4Elements, Amsterdam, Holland

Part I: Intro: My own dedicated server.
Part II: Goal: Finding a good dedicated server for professional use.
Part III: Installation: Fedora 11 on my xserve1,1 (model 2006)
part IV: Tuning: Fedora 11 on my xserve1,1 (model 2006)

Intro: My own dedicated server.

As an Apple user, hobbyist, lover, nerd and share holder I needed a decent server to host my own and my clients web sites. And while it isn't my job I always like to try and error new things with an apple as a hobbyist.

For the last 10 years I rented my dedicated server in the USA.
But what I noticed was that with every problem I had with my dedicated server I had to relay on the company that rented me the server.

The first company sold their server park after 5 years to a, let say, Russian spam company that only wanted to use the IP blocks.
- Conclusion they lost my server and my backups. (Glad that I still had some backups of my own)

The second company was asking to much for extra HD space, memory and help.
- They also where bad in listening (example: instead of fine tuning MYSQL they upgraded it witch resulted in broken databases)

The third company is the best, while I managed to install and run my own dedicated server.
- Advantages of running your own Apple dedicated server are:
+ Quality hardware;
+ Reliable;
+ 64BIT, great for hosting web sites;
+ Low Costs, you buy your own RAM and HD.

Goal: Finding a good dedicated server for professional use.

Goal: Finding a server of high quality and decent price.
Solution: I found a brand new Apple Xserve on ebay.com.
Specs: Xserve1,1 (2006) Quad 2Ghz Processor, 64BIT, 8GB RAM and 3x750 GB HD.

Problem: Mac OS X Server does not has any web based user interface for professional web site hosting.
Problem: I use Cpanel.net for all my clients, converting accounts won't be a solution.
Problem: Cpanel.net does not support Mac OS X.

Solution: Install a Linux OS that is supported by Cpanel.net.
Problem: While the Xserve only supports EFI it's not possible to use Bootcamp or any other Linux OS. You can't boot or install a Linux OS CD/DVD AOTB.

Solution: I was able to install and run Fedora 11 with Cpanel.net on my Xserve1,1

Installation: Fedora 11 on my xserve1,1 (model 2006)

// This installation is for Xserve1,1 2006 models only, it uses a 32BIT EFI. The Xserve2,1 2008 models uses a 64BIT EFI and requires an other installation approach.
// But If you need help, Xserve1,1 or Xserve2,1, I can help.

Here is my solution how I got Fedora 11 x86_64 on my Xserve1,1.
But first of all I want to thank pxwpxw from ubuntuforums, he helped me a lot.

First some downloads we need:
Download 1: Fedora 11 Live CD Fedora 11 Live CD (X86_64) and burn the CD at 4x speed.
Download 2: Latest refit for mac refit.dmg.
Download 3: Grub settings and files grub.zip.

Pre work:
Step 01: Install refit.
Step 02: After installation you will see a folder named "efi" on your HD.
Step 03: Open your terminal, go into root by su root enter your root password, than type bash /efi/refit/enable-always.sh and press enter, this will show you the grub screen at system boot.
Step 04: While the Xserve1,1 only uses the 32bit efi we need a 32bit grub.efi file.
Step 05: Unpack the downloaded grub.zip file and place 'grub-dumpbios' file and 'grubefi-karmic' folder into your "efi" folder. Efi will automatically detect the grub files and settings.
Step 06: Open grub.cfg with your favorite text editor (I use BBedit)

grub.cfg

# grub.cfg pxw 20090623

timeout=20
default=0

set F1=ctrl-x
set F2=ctrl-c
set color_normal=yellow/blue

menuentry "Fedora-11-x86_64-Live CD boot" {
fakebios
root=cd0
linux /isolinux/vmlinuz0 root=CDLABEL=Fedora-11-x86_64-Live rootfstype=auto ro liveimg rhgb single acpi=force irqpoll video=efifb nomodeset
initrd /isolinux/initrd0.img
}
menuentry "REBOOT" {
reboot
}

[root@localhost]#
[root@localhost]# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
Identifier "fbdev driver"
Driver "fbdev"
EndSection
(control+o is save and control+x is close)

[root@localhost]# exit

menuentry "Fedora 11 x86_64 HD boot to enter fbdev" {
fakebios
root=hd0,3
linux /vmlinuz-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64 root=/dev/sda6 ro rhgb single acpi=force irqpoll video=efifb nomodeset
initrd /initrd-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64.img
}

[root@localhost]#
[root@localhost]# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
Identifier "fbdev driver"
Driver "fbdev"
EndSection
(control+o is save and control+x is close)

[root@localhost]# reboot

menuentry "Fedora 11 x86_64 HD Final Boot" {
fix_video
fakebios
root=hd0,3
linux /vmlinuz-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64 root=/dev/sda6 nomodeset xdriver=fbdev ro acpi=force irqpoll video=efifb noefi
initrd /initrd-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64.img
}

Tuning: Fedora 11 on my xserve1,1 (model 2006)

- Update the system software, this includes the kernel. Be aware that when you upgrade the kernel you need to change your grub.conf. I updated my kernel to 2.6.29.6.213.fc11.x86_64 so I changed linux /vmlinuz-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64 and initrd /initrd-2.6.29.4-167.fc11.x86_64.img to the new kernel version.

- I also like to login into the root account. (instead of my normal user account)

Step 1: We need to edit some files for this to be happen.
Open your terminal and go into root by 'su root' enter your root password

Backup your gdm first:
cp -a /etc/pam.d/gdm /etc/pam.d/gdm.org

Now edit /etc/pam.d/gdm:
nano /etc/pam.d/gdm

Remove the following line:
auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quite
(control+o is save and control+x is close)

Backup your gdm-password first:
cp -a /etc/pam.d/gdm-password /etc/pam.d/gdm-password.org

Now edit /etc/pam.d/gdm-password:
nano /etc/pam.d/gdm-password

Remove the following line:
auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quite
(control+o is save and control+x is close)

Backup your gdm-fingerprint first:
cp -a /etc/pam.d/gdm-fingerprint /etc/pam.d/gdm-fingerprint.org

Now edit /etc/pam.d/gdm-fingerprint:
nano /etc/pam.d/gdm-fingerprint

Remove the following line:
auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quite
(control+o is save and control+x is close)