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I have created a simple pastebin in Ruby on Rails and Python. I want to host it in an intranet and it will have like about 1000 users. I want to use one Apache server with a cluster of Mongrel servers. The server itself is a 2 GHz Intel Centrino with 2 GB RAM.

What do you think is the best OS to host this? I thought about Damn Small Linux or a custom LFS system. Ubuntu servers come with loads of stuff I don't need. Maybe there are some better OSes?

It must be capable of:

  • Running Apache
  • Running Ruby
  • Running Python
  • Running Mongrel with Ruby on Rails
  • Running MySQL
  • SSH

Can anyone reccomend me one? Thanks.

PS: I am not going to run Windows Server or Mac OS X Server (Mac's are expensive).

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  • Are you running this on a laptop (Centrino)?
    – tegbains
    May 5, 2010 at 0:39
  • @tegbains uhm... yes. Laptops great, small servers, although it might doesn't look like that.
    – user42235
    May 5, 2010 at 0:43
  • Make sure you have sufficient cooling for the laptop if you are expecting it to run 24/7 under load.
    – micmcg
    May 5, 2010 at 1:25
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    So many people want to run Damn Small Linux for a minimal server, but this is NOT what it's for. Its supposed to be the smallest DESKTOP linux possible to fit on a biz-card CD. Its a Live CD OS. Its not made to be a server. Go for minimal Ubuntu as the accepted answer says, it'll be a breeze to install those things.
    – Cory J
    May 5, 2010 at 1:50

1 Answer 1

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Does the server edition of Ubuntu really come with loads of stuff you don't need? If you do a minimal install then just add the stuff you want it should be fine?

The beauty of using a common distribution is the availability of software and documentation.

To be honest, 1000 users on a pastebin app (and I assume that means total users, not concurrent users) is not going to tax the server in any way (I don't imagine all are frantically copying and pasting to it simultaneously) so its kind of a moot point that ubuntu may be a little heavier.

What database are you using for it? Does it have to run on the same server as well?

Why did you use BOTH python and ruby when either one would have done the job on its own?

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  • Python is for the syntax highlighting. The DB is on the server itself, MySQL.
    – user42235
    May 5, 2010 at 0:26
  • & yes, the only I need is Apache, Ruby, Rubygems, Ruby on Rails, Python, BASH and SSH (and all their dependencies) and a kernel. That's it.
    – user42235
    May 5, 2010 at 0:27
  • So then obviously you need to add MySQL to the required capabilities
    – micmcg
    May 5, 2010 at 0:28
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    You may only need that, but it might be more work to only have that than to just install ubuntu server. Like I said, performance is not going to be an issue for this kinda of app & load with a whole server dedicated to it.
    – micmcg
    May 5, 2010 at 0:31