Noob server setup questions

guitarguy12387

New Member
Hey Everyone!

Well i'm new here and this is my first post. I'm not a huge computer guy, but i do have a bit of technical experience. Anyway, i am thinking of building a linux based server. Ideally, i'd like it to be able to function primarily as a backup server and also an ftp server so i can access certain files from any computer via the internet. Also, i'd like it to eventually function as a web server as well.

I have basically zero experience with servers and very little with networking, so this is going to be as much of a learning process as anything. So i'm just wondering if it is a good idea to designate one server to perform all of these functions? My biggest concern is security. For example, if the webserver gets corrupted or something, would it be possible that all my backups also get corrupted? Is it possible to completely isolate the web server from the backup server without buying a second machine, for example?

I apologize for how noob-ish this post may be... but thanks very much in advance!
 
Hello,

Best practice says to run each service on its own box. Such as DNS server, web server, backups, etc. However you are looking at 2 machines here, a webserver and a backup server since you can run ftp on both machines in cunjunction. This way any web exploit or hack would not affect your backups unless its root level. (Like if it stopped the backup serivice. This is why you test your backups weekly or so to make sure they are good.) If its per website due to bad code or vulnerability, you should be able to retrieve the data.
 
Try a server running virtual machine software. KVM or VMware if you're wiling to go through the hassle. This would prevent troubles to the actual server since they're running on logical space.
 
as far as backups. I just by an extra hard drive for each server the same size or larger. I then clone each server hard drive to another hard drive. I put the hard drives away for incase of a disaster. I also ghost all my PC's / servers after I create them to 2 DVD's...so I will always have a fresh image w/ MS upates and Apps I need on DVD if I need to deploy the image again.
 
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