Ok so I know absolutely nothing about linux but I've bought some hosting from slicehost.com as a project to try and learn. Basically my goal is to set everything up with PHP + MySQL and secure the server, then use it to host a small website.
First off I wasn't sure which distro to use, I picked CentOS 5.3 but I can rebuild it pretty much instantly if necessary. My first question is what do you think the best distro is for a complete noob? My choices are:
- Arch 2009
- CentOs 5.2 or 5.3
- Debian 5.0
- Fedora 10 or 11
- Gentoo 2008
- Redhat EL 5.3
- Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS
- Ubuntu 8.10
- Ubuntu 9.04
The amount of resources available on server admin for the distro should be taken into consideration, which brings me to my second question: where can I find the best guides for basic (noob) server admins.
I realise learning linux from nothing is a big task and that's why I'm starting small, but a push in the right direction would be greatly appreciated! :D