Question on Linux as a fileserver/print server (Gantt Edmiston)

[Kevin Flanagan]

>These questions were posed to me today and since I could not answer it
>to the satisfaction of my former manager, I told him I'd pass it on to
>those better equipped to respond.  He's a great guy and I like to help
him
>whenever I can.


I think that there are several ways, Linux based of course, that you can
go. James did a great job of looking at the standard Linux distro
approach, but I think that there's a few more bases to cover.

>Setup:  Small business,  has 25 users, all running Windows
workstations.
>Currently they have a Novell server used for file (space)serving and
>print serving.

Have you looked at some of the repackaged systems, SME server from
Mitel, www.e-smith.com and www.e-smith.org, or Clark Connect,
www.clarkconnect.org?These offer low or no cost solutions that are
packaged specifically to support this kind of environment.  They have
options for support as well.  Mitel networks 
Offers a full year of support, monitoring, DNS hosting and more for
~$2200.  These solutions can be configured for much more functionality
if they want to go there.  I have a presentation on SME server around,
I'll make it available on the net if you'd like.


>The business needs to upgrade to a new file server/ print server.
>Replacing the Novell solution with another Novell solution will be
about
>$4000 (software only).  Moving to a Windows solution, about $1200.
>(all these figures were quoted to me as fact, I don't know if there are
>correct or not, or if it matters to this story).


Hardware!  Get a "real" server!  

You can get a system from one of the top tier vendors for ~$3K, what'd
come with hardware RAID, and a pair of disks, perhaps even a tape drive
included.

You can get a "Whitebox" server chassis from a local vendor, it'll be a
little less dough, still a viable solution.  My personal preference is
for a "name brand", HP,IBM, (shudder) Dell.  If a business runs on this,
it's important. It'll also be faster than just a desktop box. 

You can get the following features for not a lot of dough.

Redundant fans
Redundant power supplies
Hardware RAID
1 - 3 year on site service, what that service is like varies, but it's
better than nothing. 




>A Linux (assuming Redhat) solution would be about $250.  Based
>on that, I am also assuming they are gonna use the current hardware
>and just upgrade the software.  And I didn't ask the obvious, which was
>why not just use what you've got...  whatever...

>Questions: Is Linux a viable replacement solution for the current
>Novell solution, assuming that we assume a lot of the answers
>that I didn't know to ask?

>I told him that SAMBA most likely would work for his file serving
>needs, although I've never set that up myself.  And that I wasn't
>sure about the print serving aspects for Linux.

>If you do this kind of stuff everyday and don't mind sending me
>your thoughts, I'll pass it on and we will all feel better for helping
>someone move off Windows... ;-)

I actually do Windows deployments for a living, but will be happy to
help a small business out.  ;')

I agree with other posts that you should have a professional do the
implementation, it's worth the dough.  If you look at one of the
solutions that I mentioned above, there's ongoing support from them,
that usually makes a business feel better.


Whatever they do, good luck,



	Kevin


+------------------------------------------+
"I'll do the stupid thing first and then you shy people follow."
     ~~Frank Zappa