Home >> Installation Requirements

Getting Started with DirectAdmin:  What kind of server do I need?

Operating System:  

Redhat Linux 7.2, 7.3, 8.0, 9.0 
RedHat Fedora 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
RedHat Enterprise / CentOS 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 (64-bit: 4.1 - 4.5, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3)
FreeBSD 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 7.x 64-bit

Debian Sarge/Woody 3.1/Etch 4.0/Ubuntu, 5.x (BETA) (these are all variants of debian)

We suggest a simple partition structure of:

/boot          40 meg 
swap          2 x memory
/                rest of drive

For a less simple partition structure:

/boot          40 meg 
swap          2 x memory
/tmp           1 Gig. Highly recommended to mount /tmp with noexec,nosuid in /etc/fstab
/                 6-10 Gig
/var             8-20 gig. Emails, logs and databases stored here on Redhat/CentOS/Fedora
/usr            5-12 gig. Just DA data, source code, frontpage.
/home         rest of drive. Roughly 80% for user data. Mount with nosuid in /etc/fstab if possible.

Feel free to modify these numbers as needed. Note, if you plan on installing dovecot, all email data is stored under /home and not /var, so adjust as needed. Also FreeBSD and Debian store mysql databases in /home/mysql/.

Please have Basic development/compiling tools such as gcc and g++ as well as xinetd up and running (inetd on FreeBSD)

***Please do not install services such as Apache, PHP, MySQL, Ftp, Sendmail, etc., as we will do this for you.  All we need is a CLEAN install of your operating system.***
We do not recommend installing DirectAdmin on an existing live production server.

Hardware:

We highly recommend a processor of at least 500mhz even though DirectAdmin will run on slower systems.  A minimum 128 megabytes of memory is required (512+ megabytes is preferred).  A hard drive with at least 2 gigabytes of free space (after the Linux install) is also required.  If you are expecting high traffic levels then you will need more memory, processor power, and hard drive space than we recommend here. Intel and AMD should work fine. Solaris/Sparc will not.

Software:

Please ensure SSH is installed and working.

Please ensure named (Name Daemon) is selected during the Redhat install.
gcc and g++ are required to compile apache and php

Authority Level:

You must have root access on the server.

IP Addresses:

At a bare minimum your server must have one IP address.  However, for DNS control you will need at least two (2) IP addresses.  With only one IP address you will be forced to use an external DNS service -- this means web sites you create through the control panel will not propagate automatically.

Your server IP must be an external IP address. Local IP addresses (192.168.x.x or 10.0.x.x) will not work. The IP in your network device must be the same IP in your license file, as well as the public IP that connects to our system to download the license and binaries. This means that LANs will not work. More info on IP requirements

Installing DirectAdmin:  How is it done?

We will install DirectAdmin for you at no cost (free installs may not be included with bulk purchases).  If you prefer to install DirectAdmin yourself, please refer to the DirectAdmin Installation Guide.

What Gets Installed?

Note the versions installed varies per OS version. For more recent versions, always use the newest OS version.

Need More Information?

You can e-mail questions to support@directadmin.com  or talk to a live support operator by visiting the support page.  Due to the technical nature of this subject, we require that you contact an online support representative instead of calling our sales phone number. You may also visit the forum to see if your question has been answered there.