If you want a paid enterprise solution - I would go with Red Hat 
Enterprise Linux.  If you don't have any budget I would lean toward 
Scientific Linux as compared to CentOS.  SL is much closer to Red Hat 
than CentOS.  Plus, SL is actually funded by a number of large entities 
- like Fermi and NASA.

Good luck.


On 03/23/2013 04:44 PM, Jeremy MountainJohnson wrote:
> Howdy,
>
> I'm in need of a Linux server on a separate, primarily offline network
> I have set up at a job. I was initially leaning toward Arch Linux, my
> distro of many years I use for my workstations and some home servers.
> BUT, I don't want to spend loads of time updating rolling updates,
> monitoring security vulns and bugs, and I don't really have time to
> build a server up from scratch either (relinquishing controlling /
> minimalist nature to allow time saving in this case). Ideally SE or
> security centric values are important.
>
> I also need it to bring up a wireless interface (in addition to the
> wired network) for Internet connectivity on occasion for updating NTP
> and grabbing security updates and AV definitions. I can BASH script
> and run a cron job for everything, however the wifi requires an Accept
> button be pushed on a web page before access is granted every time a
> connection is made to it. It's a Cisco based access point. I did a
> quick search on Google and didn't find any kind of automation for
> this. Worst case scenario I could do a Python script to make this
> automated (hopefully, page is SSL) and kick it off from my cron job
> BASH script if no one has any suggestions. On a separate note, I'll be
> securing the wifi transmission as well.
>
> The server will run services for a gigabit switch comprised of mostly
> Windows 7 workstations with one Linux workstation (total of 8 ~ 10
> computers). It will service anywhere from 0 - 4 users simultaneously
> and run backups and database back-end for an application every so
> often.
>
> I plan to set up an OS disk and separate software RAID0 for storage.
>
> Services to provide:
> * NTP
> * DNS
> * SMART (monitoring disks) / mdadm (RAID mgm, monitoring)
> * Syslog (for intake of switch logs)
> * postgres
> * SMTP server (sending alerts, notifications)
> * File server (Samba, NFS)
> * Comodo AV, some other home brew scripts for malware
> * SSH
> * X, lightweight but ready to use WM/DE like LXDE or XFCE- server will
> be headless after setup
> * Firewall service covering both intermittent wifi and wired networks
>
> Long term I may add:
> * HTTP (for webmin, monitorix, log reporting)
> * Room to be flexible for future needs...
>
> I've worked very little with CentOS at my last job awhile back,
> however am leaning toward it as I recall liking it. Are there other
> open source enterprise server distros people recommend for what I'm
> trying to accomplish? If so, how come? If I go with CentOS or whatever
> people recommend, are updates obtainable via command line and
> automation friendly (for the script)? Will I need to re-install with
> each major version? Are there gui front ends for most daemons or at
> least managing daemons (I'm used to text files and systemd, but want
> added convenience / time savings)?
>
> I'm open to poking around with LiveCDs / VMs for bit, the project
> isn't quick turn around or anything. Thanks for any suggestions!
>
> --
> Jeremy MountainJohnson
> Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com
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>