4MLinux Server Edition For Linux

4MLinux Server Edition is an open source Linux server operating system based on the minimalistic 4MLinux GNU/Linux distribution and built around the Busybox, OpenSSH, PuTTY and Dropbear software packages.

It features a plethora of server-oriented programs that can be used to transform it into a capable and reliable FTP, SFTP, HTTP or SSH server. The distribution includes various applications to test these servers.

Just like any other 4MLinux edition, this server flavor is distributed as a single, dual-arch ISO image that can be deployed to a USB flash drive with the UNetbootin application, or written to a blank CD disc with any CD/DVD burning software.

The boot medium comes with a pretty basic boot prompt, which only allows users to start the live environment with default settings, or with VESA framebuffer (in case the first option does not recognises your graphics card).

As mentioned, this edition is distributed with several servers, which are controlled by the inetd daemon. These include vsftpd for deploying a FTP server, Busybox for HTTP and HTTPS servers, OpenSSH for SSH and SFTP servers, as well as telnet for a Telnet server.

The distribution includes supports for several programming languages, including Perl and the thttpd build of PHP, with support for cURL. SQLite and MariaDB (with Adminer) databases are also pre-installed.

Among other components, we can mention the 4MLinux Firewall, which is based on iptables, Clam AntiVirus virus scanner, Polipo proxy server, Tor anonymity network server/client, x11vnc VNC server (with EchoVNC), and rsync file/directory synchronizer.

The 4MLinux Server Edition tries to offer a reliable server operating system that can be used as-is, directly from the Live CD, or installed on a local disk drive. Unfortunately, we can’t recommend it for general use, in real-world scenarios where the need for an ultra stable and powerful server is a must.

As of January 24, 2015, the 4MLinux Server Edition distribution has been discontinued and won't be updated with new features, bugfixes and security fixes. We don't recommend to download and install it as your main server operating system. It has been archived for historical references purposes only.