Debian Beta Testing

[DirectAdmin Sales]

Hi everyone,

Our Debian version is now complete and we require a few good people to help test it.

Because each server is different, we will first require 2-3 systems and root access so we can do the install ourselves. Once we are confident that the installer works flawlessly, we'll make another announcement asking for general beta testers.

You will receive a free lifetime license (for any OS) in exchange for helping us with this first phase of testing.

If you have a server to donate, please make sure the OS install is clean (no other sites or control panels), you have an external IP address, and you don't mind giving us root access for a couple days.

Please e-mail me at mark@jbmc-software.com if interested.

Thanks!

Mark

[blueice]

good news :)
i just have send you email.

[saman]

Same here.

I've sent you an e-mail as requested.

[Korsakoff]

Nice thing :D

[roel]

Within what timeframe would you need it? One of my clients has a Debian server and would most likely be interested in this (the install is near-clean, all I did was replace Exim with Postfix) but I would need a couple of days to transfer some sites to another server.

[blacknight]

Which version of debian are you working on?

[flamegrill]

John we can give you a UML with testing/stable/untesting if you like. drop myself or blacknight a pm and we'll organise it for monday.

Regards,

Paul

[jlasman]

If John isn't responding it may be because he has enough systems.

I wrote him and offered to build a system just for him to use, and he wrote back and told me he was getting a lot of offers.

Jeff

[DirectAdmin Sales]

Hi everyone,

We are good for systems at the moment. This first phase is just to tweak our installer, not test DA in its entirety. That's why we only need a handful of machines.

Once the installer is good to go then we'll be asking for more testers (you do the install yourself, and play around yourself) to see if anything else needs fixing.

Mark

[Rob T]

If you are in need of an additional box to test with, just let me know. I have a debian box just sitting in a rack right now with a fresh install and nothing to do. Customer cancelled on me after we installed the box but before we gave him access and I just haven't gotten around to doing anything with it since then. Email or PM me if there is anything I can do to help.

[angler]

I can't wait till this is released! As soon as it is available I'm purchasing. I have some debian boxes that can be used for testing if needed also. I would so love to get away from Redhat and bloated Ensim. Just been waiting for a CP for Debian. You guys Rock!

[xeryph]

I want to test beta version of DirectAdmin. I have just sent mail to you, but I haven't got answer yet....

[torp]

I have a box that I'm planning on having live by the end of the month. Will that be OK?

It currently has Fedora 3 on it, but I would like to "upgrade" to Debian, and I have nothing against formatting it, as I don't yet have anything on it.

[rndinit0]

Mark: I just sent you an email, incase theres any progress on the installer scripts.

Generally: Id be very interested in testing D.A.

[neorder]

has anybody actually get debian+directadmin to work without any problem?

[xeryph]

Yes, on my debian server DA is working fine.

[blueice]

Originally posted by xeryph
Yes, on my debian server DA is working fine.
It is working fine?
I am also beta tester.
I know that is work but not fine.
Have bugs so canot say that it is stable or fine.
Have some bugs. I have post this in the directadmin support, and wait solutions (the most bugs i have post now it is fixed but not all.)

[Redevelopment]

Originally posted by blueice
It is working fine?
I am also beta tester.
I know that is work but not fine.
Have bugs so canot say that it is stable or fine.
Have some bugs. I have post this in the directadmin support, and wait solutions (the most bugs i have post now it is fixed but not all.)

Same here. The biggest problem I'm having is that services can't be restarted from DA.

[blueice]

Originally posted by Redevelopment
Same here. The biggest problem I'm having is that services can't be restarted from DA.
same here

[jmstacey]

I also have it semi-working on Debian 3.0
Just a couple of features aren't working so far.

[neorder]

Originally posted by Redevelopment
Same here. The biggest problem I'm having is that services can't be restarted from DA.

i think that could be fixed easily, it's just directadmin may used wrong command to restart these services.

my biggest problem is mysql won't work, but you guys seems had no such problem. any tips on how to get up mysql?

[jmstacey]

Originally posted by neorder
my biggest problem is mysql won't work, but you guys seems had no such problem. any tips on how to get up mysql?

