Best Distro for All-in-One Raspberry Pi Server

[nimic]

Hello all,
I'm interested in making a Raspberry Pi 4 into an all in one server and I'd like suggestions on which distros and software you think would be best.
What I mean by ALL IN ONE:
a) DNS - piHole for ad blocking and privacy.
b) DHCP - for manually managing 10-20 devices connected also for security.
c) VPN Server - for external access to my LAN.
d) Media Server - large media server on several external hard drives.

Other considerations:
1) I'd like to run on minimum performance demand so it doesn't burn out too fast or overheat running 24/7.
2) Ideally I'd like something I could use a 7in screen to perform all network admin tasks. I can remote in for more intensive actions but I'd like to do the day to day and quick changes on a 7in touch screen.
3) Client devices very between OS's. I have Android and iOS phones, Mac OS tablets and laptops, windows 10 home and pro and linux Kubuntu and Ubuntu. Even Kindle Fire, X-box 360, and PS4 clients would be cool though not necessary.
4) The Raspberry Pi along with 3 other clients are on ethernet while the rest are connecting to wifi.
5) I can't seem to find if this is possible but I'd like to boot to only using the terminal but then have an option to launch a desktop environment on demand.
6) I have a the 4GB ram raspberry pi and a 64GB SD card for the OS and can add 500GB through a dedicated external hdd if I need more.
7) Lastly some security suggestions would be appreciated. I'm potentially opening a huge hole into my network and want to make sure it's not too easy to access.

I'm pretty new to Linux but above average with windows. I'm currently a student learning sys. admin and linux. I'm getting better with command lines but I'd like a GUI fallback just cause.

 

[KGIII]

I'd aim at a distro that's aimed at servers to start with. I'd look at CentOS and Fedora. There are certainly other server distros, but those two get used as a server frequently. Most of my VPSes are CentOS, for example.

Here's a couple of links to get you started:

Architectures/ARM/Raspberry Pi - Fedora Project Wiki

fedoraproject.org

Installing CentOS in Raspberry Pi 4

Yes! you are in the right place if this blog’s title is relevant to your search!

medium.com

In reality, most any Linux distro will work and many distros have a server-specific flavor. The two above are often used as servers. Fedora has a more rapid release cycle and CentOS is more stable - meaning consistent/supported for longer. Fedora is released something like every six months and CentOS versions are supported for a *long* time - like a decade.

 

[nimic]

I'm trying out CentOS. I couldnt download Fedora for some reason Ill try again later.

Why no debian love? I tried ubuntu server and that was too barebones for my comfort. And I feel like adding KDE or Gnome are too high demand for my purposes. But i figure there should be an inbetween on a debian based distro.

 

[f33dm3bits]

I'm trying out CentOS. I couldnt download Fedora for some reason Ill try again later.

Why no debian love? I tried ubuntu server and that was too barebones for my comfort. And I feel like adding KDE or Gnome are too high demand for my purposes. But i figure there should be an inbetween on a debian based distro.

You can just use Ubuntu server and then install Xfce on it.

sudo apt-get install xfce4

It's just a matter of personal preference which distros, not a matter of having no love for a specific distro.

 

[KGIII]

You can absolutely use Debian, if you'd like. I mentioned two that are frequently used as servers, but you can make any Linux work as a server - it's just a question of how much additional effort you want to put into it.

 

[nimic]

So I installed Fedora and Cent OS on VM's and I liked them. They were a little different but not bad. Then I got set to install Cent OS on my Raspberry Pi 4 and it kept throwing Kernel errors. Apparently Neither Fedora or Cent OS are officially supported by the Pi 4. There does seem to be a away to make it work by installing on a Pi 3 updating the kernel. Then migrating over to the Pi 4. Unfortunately I don't have a Pi 3. Some people posted updated iso's but that is pretty shady. I tried another method that involved using an older version of Cent OS but that didn't work either.
Thus looks like I'm stuck with Ubuntu Server with Xfce.
I also read some forums on using OpenMediaVault but the non-media server functions seem really complicated to configure and I'm not sure if it's worth it.

Has anybody had experience using OpenMediaVault for more than a media server?

 

[dos2unix]

Apparently Neither Fedora or Cent OS are officially supported by the Pi 4

I don't know about "officially supported". But you can definitely do it.
Everything works on mine. Bluetooth, Ethernet, WiFi, USB keyboard/mouse
4k HDMI.

install Fedora on a Raspberry Pi 3 - Fedora Magazine

The Raspberry Pi is a very popular Single Board Computer for hacking on.This is a guide for how to Install Fedora aarch64 onto Raspberry Pi.

fedoramagazine.org

This article is about Pi 3, bit the same instructions work on a 4B.

 

[KGIII]

How To Tutorials and Tech Updates – TecAdmin

A blog for system administrators and software engineers, Howto guides, tutorials, IT news, Tips, and Tricks

tecadmin.net

If you just want to leave it and forget it, CentOS may be your best solution. They support an OS for like a decade - in some cases longer.