[thelist] Newbie with First Ubuntu Server

Todd Richards todd at promisingsites.com
Tue Jan 12 15:47:42 CST 2010


Hi Ron -

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this.  You've confirmed what I
wondered/feared - that I was/wasn't doing it right, or that it was taking
too much or too little time.  I realize it's a new OS for me, and I realize
that I didn't learn Windows in 24 hours (wait, I did have the book to "Learn
Windows in 24 Hours").  And after writing my message earlier, I realized
"Hmmm, setting up a site/FTP user in Windows isn't a 10 second job either!"
It just is pretty different, and like you said - you can't just start
clicking around to find what you want (necessarily).  

I'll keep messing around - and I appreciate the extra tips too!

Todd


-----Original Message-----
From: Ron [mailto:ronr at linuxdude.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 10:37 AM
To: todd at promisingsites.com; thelist at lists.evolt.org
Subject: Re: [thelist] Newbie with First Ubuntu Server


Todd Richards wrote:
>                  I do have a GUI installed but thus far have been using
the command line while following instructions.  I have to admit it's not bad
(as long as there is something to follow - you can't just hunt and peck to
find stuff).  But again, compared to Windows it seems like a much more
tedious process.  If that's true, then fine.  But I have a feeling there is
so much "basics" out there, and I don't even know how to start looking.
>
> For instance, when I set up a new site in Windows, I:
> - Create the folder location for the website
> - Set up the site in IIS, pointing to the correct location for the site
and log files
> - Set up an FTP account
> - Set up a database in MS SQL Server (if needed)
>   


Tedious is doing all that "pointing to" like you did in windows. Try 
doing all that "pointing to" to set up 10 sites or 100 sites.

Your questions are typical of someone that is 99.5% windows, but as 
you'll soon discover, the answers turn out to be trivial, just not 
obvious. It amounts to simple little things, most of which are just 
personal preference, like opening virtuals.conf in vi and copying one 
vhost section with mx(mark) y'x(copy to mark), and then taping p(paste) 
for however many sites you want to add. Then using a wide variety of 
methods (personal preference again) you rapidly change each new vhost 
section for the differnt servername, docroot, etc. Close the file and 
restart apache, done. Except for typos of course :-)

The single main difference between windows and linux for admins is that 
everything is in a text file.... a human readable text file. There is no 
point here -> point here -> point here instructions needed. You open the 
text file in vi and type /whatever and go directly to the whatever it is 
you need to find, you change it, write the file, restart the program, 
done. The main problem here is knowing where those files are and knowing 
what to change to what. So just like with windows you had to go find 
them point -> point -> point instructions, you'll have to go find out 
what the filename is and what to change inside of it. There are a host 
of tricks you can use to find out what the filename is and what to 
change to what, but until you become familiar enough to deduce them 
tricks you'll need to rely on google.


To clarify on the virtuals.conf (as it's simply my personal preference, 
but a common one), that file is an included file and is located in the 
user's home dir. I then have an "include line" at the bottom of the main 
httpd.conf for each user. The users can add vhosts at will and when 
apache is restarted it will all be sucked in.

An example of those tricks admins use to find stuff:
"rpm -qa | grep -i <whatever>", will tell you the exact names of 
<whatever>, which you'll need below.
"rpm -q <whatever> -c", will tell you where the config files are.
"rpm -q <whatever> -d". will tell you where the docs are.


Regards,


Ron




 






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