To use Gentoo or some other distro

[JoeykhCom]

Hi, I'm making myself a server to host websites and junk and I'm wanting to know what the pros and cons are for linux distros especially Gentoo on running a server. Also which distro do you recommend the most for a server.

[ewan.paton]

the good thing about using gentoo as a distro for this stuff is you know exactly what you put on, versions, services and its configuration. the bad thing is you need to do a bit more work learning what you need to put on and how to configure it. there are plenty of smaller server distros that will have it all preconfigured for you out the tin but woulnt be as much fun and probably dont have the community suport.
i have heard proper web servers dont have compilers to prevent hackers installing stuff which could prove a bit more hassle.
_________________
Giay tay nam | Giay nam cao cap | Giay luoi

[nuvan]

First of all, welcome to Gentoo!

Gentoo will function perfectly well as a server, just like any other distribution of linux.

One thing I like about gentoo is the USE flags, allowing easy customization of the options for the programs you install.

I currently have apache2, php, and mysql all installed on my machine, and it was simple to make sure that PHP was compiled with all the MySQL options, for example.

Whether I would recommend gentoo or not for a server machine is mostly dependant on what kind of hardware you have for it. If you have a slow machine, installing gentoo will be prohibitively long. Of course, if you have other machines that you can use distcc on, that concern is mitigated.

Gentoo Pros:
Light install - Gentoo's install is very minimal. There is nothing installed that you don't want, provided your use flags are set up properly
Optimised Packages - Because all the packages are compiled on your computer, with your CFLAGS, CHOST, USE flags, etc, all packages are optimised for your system
Dependancy Resolution - Portage will automatically download/compile/install any packagest that your selected packages are dependant on.
Community - Gentoo has a very active and friendly community who are more than willing to help people solve their problems.

Gentoo Cons:
Compile time - Especially on a slower machine, compiling all your packages can take alot of time.
Minimal Premade packages - Although GRP (Gentoo Reference Platform)does have prebuilt packages, there's not that many when you compare Gentoo to other binary-based distributions
Harder Install - Gentoo's install process is considered more difficult that many other distributions. This is a matter of opinion, and an opinion that I happen to disagree with.

So as to which distro I'd recommend, I'd say go with Gentoo. I find it to be a great distro overall, and if you don't mind the compile time, you will be very happy with it.
_________________
This space under construction