linux and networking

[watts3000]

I don't really know anything about linux so can someone tell me some useful things that linux can be used for everyone talks about how powerful it is but I rarely see it doing something thats useful besides web serving

 

[Heisenberg]

Hmm...where do I start. You can use it as a firewall/router, run a web server, ftp server, a database; you can even set it up to be a domain controller for a Windows network. Pretty much anything you can think of, it will do.

 

[neuralfx]

something useful besides webserving .. heh .. well it runs a large part of the services in this new network i heard about, i think the "internet" or something .. what do you want it to do, most likely it can already do it, it is doing, and probably doing it well ..what ya think ran on the SGI boxes that designed Titanic/Shrek/Final Fantasy .. no not Irix .. well not the majority .. go to sourceforge.net and see the thousands of projects .. webserving is only a very small service that linux/or other UNIX variants, are capable of ..
-neural

 

[Nothinman]

That's a difficult question because Linux does nearly anything network wise. Basically it can do everything Windows can, and then some =)

 

[watts3000]

I asked this question because I need to set up a file server and a firewall for a client so can any of you suggest which linux version would be good for someone thats starting off I need to get this clent up and running I don't have time to read 1000 pages on how to config linux before I do all that I'll have them order a poweredge server from dell running 2k server which I can get up and config in about 1 hour please feel free to list links

 

[bubba]

If you don't have time to read and learn, then I would just suggest getting your Dell box.

You will need to put in some effort, certainly more than 1 hour, in order to implement Linux in the enterprise.

 

[KenCleanAirSystem]

If you dont mind spending a bit of time learning a little bit about Linux and Unix in general, then any distribution will be able to do what you want. Linux firewalling is built into the kernel. The 2.2.x series uses IPChains and the 2.4.x kernels use IPTables. You can find tutorials for setting them up and even find pre-written sets of rules you can modify for download with a search here. File serving is most easily handled by Samba, which though not difficult to set up will most certainly require a bit of study.

 

[Nothinman]

If you don't have time to learn how to do it properly then don't do it, a poorly setup Linux box can be worse than a properly setup Windows box (but not much =))

 

[n0cmonkey]

Is it *REALLY* possible to get Windows installed and configured *SECURELY* and well in about an hour? Plus, putting a file server on a firewall is stupid. Especially with Windows. Please split those two functions up between two machines so that computer wont be ping 'o' deathing me in a month! 🙂

 

[watts3000]

I said I was setting up a firewall and file server these are two seperate operations great someone listed a link to samba know does anyone know any books that I can get on samba books that are to the point

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< I said I was setting up a firewall and file server these are two seperate operations great someone listed a link to samba know does anyone know any books that I can get on samba books that are to the point >>



Books suck. Online documentation is more up to date than a book will ever be. check out samba.org. And netfilter.samba.org(?). Those are SMB shares and firewall sites respectively.