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      /  Any Linux gurus here?
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xeron 
Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 7:54:25
#1 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 22-Jun-2003
Posts: 2440
From: Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, UK, Europe, Earth, The Milky Way, The Universe

I know this isn't a Linux website, but I'm guessing a few Linux people visit here, and this is the General Technology forum

I work for a small company. We have an old cronky Pentium 2 server running NT4. Its very old, and very tired. I want to replace it BEFORE it dies, rather than wait for it to die. Its resonsibilities have reduced to the point where it now acts as a web proxy, domain controller and MS Exchange server for around 15 Windows (2000 & XP) computers.

I looked at the cost of Windows Server 2008, but that seems very expensive. Linux, however, is free .

We have a competent technical team here, but none of us have much unix/linux experience.

I know linux can do the tasks required, but is it going to be easy to set it up? Any tips? Whats a good distro to go for?

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bitman 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 8:23:58
#2 ]
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Joined: 25-Mar-2008
Posts: 705
From: Fredericia, Denmark

@xeron

If you don't know anything about Linux I think your TCO would be much higher for the "free linux" than for a w2008. Remember price of software is not only the price you pay for it but also the time you put into it getting it to work.

Note: I'm not trying to promote any Windows installation.

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yoodoo2 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 8:24:48
#3 ]
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Joined: 4-Aug-2003
Posts: 1333
From: Stourbridge, UK

@xeron

yes, a linux box will certainly do all of that.

You could try SuSE enterprise (SLES) which is very easy to administer or even good old red hat. There's also a ubuntu server edition, but I've not used that.


Zimbra is a decent email/calendar server, if you want something with lots of featurs.

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Kaffeine 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 8:57:50
#4 ]
Member
Joined: 28-Apr-2009
Posts: 10
From: Finland

@xeron

It won't be easy for as sure, as it would be with working on any new system! But if your team is motivated to have a Linux experience, go for it.

The main difficulty of your set up is not the PDC/Mail server itself, but what is the nature of the data you want to migrate, and how acceptable downtime is.

You should start by building a test box, or even virtualized ones. Try out some server distributions and gather some documentation...

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QuBe 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 9:06:19
#5 ]
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Joined: 3-Dec-2006
Posts: 1079
From: Dunes of Uridia

@xeron

Dude, the latest iterations of Linux are packed with features; considering the underlying web/server based architectures were born from unix/linux variants it should do everything you want at no cost.

You may however want to invest in a couple of good Linux books that can help you through most of the set-ups and configuration quirks you may experience or need help on.

Also there are plenty of good Linux forums out there where members will gladly help you. Ubuntu has one of the largest support infrastructures, both free and for a fee. If you decide to go Linux enterprise wide, you may want to pay for the yearly support. Alternatively go free all the way, arm yourself with a few good books and register on a few Linux forums, and away you go.

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xeron 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 9:13:09
#6 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 22-Jun-2003
Posts: 2440
From: Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, UK, Europe, Earth, The Milky Way, The Universe

@QuBe

We can't go linux across the company. A lot of the development tools we use are proprietory and windows only.

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bitman 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 9:15:47
#7 ]
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Joined: 25-Mar-2008
Posts: 705
From: Fredericia, Denmark

@xeron

My point still is: Have a look at TCO before you choose.

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opi 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 11:17:23
#8 ]
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Joined: 2-Mar-2005
Posts: 2752
From: Poland

@xeron

If you require MS Exchange for work then there's nothing on Linux side that will provide that experience. Setting up almost any daemon is easy. Docs are out there, examples are out there. By "easy to set up", what do you mean? Clicking icons?

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BrianK 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 11:29:51
#9 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 30-Sep-2003
Posts: 8111
From: Minneapolis, MN, USA

@xeron

RedHat is fine. SuSE and Ubuntu are better.

If you want to replace Exchange you'll be hard pressed. You might look at StratoVista. Or with just 15 employees outsource Exchange from a SaaS provider.

If no one has setup a linux systems or networks I'd recommend that you stick to what you know. Do you really want to shift technologies to something you really don't know? That's a big pie to bite. Instead start using linux for various small projects, perhaps as your network monitor and packet sniffer, and get your feet wet.








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xeron 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 12:12:58
#10 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 22-Jun-2003
Posts: 2440
From: Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, UK, Europe, Earth, The Milky Way, The Universe

@opi

Actually, I just checked and nobody uses the "groupware" elements of exchange, so the ability to provide an IMAP server should do.

"easy to set up" means that if i can't seem to get something working, its easy to find documentation to sort it out.

I don't mind editing text files (i manage a software development team here, we're not that un-technical), but if there is a GUI, i'd rather use it.

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SoundSquare 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 12:34:54
#11 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 31-Jan-2006
Posts: 253
From: Unknown

i'd recomend Debian

- way more stable than Suse and others, Debian is not using the cutting edge last packages but only intensively tested stable packages, better for your pro needs.
- lighter than Suse and all these heavy distros
- more documentation available on the web.


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Gleng 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 13:06:43
#12 ]
Super Member
Joined: 12-Dec-2004
Posts: 1071
From: Blighty

@SoundSquare

Seconding Debian for the same reasons.

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HenryCase 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 14:11:48
#13 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 12-Nov-2007
Posts: 728
From: Unknown

Quote:
SoundSquare wrote:
i'd recomend Debian


I'd recommend CentOS. It's the free version of RHEL, with the only difference being you don't get official support. If you have a fairly competent technical team it should be ideal. Take a look:
http://www.centos.org/

Also, if you do need MS Exchange support in the future, I'd recommend watching for progress in the OpenChange project:
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/31/0035254

You should also seriously consider BSD rather than Linux if you're looking for a server OS. Probably best off with either OpenBSD or FreeBSD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BSD_operating_systems

Last edited by HenryCase on 12-May-2009 at 02:21 PM.
Last edited by HenryCase on 12-May-2009 at 02:13 PM.
Last edited by HenryCase on 12-May-2009 at 02:12 PM.

