Server setup

[bowersbros]

I plan on making a Uploading website, out of boredom over the summer.

I will install nginx on Ubuntu 12.04 (precise)

I was wondering what other services you'd recommend I install.

I naturally will be using php 5 and mysql (although might change mysql for something abit better, unsure yet, but am looking at mongoDB. Not sure yet.

Any suggestions for:

Email servers
Control Panel (may not use, but I guess it will be useful)
Server Stat logging (such as connections, bandwidth usage, disk space usage etc)

and any other services you think I should use?

[jacek]

Email servers

dovecot + postfix is a pretty standard set-up

Control Panel (may not use, but I guess it will be useful)

Don't bother, they are too bloated. Learn to love the terminal.

Server Stat logging (such as connections, bandwidth usage, disk space usage etc)

AWStats and the JAWStats frontend for webstats. Various command line tools for the other stuff. `vnstat` for bandwidth, `df` for dist use.

[Kamal]

You decided to go with nginx! good choice (ahem)
also, i found out a way to log each vhost's (apache terms) bandwidth usage. take a look at custom log formats and the $bytes_sent variable

[bowersbros]

decided to use gmail as my email servers. Since their spam filters are miles better than anything else i've found online.

ANy other software you'd recommend?