VPS Newbie.

[Mini`]

Hello all,

I just purchased a VPS to play around on, and learn some things with.
However, I don't know where to start! I was thinking of having a webserver first. I just don't know where to begin. I started installing LAMP on CentOS... It's just frustrating. I hate the whole SSH deal. But I can get used to it. Any tips? Any OS suggestions? Is CentOS decent? I can install another one, obviously. Where would you start after buying a VPS?

Thanks,
-Mini

[Yaldaram]

WHT is your friend: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=108

[Euan T]

I'd start with CentOS for sure. it's a very stable and secure OS. From there I'd create a user for yourself and install a webserver (nginx is my personal preference), PHP and MySQL. As Yaldaram posted, WHT is a good place to start. The Linode library is good too.

[Mini`]

Ahhh. I've got CentOS 5.7 currently, and I'm in the process of installing kloxo, which installs php and all that. Does this all sound right? I went with this option, because it seemed the simplest to get everything done.
(Doing this: http://wiki.lxcenter.org/Kloxo+Installation+Guide)

[Euan T]

I personally never install a control panel as it's just more bloat for me. It might well be a good start for you though. When I helped yaldaram set up his VPS, we used Webmin though so I have no experience of Kloxo at all.

[Mini`]

I've used Kloxo before as a client...
Right now I'm going through DNS setup and what not... Does this tell you guys anything?
I don't understand the errors... And I think I set everything up correctly...
http://intodns.com/damncamper.com?
I added the nameservers on Kloxo, forwarded the ns1(and ns2).damncamper.com to the IP on Namecheap's control panel, added the nameservers to the domain... Now I believe I just have to wait...

[Euan T]

It normally takes about 24 hours at least for DNS to propagate properly. It's hard to tell if it's set up correctly until that amount of time at least has passed. it does appear that one of the IPs you submitted as a nameserver isn't responding though for some reason. You also don't apparently have an A record for the domain.

[Mini`]

I only have 1 IP... What would cause it to not respond? I don't doubt I messed up somewhere, but I don't quite know where, because I felt pretty confident about it all. What is an A record? What should it be?
Maybe this will confirm that everything is right?

[Euan T]

You can't assign two nameservers with the same IP I believe as that's not how nameservers are meant to work. I'd advise using an external service for DNS if I were you. I personally just use cloudflare to handle DNS as it's far easier

[Mini`]

I read somewhere 1 IP would do. Either way, I'm going to look into cloudflare, and most likely use it. Thanks for the information!