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Role Specific Distributions?
An Anonymous Coward asks:
"I'll start off by saying that I'm a Windows 2000 MCSE, but in our
mostly-Windows business, I've managed to sneak a few Linux servers in
here and there. For example, our primary DNS server runs Linux, but
the secondary is a Windows box, to keep the boss happy. He's scared
of Linux due to the massive configuration needed, not to mention the
lack of checkboxes and 'Are you sure?' dialog boxes. I think something
that would help him (and probably others) accept Linux more in a server
role would be a custom-made distribution dependent on the role of the
server. Does such an animal exist (something like 'Linux -- DNS
Server edition') where all services except BIND are disabled, and
BIND is already setup securely with just a few site-specific things
left to configure (like the specific hostnames and zones)? How about
something like this for web, email, and news too?" While we all
know that any Linux distribution can be tweaked for a wide variety of
services, might this make some kind of sense in an odd, PHB kinda way?
As a fellow MCSE (NT 4.0 + Internet), I can't see how linux is a "massive" configuration any more than NT is. Most distros give you a nice GUI interface for configuration -- if you want it.
Personally, I've never understood the need to drive a VGA monitor for a server OS. All I need is terminal access and vi.
Seriously, though, there quite a few floppy-based specailized linux distros (router, firewall, etc.). I haven't come across much more.
Method of processing duck feet
You can setup whatever distro you want, disable all the servers but those one you want, and use Mindi-Linux. It uses a skeleton ramdisk and your kernel, modules, and tools to build a boot/root disk set. The first floppy boots your kernel, then loads your modules and installs your tools from additional floppies. Mindi works for almost any Linux kernel or distribution. So you setup it once, and then will be able to make your very own 'Linux -- DNS Server edition' that even your boss will be able to use!
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Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
I think the problem here is that MS has got a lot of people into the "one service, one server" mentality because under NT different services tend to 'leak' and interact with each other causing problems. And perhaps also because it suits them financially (one more server, one more NT license).
Linux doesn't work that way. Most of us are quite happy to run dns+http+smtp+imap+sql all on one box and if the load average gets too high we get a faster box. The only real exception to this is firewalls; it's usually a good idea to run a separate firewall box with as little as possible installed on it, and a lot of people use an otherwise-obsolete PC for the job which is why there are one-disk-firewall distro's.
If you really want to install just one service most distributions will happily let you do it, for example with RedHat select a custom install and uncheck all but the "DNS server" option, and you'll get a very minimal GUI install with a DNS server and the tools you need to admin it, and not much else. If you want a really light install you can even select individual packages and remove the GUI too, but then you have to set up stuff in textmode which will make your PHB unhappy again..
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It runs a 1.8 kernel though, but its enough to get the Job done
Are you *sure* about that one? Stable Linux kernel versions were 1.0, 1.2, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4. I don't know what exactly Freesco runs on (never tired it), but since it seems to use masquerading, I'd guess it's probably one of the later 2.0 series.
It's only software!
It's not just for the PHB. I also like the idea of single-purpose distros. Products like Smoothwall are enticing because you know they'll do one thing and do it well. They are not polluted with the "gotta do 1,000,000 unrelated things!" mentality that plagues other distros.
Unfortunately it seems the single-purpose distros are almost always commercial. Cobalt produces a very nice www-only distro, with easy-to-use FORMs based configuration, and so on. But you have to buy their Cobalt hardware to get their software. Similarly you can get a nicely packaged caching proxy server built upon Squid from Swelltech, but it only comes bundled with Swelltech's hardware.
Debian was making some progress towards creating a single distribution that could be "tasked" into a single purpose. It was almost at the point where you could go "apt-get install task-mail-server" followed by "apt-get install harden" and you would have a sufficiently locked down mail server. Sadly it seems this progress has slowed. I daresay the sheer size of Debian makes it difficult to build integrated environments of comparable quality to the Cobalts of the world.
I honestly look forward to the day when there is a good range of free single-purpose distros. I won't complain if my DNS server doesn't have a C compiler or if my SMTP server can't run X clients. I've already got access to dozens of general-purpose distros that can do 100s of tasks. What I want is a server that doesn't occupy my time to administer: I want to set it and forget it. I'm not getting that level of ease-of-use from the Gotta Do It All distros.
WHile you're post doesn't say what kind of distribution you are looking for, it may be easier to sell you boss on a commercial solution that sells specialized distributions. does just that, I have never used their products, there are some reviews out there, linux journal has a review of the web server, Linux Mag loved The Web Server, Thick Book has a review of The Firewall (run through google to avoid PDF), as does Linux World.
Hope this helps you sell a linux solution