From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,XPRIO autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,c32f496672c2e0c5,start X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Received: by 10.180.24.130 with SMTP id u2mr10903492wif.6.1357173736960; Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:42:16 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 X-FeedAbuse: http://nntpfeed.proxad.net/abuse.pl feeded by 78.192.65.63 Path: l12ni280225wiv.1!nntp.google.com!proxad.net!feeder1-2.proxad.net!nntpfeed.proxad.net!news.muarf.org!news.ecp.fr!news.jacob-sparre.dk!munin.jacob-sparre.dk!pnx.dk!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Randy Brukardt" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Linux distro for new server? Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 18:42:13 -0600 Organization: Jacob Sparre Andersen Research & Innovation Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: static-69-95-181-76.mad.choiceone.net X-Trace: munin.nbi.dk 1357173736 26023 69.95.181.76 (3 Jan 2013 00:42:16 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@jacob-sparre.dk NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2013 00:42:16 +0000 (UTC) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5931 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.6157 Date: 2013-01-02T18:42:13-06:00 List-Id: This is mostly off-topic, but as it will be used to compile and run Ada programs, it's not *completely* off-topic, and I know people here have valuable insight. I'm about to start replacing the machine that runs the www.ada-auth.org website and serves as our DMZ for the network here. (It's approaching 12 years old and can be underpowered at times, especially when searching the RM.) The hardware arrived today (it's been in town for almost two weeks, but the carrier didn't deliver it until now with weather and holiday excuses - grumble), and I need to decide what Linux distribution to install on it. The standard advice here has been Debian, but that's really emphasizing Ada development. I hopefully will not be doing much development on this machine (but that is not the same as none). One thing I definitely want to avoid is a setup that loads up lots of unncessary software (Ubuntu does that, for instance). As a server, it should have almost nothing on it beyond the stuff it is running or needs to function. The primary uses for the machine are going to be: (1) Run the existing mail filter and web server software. This is all Ada software which I should be able to recompile for this machine (but it has to be possible to do that). (2) Run firewall and proxy software for our network. (I'll need to find Linux versions of these, given how much Linux is used for servers, it must exist.) (3) GNAT, to recompile the existing software for the machine. I expect development on the machine to be kept to a minimum. The software is virtually all Ada 95 code (with a few Ada 2005 features tossed in), there is nothing bleeding edge because it all was created with Janus/Ada. (4) Network tools and a browser for network troubleshooting. (I assume these are givens on any modern OS, but I figured I better mention them.) It's possible that I will look at virtualization at some point in the future, but I don't think it will buy much for right now, as all of the softtware coexists just fine (my personal opinion on that is that software that needs to be run it a virtual machine because it conflicts with everything else is junk - like most software that needs an SQL database, apparently). So being a good base for virtual machines would be a useful bonus, but not important now. Thoughts on which distribution to install would be welcome, especially from Dmitry (who apparently uses several of them). Randy.