Does server run in the Workstation version of the Base environment

Rocky Linux General
1

Hii, I am a home user of the Workstation install of Rocky Linux and use it just as my main personal computer.
So I am not a Linux systems or server administrator. I imagine the intended audience for Rocky Linux is commercial server / hosting companies. I am not in that intended audience but I hope you dont mind me asking what I think is a dumb question, but because of its importance, I have to ask.
I tried searching for this and cannot seem to find an answer or a good way to find out.

Does the Workstation / Desktop version of the install include a server which runs in the background?

I donā€™t need this to run and would think it is a serious security issue to be running a server on my desktop personal computer - ie the server could be hacked into and people could access my filesā€¦

Thanks ahead of timeā€¦

2

Many things will run in the background, some could be called ā€œserversā€.
The important thing is to look at the roles at installation time, and decide which components you want (or donā€™t want). You can also look at the roles by listing DNF groups. e.g.

dnf group list

and then

dnf group info "<group name here>"

you can start off with a minimal install, but there are many dependencies. The groups help to ensure you have everything you need for a specific role.

If you do install any servers, you can leave them blocked by the firewall, so only localhost can access them.

1 Like
3

I bet there is at least one ā€œserverā€ that is installed by default because it is in group ā€˜Coreā€™ that is mandatory even for the ā€œMinimal Installā€. The server ā€“ or more properly ā€œserviceā€ ā€“ is sshd.service. You can connect to the machine from outside with ssh client.

Some OS might not enable sshd by default, and you can disable it, if you donā€™t need it. There are services that, if disabled, render the system unusable. (Been there, done that.) As said, a service might be there only to serve the localmachine; firewall (set up by another service) can block access from outside.

The ā€œWorkstationā€, ā€œServer with GUIā€, ā€œMinimal Installā€ ā€“ dnf Environment Groups ā€“ are simply bit different lists of packages to install. Convenience. You can add and remove packages.

1 Like
4

Hi jlehtone,
Thanks very much for taking the time to respond and let me know about services like sshd.service - I will dig into itā€¦

5

Hi gerry666uk,
Thanks for the info - I will go thru the commands you listed - this is a good starting point for me to learn more about things and set things up safelyā€¦

6

Hello @RL1000

it would be good also to know more about linux there are a good documentation to learn even if you just started to enter the linux world
check this one https://docs.rockylinux.org/
and have a nice day :slight_smile: