How to set up a Linux Server

Greetings.

i) All the tools you need to set up a server (including perl) ship with most decent distributions and RH is one of those;

ii) But you do need static IP and, almost surely, a domain name, though a host name in somebody else's domain would suffice.

iii) Virtual hosts can do part of you want, like providing a mail address space and web services. What 'virtual' means, though, is  that these services are hosted by a machine which 'pretends' to be a different host. Such a machine is usually permanently connected to the Internet, and you still ned a static IP and host name. An ISP will probably set this up for you, on one its machines, and for a fee, but I wouldn't count on the IRC bots bit.

Cheers,
  alf

so anyone know how  to solve my question?

zdchen,
   Almost all tools and server apps that you required comes together with RH6.1 distribution.  The questions are whether you install thoose or not.  As far as Perl, it will be installe by default, IRC bots, maybe you need to compile those.  Check whether gcc (and all the required development libraries) are installed.  IF not, install them.
   For the dynamically allocated address, you can configure you RH box to configure itself from adress from DHCP server.   And for the domain name, you can check out http://www.dyndns.org .  They might have a solution for you.
   Virtual hosting with dynamic IP address.  Hmm.. assuming you get the dyndns.org to allocate you with one registered name under their domain, than you can alway reregister a few more. and you can start you virtual-whatever from there.

good luck,

samri

hi,
what distro do you use ???
did you choose to install the apache web server ???

well part of your problem is going to be the dynamic ip.  Of course, as long as your machine is up, the IP address will remain the same..

but the other problem is finding someone that run's a DNS that will allow you to make changes when the IP changes.

one place that will do that is http://www.dhs.org/ The service is free, and it works great, but your domain name will be in the .dhs.org domain.  You can't have any domain name like a .com or another, it has to be something.dhs.org.  And I'm not sure how they handle the dynamic IPs.  There may be an additional level of domain name required.

I've been using their service (with a static IP) for over a year now, and I've never had any problems.  Hopefully it will work for your dynamic IP as well.

good luck,
dennis

I would just like to plug "Linux Network Servers 24 - 7" by Craig Hunt from Network Press is a very good book for newbies setting up a Linux server.  It covers DNS, DCHP, web servers, Apache virtual hosts, Samba, security, installation, etc. Its available at B&N, Borders and online bookstores.  (But you can't peek contents online.)