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TheSSS: World's Smallest Server Suite

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Article from ADMIN 21/2014

By Tim Schürmann

Want to set up a full-fledged web, file, or proxy server in 10 seconds? No problem with TheSSS, the smallest server suite in the world. The new 8.0 version of this useful Linux distribution weighs in at a mere 30MB.

The temporary workgroup you have set up wants to save its files on a dedicated FTP server; you want to try out a proxy to see if you can reduce the network load and set up a web server on the intranet to advertise the daily menu at the cafeteria. In other words, you need a small server – enter the smallest server suite in the world, TheSSS [1].

TheSSS runs as a Live system by default, but it can also be installed on the hard disk. You need to boot this lean Linux distribution on a server and then enable the services you require with a short command line. The fact that it runs in main memory is especially handy if you want, or need, to set up a service temporarily – for example, because the main FTP server is down.

Old Friends

TheSSS, which is based on the 4MLinux [2] mini-distribution and on top of the thttpd web server, also comes with the vsftpd FTP server, the OpenSSH SSH daemon, and a Telnet service. You can also enable the Polipo proxy, which can use the Tor anonymizer service, if so desired. The 4MLinux firewall based on iptables adds security.

As a bonus, administrators also have the Clam AntiVirus scanner and a rudimentary backup program. For the sake of completeness, TheSSS also throws in a couple of minor league monitoring tools that diligently gather information about the system and the network. Among other things, they can tell you which of the enabled services is causing a high load.

Of course, you'll encounter a couple of minor drawbacks: The new 8.0 version of the Linux distribution is still only available as a 32-bit distro and therefore cannot use more than 4GB of RAM. Additionally, it still does not support UEFI firmware, thus forcing admins to enable the BIOS emulator on newer systems.

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