Debian GNU/Linux is my favorite Linux distribution for servers and most desktops. It’s wide availability of binary packages combined with a strong developer/support community makes it my favorite.
Invariably, every time I install Linux, i tend to remove a lot unused packages from the new system. So I have come to the conclusion that the minimal install is what i need to begin with for all requirements.
This post should guide you to install a minimal copy of Linux.
Firstly, you’ll need the bootable disk for installing. visit this page to obtain the suitable ISO image. I suggest you get the netinstall images for your system architecture. This should approximately be a 180 MB Download file. You can also use the standard Debian CDs or DVDs.
Then prepare your target system. Firstly backup all the data you might have on the hard drive(s) (THs is a highly important step and I am absolutely not responsibe for any data loss. Then set the bios to boot from CD/DVD. If you are building a headless system with no Displays or Keyboards, then set the bios to Halt at No errors.
Now pop the disc in and boot from it. You should be dropped to the isolinux shell. Now type “expert” and press enter. This will boot the Debian installer and gives you complete control over the install. Proceed by selecting the Language, Location etc, Detect and install the network hardware and disks etc. When prompted with the partitioning stage, i suggest you use the All files on one partition Guided partitioning method. In case you have any other data or OSs on the HDD, proceed with manual partitioning.
Once the partitioning is over, I proceed with the install as usual following the instructions on screen. I suggest you dont configure any http or ftp sources from the internet in the apt soures. Not ecen the security updates. This way we dont end up downloading anything that is unnecessary.
Once the base system is installed, install grub and reboot. Now you should be prompted with the scripts to configure the install, DO NOT add any users, or install any packages from this screen. Apt is always your friend fot choosing and installing packages.
Now you might like to perform a few steps to configure your system even more,
First configure the apt-source by editing /etc/apt/sources.list with any text editor. If you have a working apt-proxy or a local repository, then this will save you loads of Downloads.
Then you might like to configure the network interfaces, go ahead and edit /etc/networks/interfaces
runt apt-get update to update your package tree.
One small application that i’d install is an openssh server package. This allows us to access the console from the network.
How much secure is the netinst approach? Do you use a local repository in your network? Do you use some firewall between Internet and your server?
As the Netinstall method obtains the latest packages from the server, I’d consider it to be quite a secure install.
But i suppose you will need to configure your firewall and other configurations to make the installation secure.
I place all my computers and servers behind a seperate firewall in my router. But it will allways be safer to configure the iptables firewall to protect the computer from any virus/trojan infected PC.