LAMP Server Sarge

From My Big Bad Wiki

Introduction

My guide for installing and configuring a LAMP(Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) and mail server system with Debian Sarge. This will guide you through installing all the essential components onto a Sarge base install. The final product will be a strictly command line driven server install capable of serving up numerous websites and multiple domain email.

Prerequisites

A copy of the latest Sarge Debian Installer Netinstall CD. Download here if you need it

My System Specs

Dell PowerEdge 400SC
P4 2.8Ghz w/HT
1gig Crucial ECC Ram
Maxtor 300GB SATA Drive w/16MB Cache

Installing Debian Sarge

Boot Options

We want to make sure we boot with support for the 2.6 kernel

boot: linux26

Configuring The System

Setting Static IP

The default Sarge "when using linux26" installs using DHCP and doesn't give an option to set a static IP. A nice trick to setting a static IP address during install time is to unplug the network cable from the machine. When it tries to set via DHCP it will fail, then give you an option to set static. Once you set the static, plug the cable back in.

If it set to DHCP, no big deal, it's easy to change. Follow these steps to change.

pico -w /etc/network/interfaces

File: /etc/network/interfaces

Here's what my file looks like after editing:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
        address 192.168.16.86
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        network 192.168.16.0
        broadcast 192.168.16.255
        gateway 192.168.16.1

Setting Hostname

This actuallly should of been done during the install, if you used the Debian Installer CD.

Installing Applications

Applications Used

Bind - DNS Server
Apache - Webserver
PHP - Scripting language
MySQL - Relational database
vsftpd - FTP Server
Postfix - MTA
Rsync - Rsync Server
Webmin - Web Based System Management

BIND

apt-get install bind9

Apache 2 & PHP 4

This will install the Apache webserver along with PHP

apt-get install apache2 libapache2-mod-php4

Configuring Apache

From a command line run the following command

a2enmod rewrite

/etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload

MySQL Server

apt-get install mysql-server-4.1 php4-mysql

Set MySQL Password

mysqladmin -u root password NEW_PASSWORD

vsftpd FTP Server

apt-get install vsftpd

Configuring vsftpd

We need to modify the vsftpd configuration file to allow our local users to log in.

pico -w /etc/vsftpd.conf

File: /etc/vsftpd.conf

Here's what changes need to be done:

# Uncomment this to allow local users to log in.
local_enable=YES

# Uncomment this to enable any form of FTP write command.
write_enable=YES
# You may restrict local users to their home directories.  See the FAQ for
# the possible risks in this before using chroot_local_user or
# chroot_list_enable below.
chroot_local_user=YES

#Add the following lines at the end of the file
file_open_mode=0644
local_umask=0022

Postfix MTA

Be default the Debian Sarge base install uses Exim as the MTA. We're going to replace it with Postfix. Installing Postfix will automatically remove Exim and related apps.

apt-get install postfix

Rsync

apt-get install rsync

Webmin

This section is under-going some modifications. I'm still debating the _right_ way to install webmin on a Debian system.

apt-get install libnet-ssleay-perl

wget http://superb.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/webadmin/webmin-1.260.tar.gz

Additional Packages

apt-get install php4-curl curl php4-domxml php4-gd php4-imagick php4-mcrypt php4-pear php4-rrdtool netpbm webalizer

TODO

Credits

Did this help you?

Please send me a comment letting me know if this helped you at all. I've had folks actually want to donate a few bucks for helping, and I want make it known that this information is provided for free.