The Perfect Setup - Fedora Core 4
Version 1.3
Author: Falko Timme
Last edited: 01/03/2006
This is a detailed description about the steps to be taken to setup a Fedora Core 4 based server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters (web server (SSL-capable), mail server (with SMTP-AUTH and TLS!), DNS server, FTP server, MySQL server, POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc.). In addition to that I will show how to use Debian's package manager apt on an rpm-based system because it takes care of package dependencies automagically which can save a lot of trouble.
I will use the following software:
- Web Server: Apache 2.0.x
- Mail Server: Postfix (easier to configure than sendmail; has a shorter history of security holes than sendmail)
- DNS Server: BIND9
- FTP Server: proftpd
- POP3/IMAP servers
- Webalizer for web site statistics
In the end you should have a system that works reliably and is ready for the free webhosting control panel ISPConfig (i.e., ISPConfig runs on it out of the box).
I want to say first that this is not the only way of setting up such a system. There are many ways of achieving this goal but this is the way I take. I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!
Requirements
To install such a system you will need the following:
- Download the 4 Fedora Core 4 CD iso images from a mirror near you (the list of mirrors can be found here: http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors.html), e.g. ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/fedora-core/4/i386/iso/FC4-i386-disc1.iso, ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/fedora-core/4/i386/iso/FC4-i386-disc2.iso, ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/fedora-core/4/i386/iso/FC4-i386-disc3.iso and ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/fedora-core/4/i386/iso/FC4-i386-disc4.iso, or download the DVD iso image, e.g. ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/fedora-core/4/i386/iso/FC4-i386-DVD.iso
- an internet connection...
1 The Base System
Boot from your Fedora Core 4 CD (CD 1) or DVD.
It can take a long time to test the installation media so we skip this test here:
The welcome screen of the Fedora installer appears:
Choose your language next:
Select your keyboard layout:
We want to install a server so we choose Server here:
Now we have to partition our hard disk. You can choose to let the Fedora installer do the partitioning, or you can do it yourself. I want to create a small /boot partition (less than 100 MB) with the file system ext3, a swap partition and a huge / partition (again with ext3):
Now the boot loader GRUB will be installed. You can leave the default settings unchanged and click on Next: