Fedora Core 3 Installation & Configuration

By Joshua Erdman
Digital Foundation, inc.

Referring to my previous article, RH 9.0 Installation & Configuration, I figured building a new Linux box with Fedora Core 3 would be just as easy with a few new differences. Well I did run into some differences that were foundational and really gave me a headache! Specifically they were significant changes to Apache and Bind. Refer to those configuration articles later after you have your server installed.

The Download

I went to RedHat's website, redhat.com, to download the Fedora Core Project. To make it fast for you, it linked me to here: http://fedora.redhat.com/download/ for the download page. I chose Fedora Core 3 as the version I wanted to download since it is currently the newest. About a third way down the page are the links for the ISOs (CD images). The Fedora Core is 3 CD images, about 2.3GB of total data to download! The images you should download are:
FC3-i386-disc1.iso,
FC3-i386-disc2.iso,
FC3-i386-disc3.iso,
FC3-i386-disc4.iso

The Install

The install is a breeze, just make sure you have an idea of what you want this machine to do and then pick the tools to accomplish this with. Below I have a table that lists some common services you might have for a server and the different packages

Service	Package
Web Server	Apache 2.0 - What else do you need?
DNS	Bind - the only way to fly
SMTP	Sendmail - the original SMTP server Qmail - tastes great, less filling!
File Sharing	Samba - does Windows Authentication too! (sometimes)
File Backups	Tar - Simple File Archive Amanda - Advanced Network Archival
IMAP & POP3	Qpopper - POP only IPOPd - IMAP & POP3 combined
FTP	VSFTP
Firewall	IPTables - firewall experience needed gShield - Built-in IPTables configuration

If you are installing on a new enough system, boot the install program right off the CD, no boot floppies needed, no special system preparation, and no casting out of demons needed. It automatically loads the graphical user installation interface. Sorry guys, NO UPGRADES from any of the previous RH distributions. You will need to build a new box and port all of your settings over.

Once when you are in the install program, the first thing you must decide is if your Linux box is going to be used as a server or a workstation, or both. Then you must consider space requirements. For a typical Linux Installation to be of any use, it should be on a drive with at least 3GB of space. If you plan on making it a server I recommend at least 6GB. Linux is a hungry animal so the more space the better.

The install CDs are very complete with almost every package you could want from a web server (Apache) to a C++ compiler (gcc) to even graphics editing (Gimp). Set your computer in the BIOS to boot up off the CD-ROM then stick in the 1st CD and boot off of it. This will automatically start the install program. I recommend using the graphical mode.

As you go through the Install Program the pre-built packages are usually fine, so if you plan on using this box as a server or both choose the server installation, if you just want to use office-type software and browse the Internet, the workstation install will be fine (and require less space).

When you get to the partition section I recommend that you use the install program's suggested partition settings (unless of course you want to punish yourself).

From here, if you chose the workstation install you should go through the list of productivity packages to make sure you have all you need, a few are listed below:

Firefox (Web browser)
Gimp (Photo editing)
Star Office (Office software)

Complete the install. Now that you have a clue you can easily continue the rest of the install prompts by completely reading each window.

-- The Server Install --
After choosing the server installation you must select what server applications you want to install. Again refer to the list of common services above. Eventually there will be a link on each service describing how to set them up as I finish writing the tutorials:

Do not be alarmed when the install program selects packages that you did not want. Linux is full of a web of dependencies; to force an installation without a recommended package is to curse yourself to some future server doom.

From here you can just continue through the install program and enjoy the simplicities that have finally been integrated. Keep in mind that installing your server was the easy part. Configuring each service is where the headaches begin. Luckily you can always get a clue here.

Recommended Articles:
up2date - keeping Linux updated
RedHat Package Manager
Linux Security
Installing RH 9.0

Article last reviewed: 03/12/2005

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Created by: Digital Foundation, inc.

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