gentoo on infrastructure servers

rua2j7 · n00b Joined: 06 Jun 2011 Posts: 2

If anyone has an opinion about using gentoo for infrastructure servers, Id like to hear it (IE is it a good choice yes or no, and why you think so). You know like using gentoo for the group file / web / subversion server.

BradN · Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:38 pm Post subject:

It's fine, but you need to use proper testing, backup, and update procedures, as you would with any other OS!

Have a checklist of operations (ideally use automated scripts when you can) to perform system tests after updating the system or changing something. It's better to spot problems or stability issues early.

Gentoo gives you lots of freedom to set up a system how you need it, but that same freedom can let you screw everything up if you're not careful. If possible make changes on a staging system first. Always quickpkg things before you try package updates. Back up portage & distfiles when you have a good working combination set up. Back up your data regularly. Back up the whole system when you have it working the way you want. Make sure you understand how to restore from the backups (IE, try doing it).

Another approach is having dual root filesystems on your server and performing updates in the other root as a chroot, then rebooting to try the changes in the other root. Fallback is as easy as a reboot.

If you follow good practices like this, any OS (besides maybe windows 9x) can be used in a production server environment. Just remember to imagine potential problems and find solutions to them before they happen, and life will be a lot easier.

chithanh · Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:55 pm Post subject:

Yes, Gentoo is the natural choice. It is the most secure of all Linux distros:
http://labs.mwrinfosecurity.com/notices/security_mechanisms_in_linux_environment__part_1___userspace_memory_protection/
http://labs.mwrinfosecurity.com/notices/assessing_the_tux_strength_part_2_into_the_kernel/

And it is faster than any other OS:
http://ftp.isc.org/isc/pubs/tn/isc-tn-2008-1.html#results
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7574/2/ (free registration required to see all results)

But seriously, a Gentoo system runs as well as its administrator is competent. Before installing Gentoo on a server, you should be confident that you can handle it and be able to deal with the problems that sometimes come.

rua2j7 · n00b Joined: 06 Jun 2011 Posts: 2

gentoo is terrible on production servers.

Before you tell me how great gentoo is for infrastructure production servers, understand I know more about computers than you do. Ya..sorry kid but I do.
Have you built and managed aix, solaris , HP-UX, and linux clusters? Have you built a companies computing infrastructure from scatch a few times ? Have you done this for 20 years ? Did google & harvard want to hire you ? Have you built clusters in your house ? Do you have macs with VM's running 4 different linux distros that you Play with on weekends ?

the "gentoo allows infinite customization" argument.... That is nice, for a "hobby machine" but for a production server environment, I specifically don't want one off "roll your own" OS types. TERRIBLE!

its like building a radio from scratch. Yes I could do it, eventually..but why the heck would I want to ? That radio would never match all the other radios in my environment. That radio would never be as good as a nice bose, I could buy immediately. Maintenance on that one off radio..also terrible. Not to mention that rolling out "custom radios" is needlessly time consuming. Its an inferior platform.

keep gentoo out of the work place.

Ant P. · Veteran Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 1920 Location: UK

Troll needs a hug.

tomk · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:10 pm Post subject:

Merged previous two posts.
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gentoo-dev · Apprentice Joined: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 172

aidanjt

Jaglover · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 6:21 pm Post subject:

Don't feed the troll, leave "google and harvard" (Google and Harvard, I assume?) fighting for him.
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Shining Arcanine · Veteran Joined: 24 Sep 2009 Posts: 1110

madchaz · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:02 pm Post subject:

Honestly, it really depends what you need for those servers.

Gentoo is awesome because it's very stable and offers minimal surface of attack IF configured properly.

But, if you need a big comercial support to back you up, it's no good. (Some applications require that for legal reasons)

So, it really depends on what your needs are.

That being said, I've had a full infractructure (including router, nas, san, virtualisation) running on it for over 4 years without a single un-expected shutdown. That says something
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djdunn · Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:28 am Post subject:

i like setting cron up to email me the results of my run scripts
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john.newman · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Oct 2009 Posts: 78

agreed. sounds to me like someone isn't competent enough to run gentoo. And it sounds like a 12 year old wrote that post.

OP to answer your question, the first reply is dead on. You've got to have that all down to a science before hand. I suggest nagios first, and bacula is pretty decent for backups. I'm still looking at cfengine for centralized mgmt, but with gentoo you really have to review the use flags etc in an update list by hand sometimes... :?:

or not.. and you may have problems. Really though binary distros seem to have the same sort of problems (bad packages, bad updates), even more often depending.

If you know the ropes with gentoo it's the best one to use IMO. If not well.. you can just run around with an over-inflated ego and try to impress internet people