NethServer : An all-in-one server for Small and Medium enterprises

NethServeris an all-in-one linux distribution based on CentOS, which is the clone of popular commercial Linux distribution Red hat Enterprise Linux. It ships with powerful, yet easy to use web interface that enables us to install plenty of pre-configured modules with a single mouse click. It is completely free, and 100% open source distribution supported by many contributors and community members all over the world. NethServer is opt for small office and medium enterprise organizations, and of course you can use it for large enterprises if you have sufficient high-end configuration system.

NethServer Editions

NethServer is a available as Community edition, which is free, and Enterprise edition. The Enterprise edition’s users will get moreadvantages over free version, such as

Professional assistant and support via email, telephone, and helpdesk portal; Full data backup on cloud Automatic upgrades Proprietary software runs Remote monitoring And many.

For more details, check the following link.

NethServer Community vs Enterprise Edition

What can I do with NethServer?

Everything! You can setup Web server, Mail server, File server, Private Cloud, Groupware, Firewall, VPN, FTP, DNS, DHCP, PXE, Web filter, and more.

Here is the complete list of available modules in NethServer.

Web server Multi-domain support with ready to use LAMP stack. Mail server Postfix, Dovecot, Amavis, multi-domain and quota support, queue management, smart host, and Roundcube webmail client. File server Shared folders,Primary Domain Controller and workstation mode,Support network recycle bin and folder auditing. Private cloud Powered by ownCloud . Groupware Powered by SOGo . Support for Android/iOS clients, and Mozilla Thunderbird desktop client. Firewall Based on Shorewall . VPN Powered by OpenVPN andL2TP. Web filter Squid proxy integrated with ClamAV and SquidGuard. UPS Fax server IPS (Snort) Bandwidth monitor Statistics DNS DHCP PXE server FTP Phone Home WebVirtMgr WebTop 4 Adagios OCS Inventory NG HA (High Availability) And more.

Forget about the tedious step by step application installation and configuration.Everything will be done right from NethServer’s web-based dashboard in minutes. To install any module, Just click on it and follow the onscreen instructions. It will be installed and configured as per your requirements in couple minutes.

Can I install NethServer on an existing CentOS operating system?

Of course, you can. Just add the NethServer’s repositories in your CentOS, and start installing NethServer base system and the required modules (such as Web server, mail server, and more) you want to use. It is always recommended to use freshly installed CentOS minimal server to install NethServer.

Hardware requirements

To deploy NethServer, you need at least the following specification.

64 bit CPU (NethServer is not available for 32 bit systems); 1 GB RAM; 8 GB free disk space. However, it is recommended to use at least two disks with RAID 1 configuration; Since it is based on CentOS/RHEL, it will work on any hardware certified by Red Hat. Install NethServer

As of writing this guide, the latest stable version was 6.8 , and it is based on CentOS 6.8. Also, NethServer 7.0 alpha version is available for testing. As you may already know, Alpha version is meant for testing purposes only. It is not recommended for production environment.

NethServer can be installed in two methods.

Install using ISO Install using YUM on an existing CentOS minimal system 1. Install NethServer using ISO

Installing NethServer using ISO is opt for newbies and intermediate users. Download the latest stable version from the link given below.

Download NethServer

Once downloaded, write the ISO to any CD/DVD or make a bootable USB drive as the way described in the following link.

Etcher A beauitiful App to create bootable SD cards or USB drives

Then, start the machine using the bootable media.

You will see the following screen.

As you see in the above screenshot, there are different types of installation menus.

NethServer interactive install It needs the user interaction. I.E you have to select the language, configure RAID support, network, and encrypted file system etc. Other installation options User interaction is not required. The installer will take care of everything, and the default parameters will applied. Standard CentOS installations It allows the user to deploy the NethServer as the you do the normal CentOS installation. Tools It allows users to go to system recovery, execute a memory test etc. Boot from local drive Allows the users to boot the already installed OS.

I go with the first installation option i.e NethServer interactive install .

Choose the installer language:

Select the Network interface card to configure:

Enter the parameters for your Network card, such as IP Address, Netmask, Gateway, and DNS etc.

Select Install button to start the installing process. As you see in the below screenshot, the “root” user’s default password is “Nethesis,1234 . You can change it later.

NethServer base system installation will start now.

Once the installation is completed, the system will automatically reboot.

At the boot prompt, enter the default username and password. The default username and password for both interactive and non-interactive installation mode is given below.

Default username : root Root password : Nathesis,1234

Congratulations! NethServer base system has been successfully installed!!

If you chose non-interactive mode(unattended installation), the system will be automatically configured as shown below.

Default User name: root Rootpassword: Nethesis,1234 Network: DHCP enabled on all interfaces Keyboard: en Time zone: Greenwich Language: English Disks: if there are two or more disks, a RAID 1 will be created on first two disks.

You can change these values in the NethServer’s dashboard later.

NethServer initial configuration First things first

The first thing we must do after installing any operating system is to update it.

To update your NethServer, run:

yum update

Once updated, reboot your system to apply all updates.

Then, change the default password to something else strong and ha