Linux Server question

[Hollow4]

okay i bought my dell sc420 now i need an operating system cuz im cheap wasnt about to pay dell for an os.

heres how i want my setup to go, i have a switch and that will eventually interface with 7-10 servers/firewalls and my main rig. what i would like is an linux os that is easy to install and maintain, and can be maintained remotely. also it must play nicely with a modded xbox for some file swapping as well as a media center that i will add later.

The server(s) functionalities will be somewhat as follows
media backup/distributer
game server
xbox hd back up
mail backup/server(eventually)
and 3 or 4 very large file servers

but for now i have my dell server an old computer and my main rig on the switch and and off the switch i have a linksys router with another computer attached. the idea is i need to back up the computer on the linksys to the dell. rebuild it and put everything back. i want an easy to use linux server to be able to do this. after i rebuild the computers i will ask for opinions on more in depth server software.

thanks

 

[j-rock]

The server(s) functionalities will be somewhat as follows

media backup/distributer:

Well lets see, do regular backups for the backups. I'm not sure what you mean by "distributer".

game server

Game servers are easy to set up with the dedicated installers provided by the vender

xbox hd back up

rsync would be a good option here. (Or is that xbox not running linux?)

mail backup/server(eventually)

Not really sure here. Not much experience with MTA's

and 3 or 4 very large file servers

NFS + Samba for file serving. Very Easy and fast enough.



As far as the actualy OS goes though. Just about any distro can handle those tasks. It all comes down to choice. Although I'd say try Fedora or Ubuntu for a beginer

 

[Hollow4]

by distributer i mean it will distribute media to all connected computers as well as run a program that will feed into the philips sl400

 

[j-rock]

I'm not sure about that phillips thing. But if you want a music player daemon. Check out MPD. I've only heard good things.

 

[Flagg]

Bacula is a great backup solution that provides a central location to backup all data, and then you install client software to provided connectivity from client to server.

MTA Postfix is really good. Fairly easy to learn and there are lots of tutorials on the web for it.

For xbox backup (I am assuming its using a modchip) Avalaunch was the Dashboard of my choice when I used to have an xbox. Unless you are running Linux natively on the xbox there isnt a lot you c an do. (last i checked the linux OS is not able to execute xbox .xbe files) check xbox-scene for more information.