Hi, I decided to rent an unmanaged dedicated server from Joe's Datacenter. This is my very first dedicated server hosting system I'm getting (I've only experienced with shared/reseller hosting). Operating system will be CentOS and control panel Direct Admin and there will be 5 usable IP's. So my question is: 1. Will I be able to add 5 domains and assign all 5 IP's to those domains directly via Direct Admin or do I need to learn all the Linux stuff first? 2. Do I have to install some sort of firewall/antivirus system to my server? How about any other security software? 3. How often do I need to boot the server? And how do I know when it's time to boot? And finally how it's usually done if it's going to be unmanaged server? Thanks in advance!
I really don't think you should be going with an unmanaged server if you have absolutely no experience in this kind of field (and shared/reseller hosting experience doesn't come in handy when managing a server). There are so many things you would need to do in order to secure your server, get it up running good and optimizing it that if you are unexperienced you won't be able to learn just from asking on DP or by reading few guides found on Google, if it were just that easy then managed server sellers would go out of business. My advice to you is to get a managed server and start learning managing the server bit by bit as you go, even if this would mean that you would have to pay a bit more for your server to include the managing costs. But if you decide to go along with the unmanaged server, you should read into DirectAdmin guides here: http://help.directadmin.com/ Good Luck.
Hello there. To answer some of our questions: 1. Yes, you can add IP's to DA and assign them to your sites. 2. It is always recommended to secure your server, which includes a firewall and antivirus. There are many more things you need to though to help secure your server. 3. A reboot on a Linux system needs to be done on a kernel upgrade, that is usually the only time required to do so. You can reboot the server through the DA interface, or through a shell command. Hope this helps. I do suggest though that you hire a server admin to initially setup and secure your server. Chris
I recommend you go with http://platinumservermanagement.com/ They offer full server management services for your server, at amazing prices and I've heard only good reviews about them. Their management even includes server monitoring, securing it, updating it, etc (see all on their site). Good Luck.
Bud, personally I don't think you are ready for an UN-Managed Dedicated Box. If you want to learn how to manage it get an UN-Managed VPS which you can get for cheap and learn on that. But if you will be using this for websites than managed is the way to go. If you do screw something up there is always someone there to help you. - Prilep
Well mate now a day even hosting companies are struggling to secure there servers form DOS. For a newbie it really a stuff job. if you site uptime is not so critical te go for it may be in 12 month time you can learn the server administration.
Hello pdoods, I would suggest you to go with a Fully managed dedicated server hosting plans. The fully managed solutions offers you a wide range of server management services, which is completely managed by the service provider itself. You don't have to worry about the server maintenance and other tasks, it will be provider's responsibility to fulfil all your requirements. Hence, you can focus on your core business and increaes your productivity.
You can either get server management as a second service (check bobcares.com, seeksadmin.com) or just get a managed dedicated server, which seems to be a better option for me.
Why aren't you asking these questions of your provider? Assuming all 5 IP's are usable and routed/bound to your server, you can do whatever you want with them. Keep in mind also that you do not need to (and I would strongly discourage) placing each site on a separate IP. There's really no need to do that short of using a secure cert. Name based virtual hosting has been a feature available for years now, and is the proper way to handle multiple domains on a single server/IP. On item number two, your host should insure this initially and depending on how much they protect their network may likely install patches. Most CP's out there do this automatically. You should however be in the habit of paying attention to this yourself. WTF would you need to "boot" your server for? Are you asking how often you should reboot it? NEVER. There should be no reason to do that short of some major change or update that requires it. Again, why aren't you asking your host these questions?
Why can't I ask here as well? I thought this is a discussion forum where questions can be asked. Besides, I haven't YET bought(rent) anything. Just asking some general dedicated server related stuff that came to my mind. Ok. I just tought as they are offering 5 IP's I may as well put them in use. Ok. Thanks. Yea I meant the reboot. I just thought that if there's an os, there's going to be updates and if there's security related software installed, there will also be updates and eventually, the server requires reboot. But I guess that's not the case then. Again, this is a discussion forum and I don't have a host YET. Thanks!
Sorry, you made it sound like you did: OP: "I decided to rent an unmanaged dedicated server from Joe's Datacenter. "