SUSE13.2 Server Configuration from scratch

Rather than going with a default installation of SUSE13.2, manual selections are prefered. Partitioning will depend on the disks being used on the machine, and for an SSD primary disk, the use of a SATA secondary disk to provide /tmp, /var and /srv. while /tmp and /var are fairly dynamic data areas, /srv depends on the type of website being provided. Static sites may be stable enough to leave on the SSD drive, and /home irectory can be used to host those types of sites. /srv will be augmented by additional disks for highvolume data sites.

Once the partition has been set up, rather than installing a desktop base, simply select the bare text option. When used with ssh, the site will be managed remotely and the load of a desktop is of little use. Since ssh is diabled by default, it needs to be enabled again before starting the main installation.

Network connection may require switching to a static IP, but initially the DHCP settings will allow initial loadin and upgrades.

Once the machine resarts after the initial load, a quick log in as root allows checking the current ip address via 'ifconfig'. This can shen be used to remote access the machine.

The remote access desktop allows easy access to te command line tools, and the starting point is to configure the main server software. First requirement is to configure the extra repositories needed for our own web server stack.

Software Repositories
Packman Repository                            ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/packman/suse/openSUSE_13.2/
openSUSE BuildService - Database   download.opensuse.org/repositories/server:/database/openSUSE_13.2/
openSUSE BuildService - PHP            download.opensuse.org/repositories/server:/database/openSUSE_13.2/
Nginx home                                        download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/X0F:/branches:/network/openSUSE_13.2
Geo tools                                            download.opensuse.org/repositories/Application:/Geo/openSUSE_13.2