Ubuntu as a server

[Matthew Palmer]

On Fri, Jan 20, 2006 at 11:15:32AM +0200, Duncan Anderson wrote:
> Duncan Anderson wrote:
> >I should like to know whether it is problematic to use Ubuntu Linux as 
> >a host/server. In other words, should there be any problem with 
> >installing Ubuntu, enabling the root user login, and configuring the 
> >machine as a mail or proxy server or as an SQL server or the like?
> ><snip>
> >Hoping for a bit of feedback...
> 
> Well, thanks everybody for all the feedback. You have confirmed what I 
> had suspected, namely that Ubuntu is perfectly suitable for use as a 
> server. Not one person said that it shouldn't be done.
> 
> As far as enabling the root login goes, it seems that is up to the 
> administrator of the system. I would probably do so, because that is 
> what I am used to. I can see the point of using sudo for certain things, 
> but I am probably obtuse, because I can't really understand what makes 
> it better that "su".

Finer-grained permissions
Better audit trail
No need to widely propagate the root password (and hence avoid the
associated pain of rekeying every time you need to change the password)

There are a lot of very tasty reasons to use sudo.  I'm trying to come up
with a reason why anyone would want to use su, myself...

- Matt