Re: Linux Network connecting to NT - How?

[Matthew John Palmer <nospam [at] uow.edu.au>]

On Thu, 9 Mar 2000, National & European wrote:

> 	I've recently gained a job (finally) as the IT director of a 
> company. Now then, he (the boss) want to expand the current 
> base (one NT pc) to a few.

Sounds like it's a big job at the moment... <cheeky grin>

> 	Now for ease of use, and for saying that he has already got all 
> the software that the company needs, turning round and saying 
> "Scrap it, use Linux" is not viable. However this expansion is going 

Agreed. Not on the ease-of-use, for which KDE has a very good reputation,
but for the pre-existing software.

> 	Hmmm, hello Linux.... What do I need to use/learn to get them 

Use Samba on a Linux server.  This will give you full file/print sharing for
all of the clients.  Run NT Workstation on all of the clients, and all will
be sweet.

> connected, and what type of network would be the best for a group 
> of 6 pcs (Ring, Star, etc) this small network would be the model for 

If they're all together (say in a row or something) you could get away with
10Base2.  If they're spread, it's best to go with 10BaseT from the get go
(remembering horrors of coaxing a half-dozen computers spread throughout a
house... <shudder>) another advantage of 10BaseT is that, providing you get
the right cables (Cat 5 UTP) you can upgrade to 100BaseT by changing network
cards and hub (not necessarily, even - most new NICs are 100baseT now so you
can run fast from the start).

> other little offices around europe, so connecting them via the 
> internet would also need to be met in the future. The company is 

This can EASILY be done via Linux, either a part-time link or permanent
connection.  You can, if the fileserver load isn't too heavy, use the same
Linux box for both serving and connecting... nifty, huh?

> trying to get things sorted out at the begining so massive changes 
> later on would not be nessecary. 

Remember, there's never enough time to do it right, but always enough time
to do it over... <grin>

> 	Any suggestions would be useful

I'm giving a presentation on this to ManLUG in April, but you probably don't
want to wait that long.

It's a pity I'm on a student's Visa here in the UK, otherwise I'd offer
myself as a consultant on this.  I don't, however, think that my Visa
prohibits me from helping out a friend with his computer problems, does it?

Want to be my friend?  <grin>


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Matthew Palmer
mjp16@uow.edu.au

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