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  • #2195194

    Linux on Small Office Server

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    by rmerriam ·

    I would like to do away with my NT4 server at my business and go to linux. I am very new to linux but installed Suse 10 on my home computer with good results. Our small office (six computers) uses the NT4 server for authentication and as a file server. We do not need a web server or db server. I would possibly like to have a mail server also. The desktops will stay Win2000. I’m not afraid of the command line but would have to learn the linux commands.

    Since I already have Suse 10, would it work as a server if I added Samba or is it more just for the desktop? I’m looking for an easy-to-use small business distro. I know that some distros are better suited for servers than desktops. I would appreciate any suggestions. Certainly there are many others out there with my same setup.

    Richard

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    • #3104553

      One of the easier

      by tony hopkinson ·

      In reply to Linux on Small Office Server

      Distros to use is Mandriva , used to be Mandrake.

      It’s intall lets you set up a servers of different types(web mail and db) and presents you with wizards to set up the service.

      I set up a working lamp server (DB and Web) with a pitiful level of experience without any trouble at all.

      • #3106488

        Can you be more specific?

        by jdumont ·

        In reply to One of the easier

        I heard about Mandriva but never looked at it until I saw the praises here. What Mandriva are you talking about? Corporate server or corporate desktop or Discovery/Lx or PowerPack or PawerPack+. Thank you.

        • #3106344

          even

          by jaqui ·

          In reply to Can you be more specific?

          the “Community” free download edition has the majority of the tools.

          which Enterprise or Commercial linux tools do you need? that is the only differences, the power packs have some commercial software, the enterprise has some additional enterprise tools. plus the commercial software.

    • #3104506

      & Samba too

      by dawgit ·

      In reply to Linux on Small Office Server

      Check out Samba ( http://www.samba.org/ ) it’s an excellent file sever, works with just about everything. It can be (it is) used as a replacement for NT4 for a file server.

    • #3104505

      I have

      by jaqui ·

      In reply to Linux on Small Office Server

      to agree with Tony, Mandriva’s widards [ run from DrakX gui interface ] make configuring it as a server very easy.
      They also have the benefit of having a Samba wizard, since to connect to a linux server for authentication and file serving you would need samba server this is a good note.

    • #3104502

      Mandriva

      by chris hardy ·

      In reply to Linux on Small Office Server

      I agree with the above, Mandriva is one of the easiest to set up for newer linux system admins.

      I look after several clients that now all have Mandriva as their network servers. The machines work as file/print, email, web filtering etc servers. The setup was easy, reliability high, and one server in particular has been up constantly for 6 months with no issues!

      • #3106709

        Here Here

        by bob_steel ·

        In reply to Mandriva

        Yep, I’d second using Mandriva in your case – You didn’t mention it as a requirement but it’s got a really nice firewall wizard that will turn your server box into a really nice gateway/firewall/proxy rig.

        I set these up for my staff to use on their home DSL and have never had a single complaint.

        Give the NT box a blow with the sledgehammer for me.

        Deg.

    • #3263594

      Don’t forget the Anti-Virus

      by eric.talbot ·

      In reply to Linux on Small Office Server

      Since this would be a file server and your workstation are running windows, you may wanna have your file server real time scanned. Since a few anti-virus only provide this feature for linux and since this is also only for a few version of Linux. For example TREND provide this for SUSE, RHEL but not for FEDORA. This may also be something you wanna check first before selecting your OS.

      I do not recommand scanning module for SAMBA as they do not provide the same security level than kernel hook module AV.

      • #3106636

        If you are going all the way!

        by terry.cox ·

        In reply to Don’t forget the Anti-Virus

        While you are at it go Star Office 8 and serve that out, supported in a served environment for Linux. Alternatively put it on the PC’s under Windows. Or use Open Office for nothing if you don’t want support and a few of the enterprise features.

    • #3106572

      distro

      by apotheon ·

      In reply to Linux on Small Office Server

      SuSE will work for you just fine. Don’t listen to all these people saying you should switch to Mandrake/Mandriva. You don’t need to switch. I found SuSE to be at least as easy, more enterprise-ready, and less annoying under the hood. For graphical software management systems, YaST2 is really good, and it’s not a Mandrake/Mandriva tool. In addition, SuSE gets better support from commercial software vendors than Mandrake/Mandriva.

      I tend to go with Debian for everything, personally. Distros like Mandrake/Mandriva might be easier to deal with for the complete newbie, but it quickly becomes frustrating as one gains in expertise. Debian is a lot smoother and better put together under the hood. If you want to be more than an end user, or a corporate IT drone, you should get familiar with a serious distribution like Debian or Slackware. Debian is more for people who will be administrating systems, integrating enterprise solutions, and managing large numbers of computers in environments requiring stability and security. Slackware is more for the individual Linux guru with more of a focus on getting one’s hands dirty with Linux internals than on network administration.

