Was it this bit?
Linux distributions, such as RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, and similar. Microsoft Windows and macOS are not supported.
Not supported (usually) just means if you run into problems you will be on your own.
If you are not comfortable with server administration tasks (especially when documentation is likely to be Linux-oriented) then you might be better off with Linux. The instructions and help available are likely to be very applicable to the platform and setup you have.
If you are happy to get your hands dirty and learn how things work then FreeBSD will be fine for just about any PHP/MySQL-based application.
Regardless of platform with any of these massive PHP code bases (CMS, Own/Nextcloud, e-commerce etc) there’s lots to learn and you have to get your head into the developer's mindset.
So whatever OS platform or PHP application you choose: you will be trying things out and learning. And maybe throwing things away and trying again.
I’d encourage you to try FreeBSD for this setup but you’ve got to try things and it might need a little bit more effort.
Good morning and thanks for the detailed reply,
I honestly don't mind getting my hands dirty I'm just wary of getting myself into a situation I can't undo.
I work as a content manager for a small ecommerce company so I'm a jack of all trades by necessity. I spin up wordpress sites and write scripts and plug ins for the likes of gimp regularly. However, there are somethings I'm unfamiliar with and I've struggled to find information to educate myself.
I often spin up wordpress on xampp or lampstack before making anything "live" because I can play around with it without it being where the world can see it or interact with it. And worse case scenario I can delete everything and start again.
Magento is the software that's thrown me because of all the pre-requisites some of which I've struggled to get my head around.
Php and mysql I'm fine with as I have to mess with them regularly. However, it also seems I need a search function and other bits I'm unfamiliar with. I've found literature to help with Elasticsearch/Opensearch, RabbitMQ, Redis, Varnish etc.. are all new to me.
The two parts that a really stopping me are the MTA and the authentication keys. The authentication keys worry me because Adobe keep calling the software Adobe Commerce rather than Magento on the page you request them and I'm terrified of downloading the wrong version incase Adobe send me a massive bill that I can't afford. The MTA part worries me because I've never set up email on a home server. I'm interested and would like to have a go just to play around with it but I don't know what could go wrong, and if anything does, can I just switch off the machine and start again? I've done some reading on Postfix and Sendmail (I've used the oReilly books) and it looks like I'd need to set up a name server aswel (I've read through the DNS and Bind book also by oReilly and it's a bit confusing). I have three domains through a webhost (Fasthosts) that I was going to use to set up wordpress/woocommerce sites with them. Could I use one of those on a home sever? and how would I go about it?
I'm not looking for a permanent home server to run as a business, rather what most would call a home lab that I can use to learn new things. I've never ran one with my own domain so I have no idea what my responsibilities are i.e. if I set up a name server with a domain I own to practice with (setting up Postfix for example) would I get in any bother for switching it off at the wall at the end of the day?
I was tempted to set up a small server to run a family website (blog, pics of the doggy) rather than an ecommerce site with our own domain and email just to get some practice but I'm not sure if the hardware I have is right for it, or if what I would need for a hobby project like that would be expensive to buy.
I know these questions are probably straight forward for most on here and I'm displaying my ignorance publicly but I'm keen to learn and I enjoy doing it
Kind regards,
Nick