What's the problem? I also had trouble getting mysql on it's feet but I got it up and running by downloading all the files from http://files.directadmin.com/services/debian_3.0
extracting them into the /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/services/ directory
Apparently the services package didn't have all the files necassary at the time I did my installation (last sunday).

Then I just reran: /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/mysql.sh

I don't know if DA has repackaged the services pack with all the necassary files since. ;) Or if thats even your issue.

[neorder]

thank you jmstacey, i've tried to install mysql again as well.but the problem is still there.

in my server, mysql is running, but when i go to mysql management, i always see

Create new Database
phpMyAdmin
Error connecting to MySQL: Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client

so i couldn't create a new db. that's the problem i have now.

my server is debian 3.1 sarge and the kernel is 2.6.8

i'm going to reinstall da again.

any ideas on this issue?

thank you.

[neorder]

i'm already use newest mysql-client

debian:~# apt-get install mysql-client
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
mysql-client is already the newest version.
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
at: Depends: mail-transport-agent
exim4: Depends: exim4-base (>= 4.34) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: exim4-daemon-light but it is not going to be installed or
exim4-daemon-heavy but it is not going to be installed or
exim4-daemon-custom but it is not installable
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

[interfasys]

Check my answers in the mysql/php forum

[neorder]

okay, but i didn't manage to find it, can you please point it out where is it :(

[jmstacey]

http://www.directadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6746

[interfasys]

Originally posted by neorder
okay, but i didn't manage to find it, can you please point it out where is it :(

I agree, it was kind of hidden in a thread:

mysql>SET PASSWORD FOR da_admin@localhost = OLD_PASSWORD('yourpassword');

[S. Vossen]

I have a strange Exim problem:


Starting MTA: 2005-01-31 20:35:49 Exim configuration error in line 361 of /etc/exim.conf:
user root was not found


root is in the never_users option.

When I install exim4 by using apt-get install, exim works, but rejects a lot, so I want to install by using exim in /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/ to install exim.

Anyone who could help me?

[jmstacey]

I had to rerun the installation to get exim working. Try simplying running DirectAdmin's exim installation script that is in /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/exim.sh

[roelp]

I installed DA on debian 3.0
Still I'm having some small problems.

Firstly, Mysql wasn't running.
So I installed it again with the scripts DA provides.

Mysql is running now, but I had to install mailx and postfix for it.
The problem now is that Exim isn't installed.
Whenever I try to install Exim, it will uninstall MySQL-server.

Is there any way i can fix this?

any help is appreciated.

[neorder]

i don't think install exim will uninstall mysql.

anyway, DA support has told me debian installer script is still beta, there are problems here and there, but i believe they will solve all problems soon for sure.

i'm having problems as well, my httpd is down today and this is a server running nothing on it.

[roelp]

server02:~# dpkg -i da_exim-4.43.deb
dpkg: regarding da_exim-4.43.deb containing exim:
exim conflicts with postfix
postfix (version 1.1.11-0.woody3) is installed.
dpkg: error processing da_exim-4.43.deb (--install):
conflicting packages - not installing exim
Errors were encountered while processing:
da_exim-4.43.deb


So when I try to uninstall postfix it gives:
server02:~# apt-get remove postfix
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
mailx mutt mysql-server postfix postfix-ldap postfix-pcre
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 6 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 14.2MB will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.

So it WILL remove mysql-server.
That's pretty much the only problem I still have with DA on debian woody.
Everything else is working.

[jmstacey]

I would try going ahead and removing postfix and MySQL and any remaining remnants of them. Then rerun the exim and MySQL install procedures since you don't really have anything to lose giving it a try ;)

[sambal]

Hi,

Is there any expected release date for the debian version yet?

[Roman2K]

Hi DA users/admin,
I didn't buy DA but I'm planning to do so. I am waiting for a Debian-compatible version of DA. I hope it will be for Debian Woody and Sarge, will it be so ?
I sent you an e-mail to know if I can beta-test the pre-debian-release.

[da_host]

Can i download and test this beta version somewhere? Or is it just for some people..