      As I said, though, you’ll be fine with SuSE for your purposes. It’ll do what you need. Samba is what you need for Windows network connectivity, as a client or a server. If you want to set up a mailserver, I recommend Postfix for the best balance of simplicity of management, performance, price (free), and security. You should be able to install both Samba and Postfix using YaST2 for the SuSE package management system.

      • #3106418

        SuSE is a good choice.

        by lastchip ·

        In reply to distro

        It has excellent support if you need it and YaST is a very good interface for those of us still unfamiliar with Linux commands.

        I rather suspect that in the medium/long term, it will become the premier enterprise distro, but we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

        Sorry, although Redhat has not been mentioned so far, I don’t rate it at all.

    • #3106526

      I prefer SUSE

      by joedcook ·

      In reply to Linux on Small Office Server

      I believe SUSE is an excellent choice. I use it as both desktop and server in my own office. If you like wizards there are YaST tools to help in setting up networking components.
      In my own case I run the Novell Small Business Suites on the servers which helps even more in setup and network management. While these aren’t free I do consider them bargains.
      In either case I think you will be pleased with SUSE’s abilities.

    • #3103586

      Before you remove NT

      by tepezcuintle@penguincares ·

      In reply to Linux on Small Office Server

      before you remove the NT machine, Think about what exactly it is doing and what services is providing.

      Samba is great but it can be a pain to configure for a newbie. The best thing I can suggest for you is to continue playing with SUSE and install Webmin

      Webmin is a control panel that will allow you to control your machine through an interface.

      Above all if you really want to learn Linux try to stay away from Xwindows. Only that way you will really get to know how to control and manage your machine.

      Qmail is a good mail server it can replace exchange, although it won’t give you calendaring feature you can use Opensource calendars that can be installed together with Webmail interfaces like squirrelmain .

      I learned at home and spent many nights staying up late at night figuring things. Try to setup your test machine at work but don’t use it for a real live server until you know what you are doing.

      🙂

      • #3105721

        good advice

        by apotheon ·

        In reply to Before you remove NT

        You give good advice, tepezcuintle. I’ll add some commentary to it:

        1. To really learn Linux administration well, learn the command line. This will not only make a better Linux administrator of you, but a better Windows administrator as well: I’ve discovered that I learned a lot about Windows that I never would have encountered if I hadn’t learned Linux so well, as a point of contrast.

        2. Samba is quite different to configure than network file browsing on a Windows box. Start by setting up a Samba client before you start replacing your Windows fileservers with Samba servers.

        3. In general, it’s best to phase out the Windows box (or anything else you’re migrating away from) after ensuring your Linux box (or anything else you’re migrating to) is doing what you need. Redundancy for a short time is much better than taking a chance on screwing something up with a nuke-and-pave approach.

        4. I’m not a huge fan of Qmail. It’s a lot easier to configure than Sendmail, and has a history of a bit more security, but restrictive licensing and the development model behind it lead to some characteristics that I really don’t like much. My favorite is Postfix. Either one will do what’s needed as a mail server, though.

        Nothing I said here is intended to challenge your statements, of course. As I said, you made good points.

        • #3105558

          Good advice Apotheon

          by tepezcuintle@penguincares ·

          In reply to good advice

          I agree about learning Linux through the comand line. A lot of people are afraid to get dirty on the Linux console but once they realize they can do a lot of things using a simple commands or a string of commands they will realize that GUI interfaces can actually slow you down.

          I have never tried postfix but I hear great things about it. I do agree that Qmail might not be the right choice for everyone but it works for our organization and I was forced to learn it because it had been running for a few years before I came in.

          I have seen the config files for postifx and they remind me of apache httpd.conf files so I am sure that postfix is very easy to configure just like apache.

          I have also used sendmail in the past and I would not recommend sendmail to a newbie. Postfix or Qmail would be better choices.

          🙂

          Enjoy the weekend

      • #3105628

        good points..

        by jaqui ·

        In reply to Before you remove NT

        The other option, for the migration itself, would be to contract someone that knows linux to help with it.
        the problems with that is you don’t learn what you need to know as well as you should before doing the changeover.

    • #3149171

      take your time

      by wolfgangs ·

      In reply to Linux on Small Office Server

      I am relatively new to linux myself, but had to learn quickly as in my new job all the servers run linux (all Debian except for one which is on redhat).
      I bought myself a second hand PC and set up Ubuntu (which is very close to Debian). this is now working fine as my gateway at home, complete with DNS, mail, web server, firwewall and DHCP server.
      However, it did take me a good while and there was a steep learning curve.
      I would definitely recommend taking your time.
      Set up a machine and then slowly one by one move the individual tasks over once you are sure you know exactly what you are doing.
      I don’t know much about Suse, have only used once about 8 years ago, so I couldn’t say whether it is particularly well suited. I know that I find Ubuntu/Debian very comfortable, but that is probably because by now I got used to it.

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