System software

As you should know by now CentOS uses Yum to install and update packages but sometime you need packages that are not available as standard, one way to get these packages is to use 3rd party repositories which is what i do.

A note on CentOS packages

As this box will be used for hosting websites i install Virtualmin GPL. It is a Webmin module for managing multiple virtual hosts through a single interface, Similar to Plesk or Cpanel. It supports the creation and management of Apache virtual hosts, BIND DNS domains, MySQL databases, and mailboxes and aliases with Sendmail or Postfix. It makes use of the existing Webmin modules for these servers, and so should work with any existing system configuration, rather than needing it's own mail server, web server and so on.

This is how i first setup my server so it has basic functions like 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. Most of this has setup is based off various different tutorials i've used.

As my server is hosted in a Data centre they install the base system (CentOS 5.x) for me but if you have physical access you can do this yourself, you just need to grab the 1x dvd or 6x cd images mirror list here