Far From Home

I finally got around to installing Ubuntu server on my spare pc. I am done configuring the essential to have my web server up. Everything seems to be running fine and my test sites are viewable, including ‘Far From Home’ blog. Over all I am happy with the install besides the little hiccups along the way. Coming from a Windows GUI base OS, I was a bit leery about using a Linux base box. The server is 100% cmd text and 0% GUI interface. What that meant for me was learning a new language all over again. I am grateful for the Internet. Finding answers and tutorials were just a click away.

Prior to Ubuntu, my web server was running on my personal computer. It is an intel Core 2 Duo processor. Not the fastest but it is great for my needs and the programs I and using. However, when I installed the web server on my Windows, I had several different clients and applications running in the background. It slowed my pc down quite a bit. I had to get it off or risk the life of my cpu. Since I had an extra mobo/cpu laying around, I figured I would use it.

Running a server doesn’t require a high end processor. In fact, all I needed was a 300Mhz x86 processor, 128MB of RAM, 1GB disk space, a video card (640x480), and a CD Rom. My old P4 had all that and then some. When I got all my preparation done; I was ready to install it. I found this great tutorial on how to install Ubuntu server with added security. The process took about 2 hrs as predicted in the guide. Unfortunately, I had issues that I couldn’t quite figured out until recently.

The server would run fine for a day or two and all of a sudden, it would crash and my cmd prompt would not function anymore. The screen would either froze or it would print out a never ending list of computer language that I could not understanding. A reboot would fix it for a short while, but the problem would come back. The first thought was maybe I had a corrupted copy of the CD. I downloaded another copy and reinstall the server. That wasn’t the case. My second thought was maybe the latest version had bugs on my particular computer. I downloaded a lower version of Ubuntu and begin the install again. Nope.

At this point, I was frustrated. Each of the install takes about 2 hours to install all my applications and uploading my test websites. This was becoming a pain in the butt. I was ready to throw in the towel and install Windows XP in its place. Windows has never failed me before. During the time of installing and reinstalling the server, I was searching for answers as to why my server was acting the way it was. I stumbled on an off topic thread and this poster mentioned about corrupted ram. A flashback purged through my mind at this point. I remembered this computer had an error message before about bad ram when I had Windows XP installed. Whenever I do a ram test, the test would just froze 15 minutes in. That maybe the cause of my problem.

Without even thinking any further, I remove one of the ram chips that I think was bad. Turned on the server and let it run. Two days have passed. No signs of freezing, locking up or random scripts running in the cmd text box. All seems to be running normal at this point. My server is golden.

All this troubleshooting lasted about a week and a half. It was a tiresome experience but ended with a positive result. I will be adding more features to the box as time goes by. Besides Apache, I would like to have a mail server and a VPN. I know it doesn’t look much of a computer, but with my limited space area, I think it serves the purpose just fine.



Edit 01
Every since my server became live, I have been adding applications to serve my needs. It was pure exhaustion; nevertheless, I am thrilled to report my funky server is 95% completed. All is left is to fine tune the applications and beef up the security. Here is what I have added.

Squid+Privoxy+Tor
VPN
Mail Server >>This was a huge challenge.
Dependencies apps

Edit 02
My server was overheating due to the weather being hot and my old dinky cpu fan. I upgraded to this one. Much quieter and cooler now.

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