[jmstacey]

I don't know if it has been added to the Operating System drop down box when buying a new license yet, if not you can probably get it by sending them an email. So far the biggest problem was the installation, which will probably require a little tweaking here and there, other than that the bugs with DirectAdmin itself are pretty small.

[snk00sj]

any news on this one yet ?
is the debian installer included in the latest version ?

thanks in advance

[jmstacey]

I haven't done an installation on Debian since then, but I would think it should work just fine. Half of the problems I had were due to my own installation.

[tristan]

I'm setting up a new server, is Debian already final? Or is there a way for me to test it?

[jmstacey]

Since there haven't been any announcements taking it out of beta status, it is most likely still the case.

Email them asking for details on how to test it ;)

[Icheb]

I got a few servers that are going to run Debian 3.1 (sarge), but I do want DA on at least one of them.
Now I know beta is still, well, beta, but when can we expect to be able to buy a sarge license and install it ? ;)

One server is going to partially replace an old RH 8.0 server while the other server will run without a control panel, as it's an backup server for dns (and mail)...

So I'd like an ETA please...

[jmstacey]

You can now. When purchasing a license select coleovision or something similar to that.

[blueice]

Originally posted by Icheb
I got a few servers that are going to run Debian 3.1 (sarge), but I do want DA on at least one of them.
Now I know beta is still, well, beta, but when can we expect to be able to buy a sarge license and install it ? ;)

One server is going to partially replace an old RH 8.0 server while the other server will run without a control panel, as it's an backup server for dns (and mail)...

So I'd like an ETA please...
remember also that the debian is beta. And seems that the last months the directadmin team have stop to work on debian (i not have any major bug fixed last months)

[jmstacey]

Originally posted by blueice
(i not have any major bug fixed last months)

I haven't run accross any major bugs (or minor for that matter) that have needed to be fixed, have you?

[Icheb]

Originally posted by blueice
remember also that the debian is beta. And seems that the last months the directadmin team have stop to work on debian (i not have any major bug fixed last months)
I've been too busy to even read the changelogs for about the last 5 DA updates, so I'm a bit out of the loop.

But I am going to order a DA Debian 3.1 license soon.
Do you have any advice on how (with which packages/target objective) to install the server ?

[blueice]

Originally posted by Icheb
I've been too busy to even read the changelogs for about the last 5 DA updates, so I'm a bit out of the loop.

But I am going to order a DA Debian 3.1 license soon.
Do you have any advice on how (with which packages/target objective) to install the server ?
just run the install script (like the redhat).
I have install quotas first.
in general the default install is like the redhat.
Also it is important to keep the install logs and check for errors. So after the install you can correct the errors.

[PauGasol]

Any ETA for Debian 3.1 support? I hope in Sept/Oct can be stable .

[jmstacey]

PauGasol,
I've been running 3.1 for many months now without incident.

[PauGasol]

Originally posted by jmstacey
PauGasol,
I've been running 3.1 for many months now without incident.

:confused: Then why cant I choose Debian in the "Operating System" list in the "new license" request form ?

I have choose one sos and debian is not in the list .

Why is no official? why beta yet?

I dont understand , if all is stable and works ok...

Thanks

[jmstacey]

It's like coleovision or something like that.

Only DirectAdmin can answer that questions. Same goes for FreeBSD5.
Just observations, but it might be because they are busy, limited staff and by not making it official and putting it on the list, they could drop support for those operating systems if something of a higher priority came along. But that's just my speculation. Best way to find out would be to email them ;)

[PauGasol]

Originally posted by jmstacey
It's like coleovision or something like that.

Only DirectAdmin can answer that questions. Same goes for FreeBSD5.
Just observations, but it might be because they are busy, limited staff and by not making it official and putting it on the list, they could drop support for those operating systems if something of a higher priority came along. But that's just my speculation. Best way to find out would be to email them ;)

Thanks for the reply . anyway I can wait , i will contact them in sept if all continue as now.

Thanks

[Icheb]

Finally have all the components I need to start work on our first Debian 3.1 DA server, going to order license tomorrow and place it in datacenter on friday... (Let's hope nothing goes wrong now ;)).

First customers will be on it on friday as well... So now I really hope nothing will go wrong ;).

