Ubuntu server is too damn stable

Post #324,713 by crazy 4/16/10 9:20:16 AM Reply	Ubuntu server is too damn stable So I setup an email server. A couple of years ago. Dropped in the Ubuntu build of the day, which was 7.10. Checked out a few tutorials on the web, chose Courier (i think it was Greg's favorite of the moment, not really sure), setup Clam-AV (dpg reconfigure style), setup my imapd configuration, and let her rip. A tiny bit of space admin since then. I have an inhouse guy who can wander around a file system, check disk space, etc, but no adminning. The next goal is to cost this company as little as possible. Do nothing if possible, while keeping the mail flowing. It simply kept working. And now, dammit, Clam-AV EOLifes the version I'm running. How dare they? hehe. My apt sources must be hosed, I can't do any updates, and actually, I'd prefer not to at this point. It is better to build fresh and cp the email store (single company, 50 users, down down of maybe an hour over the weekend, no problem), then it is to take a chance on a failed update leaving this system in an unknown state. At least for me, in this situation. So, any suggestions for the next environment? Here's the CPU(s): root@mail:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 15 model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 4300 @ 1.80GHz stepping : 2 cpu MHz : 1795.580 cache size : 2048 KB Choices are: OS: I prefer debian based. Any preferred distro for this task? Inbound email environment: I liked postfix but then fell into this courier install. What should be next? Goal is ease of admin over power features, This is a small environment. Imapd stuff. Bunches of ways to store the messages. Haven't thought about this in the past. Should I? At this point, space management may become a concern, which is impacted by this. A few of my users have 4G+, most have far less. I've got plenty of free space, so I'll take quick access over space savings. Web email client: We currently use an old version of squirrelmail. It is evil, but it was quick. Lots of other choices out there. Goal being ease of use for my end-uses, but I can't cost them a lot of money for a new setup.
Post #324,725 by crazy 4/16/10 12:37:47 PM Reply	I bow to Greg (the real admin) Problem was still there. Dammit. An emergency call to a sick coughing weak Greg was required. Well, I dunno about required, but I sure was in trouble. 5 minutes of talk. 10 minutes of pacing as Greg cogitated and researched. 5 minutes of talk. Not really. He said: "Type this" I said: "Yes Sir" tappyty tappyty And it was fixed. Maaaaaggiccccc. 5 more minutes of talking, I hung up to announce the joyous news, ok people, go get your email. And the joyous response was: WTF? Where the hell did all this spam come from? Ok, not so joyous. And those smart phones, they don't like scrolling through all that spam. Ok, so as not to bother the real admin, I went wandering through the files that he remote controlled me through, found the appropriate spot to hack into, fixed it. Maaaaaagggggiiiiccccc. And now we've bought ourselves a bit of time to work on the new server. Thaks Greg
Post #324,736 by folkert 4/16/10 5:45:54 PM Reply	Well, IMO... I'd Go with a Debian based "STABLE" release. I 'm on Sid... and have always been. No problems for me. But you aren't me. That means it is either Ubuntu 8.04, or... Ubuntu 10.04... scary. I'd setup the same thing you did before. Its easy enough. Personally, I'd go with Ubuntu 8.04.latest... and a wait 'til Ubuntu 10.04.01 (SP1) comes out. It should be a well tested (by Ubuntu) upgrade from 8.04.latest to 10.04.1 Use all the same pieces... I still like exim better than postfix, but either will do. Courier everything except the MTA. Things work a treat. Spam Assassin latest. ClamAV latest. Amavis latest. Things are just good. The only thing you need to do is do updates regularly... do the -d only in the background via cronjob... and then have it send you an e-mail when it has critical updates. Then you can stay up on the thing. Not many things have broken once working on Ubuntu (during LTS support length) If you want specifics, let me know. I can help you out on Debian-based or RHEL/CentOS based system. One thing you should know, a lot of "Debian Based" distros are switching back to Debian Proper. Ubuntu has become a morass with some issues, but "server version" isn't the reason... slow responses on Desktop/Workstation issues.
Post #324,753 by static 4/17/10 8:56:20 AM Reply	Debian stable + courier is a good combination. If it's really courier as your MTA, you can very nearly pick up /etc/courier and put it on your install. Viola! Configured! Though I'd still check each file, anyway. Courier is very easy to configure. Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.

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