Moving from Debian to SUSE

Nterprise Linux Services Cool Solutions Article

Posted on 11 Feb 2004

In case you haven't tried it yet, may want to get acquainted with the helpful experts who frequent the SUSE Linux Support Forums. There is some excellent info all nicely threaded up in there. For example, here's a good one for newbies called the Quick 5 Minute Newbie Initiation Guide. It poses and answers questions from a guy moving from Debian to SUSE Pro 9.0. We've pulled the info out below to highlight it.

Check it out today! And if you see any particular thread containing information that you think needs to be highlighted, let us know and we'll feature it in a tip.

Quick 5 Minute Newbie Initiation Guide

Answers by Adam, SUSE Support Team

I've used Debian in the past, but now I'm going to try SUSE Pro 9.0. Can anyone answer the following questions please:

Q1: Install New

How do you install packages such as say Webmin? With Debian you do apt-get install Webmin and it does everything for you - no config needed, all like magic.

A1: Webmin comes with a pre-built RPM you just need to type 'rpm -i webmin.rpm' replacing 'webmin.rpm' with the name of the downloaded file. Also there is a very useful utility called YaST which has a wide collection of apps and services which can be installed. YaST is a GUI btw - very easy to use.

Q2. Install Upgrade

How do you upgrade existing packages? Say Webmin has upgraded from 1.1 to 1.3. With Debian you just do apt-get install webmin again and it updates the package.

A2: Upgrading webmin can be done through the webmin configuration module of the system. You can also upgrade using YaST.

Q3: Install with config options

How do you install (or modify) a package to include extra config options? Say PHP is required with DBASE support. With Debian you would do apt-get install php4-dbase and this would sort out the --require-dbase stuff.

A3: Most of this is done through YaST.

Q4: Install Non-standard Stuff

I use a utility called DBF2MYSQL which does what it says on the tin. If this is only available as a tar.gz from the developers site then do I just do a standard download, ./config, make etc.?

A4: You can compile as you did in Debian in SUSE.

Q5: Converting packages

How do you convert from one package to another? Say Sendmail is installed, but I'd like Qmail. With Debian apt-get install qmail would download qmail, read sendmail's config, toast sendmail, install qmail with those settings.

A5: You can easily swap these packages in YaST by un-installing one and installing the other.

Q6: Utils & admin

Is SUSE very different from Debian in things like directory structures (location of /etc, /home, /bin etc.)? What about stuff like /proc/cpuinfo and Hdparm?

A6: Most linux systems have similar directory structures in one way or another. YaST is the control centre for most aspects of system configuration - if it doesn't do it you can do it in webmin.

Q7: Optimising

Are there any good tips for optimising? I'd want the box to be lean and tuned for database searches.

A7: Ensure you don't install too many un-needed packages. Keep system services down to a minimum.

Q8: Spec I'm looking to obtain.

The box is being hosted by a webhoster who will install SUSE Pro 9.0 and basic stuff. This is what I'm hoping to get running on it:

3.06Ghz
Abit 533Mhz
1Gb 333Mhz DDR
Promise Raid Controller
2 x IBM 40GB

Apache 1.3.29
PHP4.3.3 with DBASE, GD enabled
MySQL4
Webmin

A8: All of the applications specified will run fine on the spec.