The Perfect Server - OpenSUSE 11

Version 1.0
Author: Till Brehm <t [dot] brehm [at] ispconfig [dot] com>, Falko Timme <ft [at] falkotimme [dot] com>
Last edited 06/23/2008

This is a detailed description about how to set up an OpenSUSE 11 server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc. This tutorial is written for the 32-bit version of OpenSUSE 11, but should apply to the 64-bit version with very little modifications as well.

I will use the following software:

• Web Server: Apache 2.2
• Database Server: MySQL 5.0
• Mail Server: Postfix
• DNS Server: BIND9
• FTP Server: proftpd (ISPConfig will not work with vsftpd on OpenSUSE 11)
• POP3/IMAP: I will use Maildir format and therefore install Courier-POP3/Courier-IMAP.
• Webalizer for web site statistics

In the end you should have a system that works reliably, and if you like you can install the free webhosting control panel ISPConfig (i.e., ISPConfig runs on it out of the box).

I want to say first that this is not the only way of setting up such a system. There are many ways of achieving this goal but this is the way I take. I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

1 Requirements

To install such a system you will need the following:

• The OpenSUSE 11 DVD. You can download it here: http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/distribution/11.0/iso/dvd/openSUSE-11.0-DVD-i386.iso
• A fast internet connection...

2 Preliminary Note

In this tutorial I use the hostname server1.example.com with the IP address 192.168.0.100 and the gateway 192.168.0.1. These settings might differ for you, so you have to replace them where appropriate.

3 The Base System

Boot from your OpenSUSE 11 DVD and select Installation:

The installer is booting the initial Linux system:

Select your language, keyboard layout and accept the licence terms:

The installer analyzes your hardware and builds the software repository cache:

Select the region and timezone:

We select "Other > Minimal Server selection" here as we want to install a server without X-Window desktop. The X-Window system is not nescessary to run the server and would slow down the system. We will do all administration tasks on the shell or trough a SSH connection e.g. via PuTTY from a remote desktop.