Web Server, Database, and OS Confusion

My boss has set me up a project to setup a server in our shop (computer repair shop), we have had quite a range of servers in the past, started off with RedHat Linux running a basic web and FTP server, however we could not seem to download at any more than 50K/s over the LAN, so we lost hope in that and changed to Windows Small Business Server 2003, again running a basic Web and FTP server. After the HDD failed we changed to XP Pro running a web server using IIS, but now the boss wants more. I have been given a project by the boss to setup up the following:

An intranet site containing all the basic tools, AVG.... etc (that I can do without problems)

A repairs database with a remote web interface to contain details such as customers phone numbers, job history etc, it would be nice if the system could automatically assign a number/code for the job. It will also need to be easily searchable by job no, customer name, etc

This is where I get stuck though, I have no experience with databases at all, I would like to run LINUX, however I have no idea which distro to use. I was thinking I could use PHP to draw the information from the database and MySQL to hold the information. I will obviously have to learn PHP if that is what I am to use, if this is the case a site with some nice tutorials would be useful.

I could be looking at this wrong, so if there is an easier way about this please let me know,


Cheers

James

You are certainly on the right path.

First, you'll need to install Apache with mod_ssl support. You don't want database information pumped in the clear.

Second, MySQL is an excellent choice. You'll need to learn some database admin skills but once you get all of your tables setup and linked, then you can use just about anything you like to interface with it. PHP is fine, Java, Python, PERL and the list goes on. Pick something that you're going to be comfortable with and also be aware that your Apache server will need certain mods to run these helper platforms. PHP for example will require Apache to be aware of it via a mod so that it processes the code properly instead of simply displaying it on the screen.

As for the distro, again, you'll get 100 different answers. If you want a Linux platform, go with something you like and are comfortable with. If Redhat is your flavor, so be it.

Incidentally, the transfer issue you ran into wasn't your LAN. I remember this issue way back when. Did you patch the server when you saw the behavior?

OK, so in the end, if it were me, I'd go with RedHat or SuSE. Both have excellent resources available and these two distros are widely used so there will be lots of people to help out should you get in a rut.

--TH13

Excellent, I have used Suse Linux before, and I am quite familiar with it, as for the SSL, I don't think that matters too much since we will only be using this on the LAN and we are not going to be setting up any kind of WAN access (think that makes sense). Yes I had tried patching the server on the old redhat machine, but that did not help. Well I am downloading Suse as we speak, I was a little confused whether to get the evaluation version or the OSS version http://www.opensuse.org/Image:Download.png seems a little confusion, it says the evaluation version does not time out at all so I assume that it is just called an evaluation version so they do not breach copyright??? It is the evaluation version I am downloading anyway,

Thanks for your help


James

OK, So I have installed Suse 10, however I have a major prolem already that I am struggling to fix. So here are the symptoms:

I can ping google and get replies as normal
I can not download any updates using the Suse update utility.
I cannot access google using any web browser (using the same URL that I can ping OK)
I can access google using any web browser if I enter the IP that I got from the ping (using http://66.249.93.99/ instead of http://www.google.co.uk/

I got frustrated with this, so I wiped the HDD and started again, but I still have problems, I have tried disabling the firewall but this did not help either

do you have a valid DNS server in /etc/resolv.conf

nameserver XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

it must be in an IP format

yup, it is:

namesever 192.168.1.1

this is OK isn't it?

ny funds for this project, there are a number of third party products that do the secoand part

Could you define "second part"? I have the network up and running now, I played with alot of things so I am not sure which bit fixed it, but having onboard e-net and a PCI e-net card did not help matters, I have got apache and PHP running nicely together, all I have to do now is play about/learn the language and get MySQL up and running, I will have a chance to play with it more tomorrow and hopefully get some sort of DB running.

thx for your help

James

Quote:

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namesever 192.168.1.1

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No. This is not correct. This is your gateway address, not your DNS server. Go to your ISPs website and get the IP of the primary and secondary DNS servers and put them in resolv.conf as advised.

The syntax varies distro to distro but if you have Xwindows, simply go into YAST and pop the IPs in there. This edits the resolv.conf for you via the GUI.

If it "fixed" itself then you probably selected DHCP, which will populate the DNS values for you.

but wouldn't my gateway (router) relay the DNS queries to my ISP's DNS servers? If I look at any of the windows machines on the network the DNS is set to 192.168.1.1, or does linux behave differently?

Quote:

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-IP Configuration On Windows Machine-

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-1C-F6-7B
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.21
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 16 December 2005 22:03:41
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 09 December 2035 22:03:41

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