Web Server/Linux/PHP/Security

Here is the story, my web server that I pay for has become unreliable. I have an old computer in my room hooked up to the cable internet (LAN) and the specs are as folllows:

Win 98
2x 2gb hds
64mb of ram
cd drive
floppy
low end pentium II

I need to run a web server, mysql, and php. I am pretty sure i could manage setting this up with a linux distro, but i'm not sure which is the best and i am definitely not sure about security. thats why i put this in the web security because i want to make sure that this box is secure but can also be viewed by ppl outside the LAN...

questions:

best distro for job
security procedures
overall install procedures

thanks guys

Iceborg,

Here is a good link to compare the major Linux distros:

http://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=cd

As for security, a good tool for locking down a Linux box is Bastille:

http://www.bastille-linux.org/

Bastille supports RedHat, Mandrake, and Debian that I know of. Once you choose a distro the main web site for that distro is a good place to find even step by step instructions on how to install it. There was a tutorial here a while back on installing Slackware 9.0 or 9.1 i forget which. If I find the link I'll come back and edit this post.

Also consider that the future of RedHat is a little fuzzy right now with the Fedora project and all that is going on with their commercialization. Just something to think about.

Check out Gentoo linux, I have been reading more about it lately and I'm pretty impressed with what I've read about it. I haven't used it (yet, but I have downloaded it) but the web site looks good and I know it has step by step instructions for at least the basic install.


Anyway, good luck

Yea, cool.

I'm not a big linux user just because I'm a novice and student learning about computer science and hope to one day make it my major operating system.

For now, I just need something onsite that can execute my PHP pages/sites until my school can figure out their legal issues. To make a long story short here, a physics teacher started a website for the school on a third-party server, he then bought all the domains possible and linked them to that server, while not being illegal, it was against the board of education's policy because they have servers specifically for school sites. I'm just tyring to hook up something local until they figure their crap out.

Plus, i'm sick of having to rely on my host's server being up for me to just mess around with php. Though, I don't want to just throw together a box and distro and have some script kiddie make it into my LAN.

I set up apache running mysql with post nuke as a web site,I found the shorewall firewall easy to use and with a bit of script modifications in etc/shorewall common.def file makes an excellent firewall for a web server.Linux loves ram so bump your machine to at least 128meg of ram.When setting up an iptables firewall make sure you modify the script so you can allow icmp(so you can ping the box). Aso look up a site with info about setting up apache as out of the box it needs locking down,for example blocking off unnesassary modules.My distro is Mandrake 9.2.

There is no way i can upgrade the memory because the mobo is so old and only has one slot. I thought maybe a linux install could be stripped down enough for just the web server.