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8.5 KiB
HTML
177 lines
8.5 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HTML><HEAD>
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<title>Setting Up a Linux Server Network LG #47</title>
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">Setting Up a Linux Server Network</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:alex@nostromo.cc">Alex Heizer</a></H4>
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<p>
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<i>
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<STRONG>Abstract:</STRONG> A small business acquires a stable network by
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installing Linux on their servers.
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</i>
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<p>
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The computer systems of a small business often leave something
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to be desired, especially in New Jersey. Sometimes a collection of
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off-the-shelf PCs running generic office applications gets the job done, but
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they're not the most efficient way of doing it.
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<p>
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One of the main obstacles to upgrading any business' computers is
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when the employees become dependent on one system, program or way of doing
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things. The thought of making any change, however minor, often strikes holy
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terror into the heart of any boss or company owner. Cindy Wallace,
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owner of Binding Specialties in Camden, New Jersey, is no exception. After
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discussing our options, Cindy and I decided the best route to take
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for getting the company's computers networked was a Linux-based file
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server. This would allow transparent access to important files from
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every workstation in the office, with user-level security for important
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confidential data. The biggest change in this type of setup would be each
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user having to log on to their computer instead of just accepting the
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default generic desktop. Using Linux would also save quite a bit of money,
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because even a five-user license for Intel-architecture server software from
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that other software company can cost up to $1000, without a mail or
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web server. Although we have only a few people using the computers, this
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would be limiting from day one and would waste more money as the company
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expanded. Another important consideration was ease of administration,
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since I spend much of my time in the shop working on production.
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<p>
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Hardware consists of five x86-based PCs, the least powerful of which is
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a Pentium-133 with 8MB of RAM. We decided to keep the faster machines
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for workstations, since a P133 with 8MB RAM was sufficient for a
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Linux server in a network of this size. The other machines are a 450MHz
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Celeron-based HP Pavilion, a 366MHz Celeron Dell Inspiron notebook and a few
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Pentium II-based custom-built boxes. All four of these machines came
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pre-installed with GUI-based operating systems from a software vendor near
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Seattle, Washington. We figured integrating these computers would be easy using
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Samba.
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<p>
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We quickly purchased the additional hardware we needed, including NICs,
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cables, LAN hub, UPS and a new 13GB hard drive for the server, since
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the existing hard drive had less than 600MB capacity. This would ensure
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adequate storage space for all company files. The next step
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was installing Linux and configuring everything. For this, I chose the
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new Caldera OpenLinux distribution. I originally planned to use
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Slackware 3.5, since I was most familiar with it, and wanted to get
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up and running as quickly as possible. However, having recently found the setup
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of Caldera on a personal machine to be quite easy and still in possession of the CD-ROM, I decided to opt for the up-to-date
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kernel and programs that come with OpenLinux. Cindy was happy she
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didn't have to shell out any money for the OS.
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<p>
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The installation was tricky because the graphical installation
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program requires 32MB of system RAM, but it went fine with a temporary
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RAM transplant. Unlike our workstation operating systems, each of which took several
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tries to recognize the NICs, Linux correctly identified all installed
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hardware the first time through. The only problem occurred when rebooting
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the system, because OpenLinux is set to start KDE on bootup--it took
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forever on 8MB of RAM.
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<p>
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Once the server was up and running, it was a simple matter of going around to
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each of the workstations and setting them up for networking. After checking
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the numerous boxes in all the endless tabs and filling in all
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fields, each workstation was configured. Setting up the server with
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OpenLinux required filling in an IP address, gateway address and domain
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name during the installation, then uncommenting lines in smb.conf,
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the Samba configuration file. This was easy, which surprised me, considering Linux
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is well-known for being hard to install and set up.
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One problem I had with the workstations was
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the OS released in 1998 requires encrypted passwords,
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while the 1995 version uses plaintext passwords. When Samba was first
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configured, the 1995 computers interfaced perfectly with the
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'98s had trouble logging in to the server until I uncommented a few more
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lines in smb.conf. Of course, there was no mention of this difference in
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any of the workstation's documentation, on-line help or troubleshooting
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guides. We feel that using a more homogeneous collection of operating
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systems would have simplified things a bit more, but that would have to
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wait for more commercial applications to be released for Linux.
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<p>
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The next step was setting up user accounts on each computer for
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everyone in the office, putting all the shared data onto the server, and
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linking appropriate shortcuts to that data on each workstation. Database
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files for financial and contact managing applications, as well as spreadsheets,
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letters, artwork and essential job information are all stored on the
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server for each workstation to access. This frees up valuable disk
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space on the workstations that can now be used for installation of
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important games. Backups of all critical data are easily done with
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a single Colorado Trakker tape drive. This leaves the IOmega Zip drive
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free for storage of MP3 clips and graphics downloaded from the Internet
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when no one is looking.
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<p>
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Some people feel Linux is not yet ready for the desktop. My
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office is probably typical in that the people who use
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the computers on a daily basis do so because they have a job to do, and
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pencil and paper is more of a hassle and clutters up their desk. The
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applications they need and know are available for other operating systems, and
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it would take more time and effort than it is worth for them to convert to
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Linux-compatible programs. However, using off-the-shelf computers as personal
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workstations, no matter how confusing, confounding or questionable in the
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reliability department, with a Linux-based back end makes a reliable,
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cost-effective, familiar, easy-to-use network. Cindy is very impressed
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with the power and features of Linux, and we await the day when some of
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the vendor-specific software she currently uses will support this stable
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desktop.
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<p>
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In the future, Binding Specialites is planning to get on the Web
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with their own domain and go live with an Apache web server. Also on the
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horizon for us is
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having dial-in, TELNET, FTP and POP service run from the server.
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Cindy is excited about not having to buy
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an extra server program.
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<p>
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Binding Specialties' new network is a great example of a small
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business setup that benefits not only from Linux' power, flexibility
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and reliability, but also from its economical bottom line. With the ease
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of installation and setup of the newer distributions, there aren't any
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excuses for small businesses not to have a reliable network if they need
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one, even if their current corral is limited to standard GUI-windowed
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x86 PCs.
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<!-- BEGIN copyright ==================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
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Copyright © 1999, Alex Heizer<BR>
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Published in Issue 47 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, November 1999</H5>
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