Re: Advice - solution for a company server

[Jafar As-Sadiq Calley]

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 15:52:38 +0200, Soft wrote:

> Shall Windows Small Business Server 2003 be a good solution (can a common
> computer user operate it?), or do we really need an adminitrator to handle
> one of the Unix systems?

You would need someone knowledgeable to set up either system. However, if
the Linux system is set up correctly, you can just let it run without
needing further interaction. ie. no need to be careful about updating
anti-virus and the like.
As for the distro, I'd choose ones like Suse, Debian Stable or Redhat
Enterprise(or a free clone of such as Centos or Whitebox). These all have
easy to use graphical install and config tools to get most tasks done.
If the system is mission critical, you might like to either invest in
Enterprise Linux with it's paid for support structure, or get an
Administrator to set up and watch over the system for you. He doesn't even
need to be full time. I have a contract with a few small offices I've set
up here in Paris whereby they pay a small monthly fee for me to remotely
check and update their network once or twice a week.

--
Jafar Calley
SysAdmin - http://moonlife-records.com
--------------------------------------
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http://fatcat.homelinux.org

[Barton L. Phillips]

Jafar As-Sadiq Calley wrote:
> He doesn't even
> need to be full time. I have a contract with a few small offices I've set
> up here in Paris whereby they pay a small monthly fee for me to remotely
> check and update their network once or twice a week.
>
Good advice. You should have someone knowledgeable set up your system
and monitor it frequently for the first couple of weeks until it is
running smoothly. Then a remote admin once in a while will probably be
enough. While Linux does not have the big target painted on its back
that Windows does, Linux is still vulnerable and must be maintained,
patched, and upgraded regularly. Most modern distributions have very
easy upgrade and patch utilities that most anyone can be trained to use.

Run tripwire (or its like) and don't use the machine for routine work.
If it is only doing one specific job and does not have a bunch of
end-user toys running the machine should be pretty stable. Make sure you
are running a good firewall at the periphery.

I have been using Ubuntu recently and it is quite user friendly and has
a well maintained Debian archive that is easy to use. I have also used
RedHat for years and have found it to be a very good enterprise choice.

Good luck

--
----------------
Barton L. Phillips
Applied Technology Resources, Inc.
Tel: (818)652-9850
Web: http://www.applitec.com