The Perfect Server - Fedora 12 x86_64 [ISPConfig 2] | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials

The Perfect Server - Fedora 12 x86_64 [ISPConfig 2]

Version 1.0
Author: Falko Timme
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Last edited 11/20/2009

This is a detailed description about how to set up a Fedora 12server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache webserver (SSL-capable) with PHP5/Ruby/Python, Postfix mail server withSMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server,Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc. This tutorial is written forthe 64-bit version of Fedora 12, but should apply to the 32-bit versionwith very little modifications as well. In the end you should have asystem that works reliably, and if you like you can install the freewebhosting control panel ISPConfig (i.e., ISPConfig runs on it out of the box).

I will use the following software:

• Web Server: Apache 2.2.13
• PHP 5.3.0
• Ruby
• Python
• Database Server: MySQL 5.1.39
• Mail Server: Postfix
• DNS Server: BIND9 (chrooted)
• FTP Server: proftpd
• POP3/IMAP server: Dovecot
• Webalizer for web site statistics

Please note that this setup does not work for ISPConfig 3! It is valid for ISPConfig 2 only!

I want to say first that this is not the only way of setting up sucha system. There are many ways of achieving this goal but this is theway I take. I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

1 Requirements

To install such a system you will need the following:

• Download the Fedora 12 DVD iso image from a mirror near you (the list of mirrors can be found here: http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/12/), e.g. http://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/fedora/linux/releases/12/Fedora/x86_64/iso/Fedora-12-x86_64-DVD.iso
• an Internet connection...

2 Preliminary Note

In this tutorial I use the hostname server1.example.com with the IP address 192.168.0.100 and the gateway 192.168.0.1. These settings might differ for you, so you have to replace them where appropriate.

3 Install The Base System

Boot from your Fedora 12 DVD. Select Install or upgrade an existing system:

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. Click on Next:

Choose your language next:

Select your keyboard layout:

If you see the following message (Error processing drive: /dev/sda. This device may need to be reinitialized. REINITIALIZING WILL CAUSE ALL DATA TO BE LOST!), please click on Re-initialize drive:

Fill in the hostname of the server:

Choose your time zone:

Give root a password:

Next we do the partitioning. Select Replace existing Linux system. This will give you a small /boot partition and a large / partition which is fine for our purposes:

Select Write changes to disk:

The hard drive is being formatted:

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