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tomazkid 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 14:51:32
#14 ]
Team Member
Joined: 31-Jul-2003
Posts: 11694
From: Kristianstad, Sweden

@xeron

Novell/Suse seems to have one big advance over the other Linux-distros, and that is that Novell and Microsoft have an interoperality agreement.
Might be worth to take a look at.

What kind of domain service are you running?

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xeron 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 15:22:27
#15 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 22-Jun-2003
Posts: 2440
From: Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, UK, Europe, Earth, The Milky Way, The Universe

@tomazkid

We just have an NT domain to authorise user logins and SMB shares, essentially.

Edit: Having had a think about it, the linux server will have the following roles:

* Act as a router and firewall between the internet and the LAN.
* Domain controller for user login and SMB share authentication
* E-Mail server (as I understand it, the Exchange server acts as an SMTP server for our domain name and routes mail to internal accounts). Doesn't need to offer MS exchange compatibility. Just offering IMAP to all the users on the LAN would be good enough.

Last edited by xeron on 12-May-2009 at 03:26 PM.

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The_Editor 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 15:25:14
#16 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 7-Mar-2003
Posts: 7629
From: 192.168.0.02 ..Pederburgh .. Iceni

@xeron

http://www.ubuntupocketguide.com/download_main.html

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HenryCase 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 15:36:07
#17 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 12-Nov-2007
Posts: 728
From: Unknown

@The_Editor
Ubuntu, are you serious? This isn't a desktop machine we're talking about.

@xeron
With all due respect, you've got a few OS suggestions now, why not start downloading and testing them to see how you get on with them, they're free after all. After reading your list of requirements I'd still recommend either OpenBSD or CentOS.

Last edited by HenryCase on 12-May-2009 at 03:37 PM.
Last edited by HenryCase on 12-May-2009 at 03:37 PM.

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opi 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 15:45:17
#18 ]
Team Member
Joined: 2-Mar-2005
Posts: 2752
From: Poland

@xeron

Quote:
so the ability to provide an IMAP server should do


I'd recommend Dovcot as IMAP/POP3 server, Postfix as SMTP server. Both are powerful and rather easy to get going.

About distro selection: first rule of running Linux, pickup whatever is familar to somone who's running Linux day to day so you can call him.

But you can't go wrong with Debian, OpenSuSE or RH. Getting Squid, Postfix and Dovcot running + installation time would take me less than 2h. I bet that you, being literate in tech can get it running in one day.

Grab Virtualbox, get ISO and play with it without disturbing work flow, then deploy.

I can give you a hand if you like, my e-mail is junkyard at domain from my signature.

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tomazkid 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 15:58:51
#19 ]
Team Member
Joined: 31-Jul-2003
Posts: 11694
From: Kristianstad, Sweden

@xeron

Quote:
We just have an NT domain to authorise user logins and SMB shares, essentially.


You should consider to migrate to AD or eDirectory, NT is getting very obsolete when it comes to security and such.

Quote:
* Act as a router and firewall between the internet and the LAN.


Any *nix or Windows server can do that, though, I would recommend a stand alone hardware router.

Quote:
* Domain controller for user login and SMB share authentication


Samba can do that, if you don't want to invest in a Windows 2003 or 2008 server.
Here is how

Quote:
* E-Mail server (as I understand it, the Exchange server acts as an SMTP server for our domain name and routes mail to internal accounts). Doesn't need to offer MS exchange compatibility. Just offering IMAP to all the users on the LAN would be good enough.


Should be plenty of options there, the decisive factor should be how well a spam- and anti-virus filter can be included there.

Just don't go for Ubuntu of the things suggested in the thread
Ubuntu is ok as a client replacement, but not as a server dito.

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fairlanefastback 
Re: Any Linux gurus here?
Posted on 12-May-2009 23:38:48
#20 ]
Team Member
Joined: 22-Jun-2005
Posts: 4886
From: MA, USA

@xeron

Quote:

xeron wrote:
@tomazkid

We just have an NT domain to authorise user logins and SMB shares, essentially.

Edit: Having had a think about it, the linux server will have the following roles:

* Act as a router and firewall between the internet and the LAN.
* Domain controller for user login and SMB share authentication
* E-Mail server (as I understand it, the Exchange server acts as an SMTP server for our domain name and routes mail to internal accounts). Doesn't need to offer MS exchange compatibility. Just offering IMAP to all the users on the LAN would be good enough.


One issue to consider is in the event of a problem with the server is the skill set to troubleshoot Linux problems easily available to your firm? One plus about running Windows Server is that all sorts of tech firms can easily help you should you run into issues down the line. And especially with a global recession around the world you can easily shop for the best service rates for a firm when it comes to Windows server support.

I agree with Tomazkid, you should really consider a dedicated firewall. Sonicwall is not too expensive and easy to manage for instance. Its best practice to have a dedicated box be a firewall rather than your production file/email/print server. It sounds like any new hardware could easily do it as well from a load perspective, but design-wise its not a great idea.

Also what is your current backup solution? Make sure that Linux has a backup program that lists your backup solution as being on their hardware compatibility list. If its not there you might need to spend money there too. Who checks your backups? Will a unknown program to them for backup be another learning curve you might not want to introduce as well?

Just some thoughts to throw out there.

Last edited by fairlanefastback on 12-May-2009 at 11:41 PM.

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