Thanks to Mick for offline help. Meanwhile, can I ask for help on something which is so simple no-one seems to write about it?
I have installed minimal debian, and then added the requisite stuff for nfs and cherokee and SSH. I'm fine with configuring both of them through the command line, and then in the cherokee case login in and using a web browser. Vi or emacs it will never be, but nano is fine. The command line in general is fine. Its just I never set up a server before.
The thing I do not know how to do, is have the installation start up with nfs and cherokee at power-on. And I don't understand what the relationship is between the server function and user accounts.
So, when I did the minimal install of Debian, I did one user and set up the root password, and also set up a separate home partition without knowing if this is right or wrong. Was that right? The result is two partitions, one about 10G for / and the other with the rest. Presumably the nfs area will be in the rest. But how do I tell it that?
When the server starts, I think this is done by putting entries in init.d, yes? When it starts, does it start with a user login? Or is it running with no users logged in?
It will be without screen or keyboard, so I am assuming I do SSH to the IP address. And then login as root? Or as the user?
Oh dear, this is so basic. Once its done, it will be fine. I can write little scripts and use awk and manage the system from the command line with no problems, so once I know what to do it will be OK, but at the moment am rather peering into the mist.
Peter