'm thinking of building a AMD Zacate server because it uses passive 
cooling, but I am so afraid of the performance (or lack thereof)! I 
once setup a Celeron server for basic print and file sharing and the 
performance was abysmal. Took forever to boot and seemed to be 
"thrashing" 99% of the time, though there was 1GB RAM in it. This was
some years ago when 1GB was a big deal.

Anyway, back to your question. I am using OpenSUSE right now, and I 
have to say that so far, the experience has been superb! The packages
I have used seem much better engineered compared with CentOS/RHEL 
(more thought put into them, so better suited to task), the mailing 
list is quite vigorous and 11.4 has some nice eye candy and performance
enhancements. The only downside to OpenSUSE is that there is a lot 
less documentation for it compared to RHEL or Ubuntu. This can be 
quite frustrating when all you want is a quick solution.

I don't know enough about iptables to say if it is easier to manage on
OpenSUSE. I use Yast for this sort of thing and it is quite effective
for most things (even works over SSH), but my understanding of 
firewalls and security are very basic, so I may not be the best person
to ask about this.

Anyway, let us know how the Zotac box performs! I heard some awful 
stuff about Intel Atoms, and that the cooling still requires a CPU 
fan. But I am very curious to know if it is capable enough to be a 
server of any kind! 

Regards,
pascal chong