We have many customers who've had issues with their dedicated servers trying to setup WordPress on linux.
Error Messages:
fsock() Permission Denied
cURL() Permission Denied
HTTP API Access Error
Many times, the trick adjusting the timeout from 5 minutes to 30 minutes does not work.
The problem usually is because SELINUX is set to enforcing on the server.
To resolve this:
1) Open /etc/selinux/config in vi or editor.
2) Change SELINUX=enforcing to SELINUX=disabled
3) Save changes and reboot server.
This should resolve many of the issues you're having when trying to setup WordPress and other application on a linux server.
Hope this helps!
Mark T.
XIIO Networks - Technical Support Team
http://www.xiionet.com