I need to learn everything about redhat9/Fedora

[Fryguy8]

Going to be doing a server install for somebody in like a week or 2, and while I consider myself quite proficient at linux, I've never used redhat, or any rpm-based distro (I started with debian).

What are some good resources to learning about the quirks of redhat/fedora from standards? Installation prodecures, etc?

[serz]

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/

[Icarus]

Red Hat is a different beast in Linux. They use A LOT of custom scripts and do some of the 'standard' things differently.

Best bet is picking up the Red Hat Bible or similar book and read through it. That should point out the differences you'll need to know

If you can't, I'd say install Red Hat or Fedora on a test box and play around with it to learn how it's setup. Most normal rules to Linux will still apply, but some configs are setup in different places...

[blobaugh]

read alot!! use redhat's website. it has tons of resources. find the server software that you want to use and look at forums and webpages of people that have installed it on redhat. and SEARCH REDHAT'S WEBSITE. g4l (http://google.com/linux) is also a great place

[blackbelt_jones]

I feel a little uneasy advising you, cause I got the feeling you're way ahead of me, but I do use Red Hat. And I don't see anyone else stepping up. So here goes.

I don't know the circumstances, but depending on what else the computer is being used for, and how mission critical the server function is, you may want to consider Centos rather than the officially dead Red Hat 9, and the bleeding edge Fedora. Centos is a free distro adapted from the source code of Red Hat's more stable proprietary Enterprise version. It's designed with serving specifically in mind. Centos comes in two versions, based, I think, on the size of the server. My hunch is you would want Centos-3. I just bought a set of Centos disks for 13.44 from EBay, shipping included. Or you can download from the site.

The install command for rpm packages is

rpm -i [package]

If you there's a dependancy problem, the output will tell you.

There's a version of apt-get available for Red Hat, but I've been told that it's inferior to debian's version... and I still haven't learned how to use it. I keep track of dependencies by copying the output of failed install attempts into a text editor, and opening up Galeon. Galeon has a little window that connects to rpm-find, which makes it a little simpler to search for rpm-packages. I like to copy the links for downloading back into the text editor, and then use wget to download everything I need at once. I also keep all the rpms I download for the sake of dependancies into one directory.

Did I explain that right? My point, I suppose, is that I figured out a way to deal with chain dependencies and so can you.

Other than that, I don't know of anything that will give you a problem. Red Hat 9 is simple and stable and pretty much free of quirks. If you're used to debian, you'll find it pretty boring. Like running windows, without the crashes. Fedora is another story. Fedora is a pretty brilliant marketing gimmick. It's free and it's fun, it's packed with goodies... and it's just a little bit unreliable. Fedora will make sure that geeks grow up knowing how to run Red Hat, but when a mission critical server is needed, you're going to have to go for the expensive, propietary, no-nonsense, stable version. Or maybe try Centos.