Well, our Linux server seems to be getting in shape now! But
wait, what is the most important part of our server? Yes, it's
the kernel. The Linux kernel is the core of our operating
system, and without it there is no Linux at all. So we must take
care of our kernel and configure it to fit our needs and compile
just features we really need. The first thing to do next is to
build a kernel that best suits your system. It's very simple to
do but, in any case, refer to the README file in the
/usr/src/linux/ directory. When configuring your kernel only
compile in code that you need and use. Few main reasons that
come to mind are; The Kernel will be faster less code to run,
You will have more memory, Kernel parts are NEVER swapped to the
virtual memory, More stable. Try probing for a non-existent
card?, Unnecessary parts can be used by an attacker to gain
access to the machine or other machines on the network. Modules
are also slower than support compiled directly in the kernel.