<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
body { margin-bottom: 1px; line-height: normal; margin-right: 4px; font-variant: normal; margin-top: 4px; margin-left: 4px }
-->
</style>
</head>
<body style="margin-bottom: 1px; margin-right: 4px; margin-top: 4px; margin-left: 4px">
<DIV> If you are using the server in a work environment and you need
</DIV>
<DIV>enterprise-level reliability, you need an enterprise-level server.
</DIV>
<DIV>Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server will
</DIV>
<DIV>work for you. This way you will get five years of updates for all
</DIV>
<DIV>supported apps - ssh, apache,vsftpd, etc. Do not expect updates
</DIV>
<DIV>for unsupported apps such as ports from other OS versions.
</DIV>
<DIV>For example, if you need widgety-foo.rpm from SUSE Pro or
</DIV>
<DIV>Fedora Core, so not expect enterprise-level performance or
</DIV>
<DIV>security from it.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>That said, if you cannot afford the enterprise systems, I recommend
</DIV>
<DIV>CentOS. It is a rebuild of RHEL and odds are that it will be updated
</DIV>
<DIV>as RHEL is. I recommend actually parting with the money though.
</DIV>
<DIV>If you are making money off it, you should pay for it. IMO.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><br><br><br>-- <br>-Josh More, RHCE, CISSP, NCLP<br> morej@alliancetechnologies.net<br> 515-245-7701<br><br>>>>sthiessen@passitonservices.org 08/08/05 5:31 pm >>><br>Ok, just to get your advice (all included, not just Josh) ...<br><br>Should I not run SUSE for this then? Or you recommend something better<br>that would be more stable?<br><br>If it will save my time and effort in the future to backup my software<br>and reinstall something more stable, I can do that. But I am not sure<br>what is the best for this kind of situation.<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>Stuart<br><br>On Aug 8, 2005, at 17:25, Josh More wrote:<br><br>> 9.2 is old, 9.3 is new, you should upgrade.<br>> <br>>Now, before you think I'm just being an ass, think for a minute about<br>>the<br>>SUSE paradigm.  SUSE Pro is an "enthusist" version.  It is designed to<br>>be upgraded every time something new comes out.  People who want<br>>a nice stable desktop are expected to go for Novell Linux Desktop.<br>>People who want a nice stable server are expected to go for SUSE<br>>Linux Enterprise Server.<br>> <br>>Now that 9.3 is out, 9.2 is not given as careful attention regarding<br>>security updates, so stability will be more and more of a concern.<br>>I would *love* to be able to point you to a SUSE-like community<br>>supported enterprise OS, but there just isn't a CentOS for SUSE.<br>>In order to work within the paradigm, you need to upgrade.<br>> <br>>As far as what could suddenly be causing problems, I generally find<br>>that this sort of thing is caused by a new exploit making the rounds.<br>>Long before you can get hacked by such a thing, you see system<br>>instability.  Right now, I'm seeing it with proftpd, but I have also<br>>recently seen it with ssh and apache.<br>> <br>>This also ignores any issues that may come from hardware that is<br>>starting to flake out.<br>> <br>>Good luck,<br>> <br>><br>><br>><br>>--<br>>-Josh More, RHCE, CISSP, NCLP<br>> morej@alliancetechnologies.net<br>> 515-245-7701<br>><br>>>>>sthiessen@passitonservices.org 08/08/05 5:03 pm >>><br>>I am running SUSE 9.2, I believe (Server's at the office and I'm at<br>>home off today). My colleague called me up and said that the server<br>>went down again.  It had been working for months with no problem and<br>>then all of a sudden, it is acting a little more temperamental.  The<br>>same is true for a client of ours who we helped set up something<br>>similar to what we have. It worked for months with no problem, and then<br>>all of a sudden, it is going down and then 20 days later, it is down<br>>again.<br>><br>>Any thoughts what might be the problem?  I plan to investigate the logs<br>>and such, but I am off today so I don't have access to them when<br>>they're down (obviously). I will post what the logs say when I can get<br>>to them tomorrow (unless I can figure it out myself).  I'm more<br>>concerned with the seeming indication that it is becoming unstable.<br>><br>>I just know enough to get things setup and configure things and keep<br>>them running but not enough to be an expert when things go wrong or<br>>need more detailed fixing.  I would like to be, but haven't gotten<br>>there yet. So, I thought I would check with you to see if you had<br>>experienced anything similar and see if you had any suggestions on<br>>troubleshooting tips for this kind of thing.<br>><br>>Both are being used as fileservers both as SFTP and Samba servers. Our<br>>client's is also being used as an email server and a webmail server (I<br>>know it is better to separate the fileserving and email functions, but<br>>the client doesn't have the budget to separate the two functions at<br>>this time).<br>><br>>One last question ... do you recommend that servers be restarted from<br>>time to time?  If so, how often do you recommend that happen?<br>><br>>Thanks,<br>><br>>Stuart<br>><br>><br>>Cialug mailing list<br>>Cialug@cialug.org<br>>http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug<br>><br>>Cialug mailing list<br>>Cialug@cialug.org<br>>http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug<br><br><br>Cialug mailing list<br>Cialug@cialug.org<br>http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug<br> </DIV>
</body>
</html>