Re: [Sheflug] Linux Newbie

[Craig Andrews <nospam [at] fishbot.org.uk>]

Hi John!

> First task is to get the proxy/firewall off the PDC and onto a dedicated
> machine. We have SUSE installed on an AMD 450MHz PC with 20gig HDD, 64M
> memory and two D-Link DFE530TX NICs. The OS works, and the two NICs work
> on two separate networks, next weeks task is to get Linux to transfer
> data between the two networks.

This is not a problem. For lots of nice networking info in a well laid out
format, check out:

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linag2/book/index.html

where O'Reily have release there 'Linux Network Administrators Guide' for
free. I found this invaluable when setting up my gateway and firewall,
amongst other things.

> I would also like to run the Intranet and Fileserver on Linux. I have
> used Apache on NT4 along with Tomcat, Cocoon and MySQL to support an XML
> based Intranet system, this should run on Linux too. I am not familiar
> with Samba, but I believe we can use it as the basis for a Linux based
> Fileserver.

You can use all the above with Linux without a problem. Tomcat was
designed for GNU/Linux, and cocoon is a nice cross platform module, which
again is designed for GNU/Linux.

Samba is now so good at pretending to be an NT server that you can do all
the domain stuff, ie profiles (local and roaming), private home
directories, and all the rest. Admittedly is doesn't do it well, but thats
the point. It's 'bug for bug' compatible with the NT SMB server, so it
will work fine with your clients. Don't let this bug-for-bug thing fool
you, though... it is infinitely more stable (well, not quite :) than a
real NT box, and is a dream to configure if you already know about how an
NT server works. I personally found it easier!

> Is there any way we can get rid of M$ server operating systems
> altogether and just use Linux on the servers?

Yes indeed

> Comments and advice are welcome. This is a major undertaking for people
> who are new to Linux, but I would very much like to escape from the
> commercial software cycle that takes up a large amount of the precious
> little funding that schools get for IT.

>From the sounds of it you have your spec, plan, and technology sorted
out, and just need to implement it. This is a great start. At least you
won't go 'Well, I installed Linux. Now what does it do?'

> Are there any other people out there who work in schools where Linux is
> successfully employed?

Look at:

http://www.sheflug.co.uk/schools.html
http://www.suse.co.uk/uk/schools/index.html

You can email schools [at] suse.co.uk for more info.

HTH

Craig

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