[thelist] Networks, webservers, file servers, etc.

[Richard Bennett]

On Tuesday 02 May 2006 08:32, Richard Brown wrote:
> I am starting to look at building networks. I have up to now usually
> used a Netgear 4 port router/hub and ran a network like that. The
> network usually consists of a variety of OS's but most XP boxes.
>
> However, I now want to add into these networks, backup technology and
> also webservers. I use Mac OS X but can use also XP or Linux sort of! I
> know I need to use a modem to connect to the net and serve web pages
> but is it best to use Netgear's in built web pages or default to a
> purpose build web serverplease? If I built a web server would you then
> have that as a file server and also as a router please?
If you want real power and control over your network, i would use a Linux box 
that connects to your broadband or ADSL modem. 
If you use Linksys ADSL2MUE modem for instance, it can be put into 
bridge-mode, and your Linux box handles all Nat and routing. 
If you use Alcatel/Thomson you can set your Linux box as 'default server', so 
all ports are opened to it.

The best firewall you can use is Shorewall IMO. It is easy to setup (for the 
technical-minded) as it has such good documentation, does anything you want, 
and can handle any load you throw at it.

I also run webservers like this, and have found this to be perfectly ok for 
low-usage sites, even 10-20 on a box.

For higher traffic uses I just put a similar box in co-location, and sync it 
from the mother server.

I theory you could run all your webserving, firewall, proxyserver, dhcp, dns, 
email, fileserving and backup needs on one box like this, the only problem 
there is that if the box goes down, you loose everything, and that sometimes 
different services require different versions of database or something...
I have one running like this, but have taken precaution to have backup 
mailservers and webservers at DNS level, and to keep a complete copy of the 
whole harddisk nightly, as well as using a RAID configuration.

I use Mandriva Linux for all this, as it has great hardware support, includes 
all packages you need, doesn't have rpm dependency problems thanks to 
easy-urpmi and offer the choice of command-line-only access, or KDE desktop 
with good tools.

> Any advice would be welcome please and if I am on the wrong list please
> forgive me

When unsure just include a tip, like this:

<tip type="music">
Napster has just released a 'free' music service for Linux, Mac and Windows.
You can listen to all their songs maximum 5 times. 
This should give you 114 years of non-stop music, if i calculate correctly...
See:
http://www.napster.com/faq/

</tip>

Regards,
Richard