[jmstacey]

Good-luck!
I don't think you should have to many problems, if any. Most of the bugs appear to be worked out.

[Icheb]

Originally posted by jmstacey
Good-luck!
I don't think you should have to many problems, if any. Most of the bugs appear to be worked out.
:)
Mark offered me a trail license last night, but due to lack of external IP's I can't accept the offer, just have to install DA on site. (yeeha, my company is behind a NAT :( )

[jlasman]

It's probably a bit late for you now, Icheb, but I can offer you a linux-based testbed box to play with if you'd like.

But I can't possibly get it set up before some time tomorrow (Friday) my time (-0700).

Jeff

[Icheb]

Thanks for the offer, but I agree, it's a bit too late.
I hope to be finished at 9 am or earlier (your time). (GMT+1 here)

Well, it wouldn't be the first time I have to fix all stuff onsite, just hope I don't run into any new problems.

[txuspi]

Is there any expected official release date for the debian Sarge version yet?

[ProHS]

I am very interest in the Debian version of DirectAdmin to because i would like to switch my server to it because it spose to be the best Linux distro out there, infact i use a debian based os for my personal pc now. So when it is released for public and even if it is not consider totally stable yet, let me know.

[ProHS]

Does Debian have disk quotas automatically enabled and setup properly?

[PauGasol]

Originally posted by ProHS
Does Debian have disk quotas automatically enabled and setup properly?

Not in my case, i had to add it manually in fstab the lines etc

[ProHS]

Ok, thank you i thought i would have to add them manually i will have to read up on how to enable and set it up.

[asmar]

anyone with an update regarding Debian support?

Thanks

[jmstacey]

Not officially, but I've been running it on 3.1 now for several months without any problems.

[asmar]

Originally posted by jmstacey
Not officially, but I've been running it on 3.1 now for several months without any problems.

nothing at all?
How much traffic are you transfering on this server?
Any other custom apps?
Does any apt-get upgrade broke anything?

Thanks a lot

[jmstacey]

Nope, I haven't hit any bugs with DirectAdmin on Debian since the last couple of releases. I'm keeping my eyes open though.

How much traffic are you transfering on this server?
Not much. There are a few customers on it however most of it is (will be) used for my own website.

No custom apps that I can think of at the moment besides python and some ARM cross compiler stuff. Nothing specifically related to and/or requires interaction with DirectAdmin or it's managed applications such as apache.

Once you get the hang of it apt-get is very efficient. At least I think so. You just need to keep an eye out for some stuff. Sometimes it tries, for example, updating exim to a non DA approved version etc. This can be over-ridden of course.

[Yikes2000]

I have been working on a Debian package called "DA-Apt" that integrates DirectAdmin with APT. Not only will APT be aware of DirectAdmin and its programs, it will enable you to substitude DA's programs with APT packages. Or switch back to DA's version if you wish.

The bulk of the work is done. I'm writing the documentation and cleaning up the codes, as well as catching any last-minute bugs. Look for it next week in the 3rd Party Software Forum. It will be free.

Using DA-Apt, installing DirectAdmin from scratch that uses APT packages (for Apache, MySQL, ProFTPd, and etc) only takes 90 seconds, after downloading the APT packages.

Consider this a pre-announcement. :)

[txuspi]

Fantastic.

I hope your news.

[asmar]

Yikes2000, this is a superb announcement :)

Just post a message here when it is ready please.

I haven't installed any DirectAdmin server yet as I was waiting full support for Debian.

Thanks a lot

[Yikes2000]

Released. Please see the 3rd Party Software forum.

[saban]

I've installed DA on Debian but got quote errors ?

[ProHS]

Originally posted by saban
I've installed DA on Debian but got quote errors ?

You need to enable your quotas which will probably consist in recompile the kernel,etc. I would search on google or even these forums with the term "how to enable quotas for Debian" and you should find an easy step by step instructions.

[jmstacey]

Compiling a kernel on Debian is much easier than say FreeBSD, at least I think so...

[asmar]

You need just to do:
apt-get install quota

Debian is by far the best distribution :)

[Yikes2000]

Just a reminder, quota doesn't work for JFS.

