Installing the LAMP Server Components

Okay, finally. Here is the part where we select the software to make this Debian box a LAMP server as opposed to a workstation. After you make your selection at the “Popularity Contest” screen, you’ll be greeted with the following:

Note that “Desktop Environment” is selected along with “Standard System.” We really don’t need a desktop environment on our server, as it will just be a waste of resources and everything can be configured without pointing and clicking.

So, using the arrow keys and the spacebar, we remove what we don’t need, and add in the things we do. Select “Web Server” (Apache) and “File Server” (Samba – optional, but handy if you’ll be working from a Windows machine).

Since Samba was marked for installation, it’ll have to be set up:

Things run much more smoothly if this workgroup name is consistent amongst all of the computers in your network (if you’re not sure, you can modify this later by editing the following file: /etc/samba/smb.conf). Once you’ve got that entered, continue:

Select “no.” WINS will not be needed.

Now it’s time to install the bootloader, GRUB:

Without a bootloader, you will not be able to boot into your new OS. Unless you have some other system configured to handle this, you’re going to need to install GRUB, and unless you’ve got a dual-/multi-boot setup that’s being managed from the Master Boot Record (MBR) – which may be the case if you’re using Windows Vista/7 and EasyBCD – you’re going to want to install to the MBR.

The system installation is now complete. The rest of the setup will be done after booting up into the newly installed system.