[San-Diego-pm] Need some general advice (non-perl)

[Richard Bychowski]

I have very limited system administration background, having "managed" shared hosting for a number of my website clients, and having managed my own linux box in my office.  I have recently taken a position as a technical support coordinator for a K-12 private school. The network has around 150-200 networked devices and a SonicWall security appliance.

So here's the question. I just purchased a Ubuntu server from system76.com. I will be installing Request Tracker, Nagios, enkive, etc. These can be installed from source, from Ubuntu repository, or sometimes from CPAN. What factors should I consider in choosing an install method?

What other tools (or books even) do you suggest for tracking and managing a network of this size?

I realize that is a pretty general question, but I am just looking for whatever words of wisdom I can get before launching my new career. Any or all advice/comments/warnings are welcome.

TIA,

Rick Bychowski