linux server setup/admin questions...need suggestions on hardware and software...

[Verruckt]

I am working to set up a server for my company. We are creating a database of papers with a web front end so users can access it. The machine will run a database server, a web server, probably an ftp, telnet and telnet administration server, and has to act as a firewall for a beowulf cluster, too.

1) I was thinking dual procs would be better than a single one. We pribably won't have more than 20 users connected at a time, but the machine has to do quite a lot for any one user... Like dual P3 700s and 512MB of RAM?

2) Redhat Linux 7? How stable is it? I know RH6.2 is good but has a huge security whole or two or three. Is RH7 any better? A linux distro that supports the RPM format would be nice as we will have multiple admins on this machine, some of which are not familiar with linux (all will be supervised by someone who does know linux). How secure is RH7?

3) I was thinking a MySQL database with an apache web server and PHP4. How easy is MySQL to adiminister? MySQL vs. Oracle?

4) SCSI or UDMA? I know DMA66/100 stuff is out there and pretty fast now...but we do have some money to throw around...

5) Here is what I was thinking:
Intel i815ep dual mobo of some kind
2x 256MB PC133 DIMMs
2x p3 700 (or 866) CPU's
cheap sound & video
Intel Pro 100+ NIC(s) (prolly server versions)
1x CDROM of some kind (CD-RW?)
3x IBM Deskstar 75GXP 75GB
Redhat Linux 7
MySQL database server
Apache webserver (w/PHP)
ftp server of some kind
telnet server
IPChains
Bastille

what are your comments?

thanks for everything...
heheh...this is like my dream job...

...verruckt

 

[FUBAR]

Where is RH 7.1 in your list? Just wondering...

As for the SCSI vs UDMA, look at it this way: SCSI's advantage is speed of access, especially when multiple requests are involved, a good example is a general access file server for 50+ nodes. UDMA is good for throughput. SCSI bursts higher but can't sustain, IDE has a good sustain but can only handle one request at a time while SCSI can split the requests.

I'm sure someone can say that more elequently...