[ProHS]

Originally posted by jmstacey
Compiling a kernel on Debian is much easier than say FreeBSD, at least I think so...

Well how is done on Debian because i found it easy when i use to run FreeBSD? I am going to switch Debian once DirectAdmin offical calls there version for Debian stable.

[asmar]

ProHS,

Debian is running fine with DA.
I am using DA on a very busy web server (500 domains) with no problems at all for the last 3 months (since I bought it).

[ProHS]

Yea well i know Debian is supose to be the best linux distro and i guess that is why i use Ubuntu for my personal os which is based off of Debian. I was wondering if the quotas are fairly easy to setup because i am think of switch my server to Debian?

[blueice]

Originally posted by ProHS
Yea well i know Debian is supose to be the best linux distro and i guess that is why i use Ubuntu for my personal os which is based off of Debian. I was wondering if the quotas are fairly easy to setup because i am think of switch my server to Debian?
yes,
you can install quotas via apt-get and just edit the /etc/fstab file.
If you have any problems contact me and i can help you.

[streamservice]

could someone give me info on how to enable quota's?

[blueice]

Originally posted by streamservice
could someone give me info on how to enable quota's?
apt-get update
apt-get install quota quotatool
(i prefer to answer no in the daily reminder question)

then edit the file:
/etc/fstab

and in the partitions who want quota add in options: grpquota,usrquota
as example the line:
/dev/hda7 /home ext3 suid,dev,exec 0 2

changed to:
/dev/hda7 /home ext3 grpquota,suid,dev,usrquota,exec 0 2

then run:
touch /home/quota.user /home/quota.group
(change the home with your partition)
chmod 600 /home/quota.*
mount -o remount /home
quotacheck -avugm
quotaon -avug


if you have any problem contact me again.
Regards,
Christos

[streamservice]

I have in the file you specified the following information:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/sdb5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0


I couldn't find:
/dev/hda7 /home ext3 suid,dev,exec 0 2
in it

[blueice]

Originally posted by streamservice
I have in the file you specified the following information:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/sdb5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0


I couldn't find:
/dev/hda7 /home ext3 suid,dev,exec 0 2
in it
this is just my example.
add this options to the partition you want to add the quotas.
If you are not sure you can contact me with pm

[streamservice]

is there a change that DirectAdmin will do this whit an install in the future? (that would mean 100% support for debian 3.1.)

[jmstacey]

As far as I am aware DirectAdmin does not automatically edit fstab for any of the supported Operating Systems. Some things should be left to the administrator.

[blueice]

Originally posted by jmstacey
As far as I am aware DirectAdmin does not automatically edit fstab for any of the supported Operating Systems. Some things should be left to the administrator.
Not only this but in freebsd as example it is needed to rebuild the kernel with quota support.
directadmin is really 100% supported but need (like any other OS) a basic config from the user

[kawing05]

I have some question about the security of DA on Debian? there are some issue I would like to request HOW-TO guide,

1. Spam Assaisan
2. ClamAV
3. APF Firewall / Kiss

Anything else I should concern about the security? Thanks!

I would like to install DA on my new server within this week, please anyone could help? Thanks!

Lawrence

[blueice]

Originally posted by kawing05
I have some question about the security of DA on Debian? there are some issue I would like to request HOW-TO guide,

1. Spam Assaisan
2. ClamAV
3. APF Firewall / Kiss

Anything else I should concern about the security? Thanks!

I would like to install DA on my new server within this week, please anyone could help? Thanks!

Lawrence
Hi,
spamassassin and clamav can be installed like any other OS. I have the same install in both freebsd and debian servers.
APF is not compatible with debian.
You can use kiss or you can install the webmin-firewall module so you can easy config your firewall from web interface.
If you not know to install spamassassin or clamav in any os inform me and i provide you a mini how-to.

[jerry2005]

Check the underneath links:

Spamassasisin:

http://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=36


Clamav:

http://www.directadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10478&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

APF:

http://forum.ev1servers.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20209

Dont forget the open the correct ports like 2222

With these links i have configured my debian 3.1 servers.

[kawing05]

Thanks jerry2005.