Server suggestion

[Battery Powered]

Hi there

I will be shortly running a server that will be providing about 20-30 computers with an internet connection aswell as running services such as webserver and an email server

I was wondering what O.S would be best suited to do this, one that would offer good uptime (very good)

I currently run a Linux server that gives connections on a small scale (just a few networked computers) and uptime is very good but wondered if moving to a windows OS would be better?

Thanks all,
James

[j009h33rM3]

I'd suggest Windows 2000 Server, if you want a good Windows Server OS. You can also use NT server if you want.

Windows 2000 Advanced Server if you have any use for clustering, but it's a tad more expensive.

[Statica]

Originally posted by Battery Powered

I currently run a Linux server that gives connections on a small scale (just a few networked computers) and uptime is very good but wondered if moving to a windows OS would be better?

Thanks all,
James

My opinion: NO WAY
If I were in your place, I would be sticking with a good install of linux, especially for the apps you are planning on running.

[Mac Medic]

Small Business Server is the only way to go on the wintel side. It includes 2kserver and exchange server in 1 package. This will allow a mail server and web server FTP etc.. And it's cheaper than buying the packages separately... Unless of course you stick with Linux (recommended).

http://www.directdeals.com/product.asp?id=1990

[Computer Hobbyist]

Linux is certainly capable of doing the job you want to do and is far less expensive. Based on what I have read the services you are looking to run are best run in Linux. I just saw where Amazon.com is bragging about using Linux in its ordering system. If it can scale to fit the needs of Amazon.com it can probably handle a 20-30 computer network.

Just wondering if you have had a bad Linux experience. Why do you have reservations about Linux?

CH

[j009h33rM3]

maybe he runs a .NET webserver like me.

[DrZaius]

I agree, if you're already familier with Linux I suggest you continue using it, with proper configuration it could easily handle a 30 computer network.

[Battery Powered]

I've been using my linux server for some time now, it provides a connection for a few computers and runs 2 small sites

The plan is to expand what i do to firstly share the connection to more computers
and to expand the webserving side of things

the number of sites to be hosted would go up, with my current apache server this isnt a problem
but i want to run mail facilities aswell, this i have only managed to do sucessfully on windows (using sambar server as the easiest)

hmmm ... what to do ...

[Xayd]

Mail is half done on any *nix setup, since sendmail is already there and running, all you need is a pop server to handle incoming mail and you're in business.

I use Virtualmail POP3D and Sendmail for my setup, on FreeBSD.

It's not terribly complicated or flashy, simple pop and smtp server that can handle mail either by true unix user accounts or virtual users via aliases.

http://www.reedmedia.net/software/virtualmail-pop3d/
http://www.sendmail.org/faq/

Why pay for Windows when you can have a more stable setup with only the expense of a day's time reading the manual(s) ;).

[Battery Powered]

Is there a webmail interface someone could suggest too, this is pretty important

most I have seen have all required php, something i having been able to set up either

[Xayd]

I think the Courier-IMAP package has a webmail interface. If you go with it you might want to go with Qmail to replace Sendmail altogether. Both QMail and Courier include a pop3 server as well.

http://www.sxpress.com/~henry/qmail-pop-imap-web-howto.htm

(Don't have to use vi to create the files btw, can just use your default editor with a telnet client such as Teraterm (http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html) that supports copy/paste). Qmail and programs that were written to work well with it are pretty old and well rounded, as well as well-documented. If you follow the installation instructions *carefully* you shouldn't have many problems at all setting this stuff up.

The above link is a complete guide for setting up Qmail as a replacement for Sendmail, IMAP access, a POP3 server, and webmail using Red Hat.

It's not gonna be a point and click install, no, but it will do everything that a Win2000/Exchange server will do without the inherent Windows/Exchange security problems, and with a pricetag of zero instead of several thousand.

If you wanna administer a server, might as well take the time to learn how, you can't buy everything ;).

Yeah it'll cost you a couple of days of reading and testing/debugging, but it's not rocket science and at least you'll know how it works when it needs fixing later down the line.

[Great_One]

here is a webmail interface that we use to connect to our pop3
accounts from a broswer when necessary. it runs under linux or windows

http://www.netwinsite.com/webmail/

[Statica]

With linux and preferably IMAP (and SQL droool) .. your possibilities are endless for webmail .. I'd suggest Horde/IMP - a bit bloated, and SQL requirements are rather high, but wow is it featured! Squirrelmail is also rather good as well (I run squirrelmail implementations).

My suggestion dont just think of it in terms of webmail and stop there, try to see what other uses you might have - groupware etc etc .. and bundle it all into one neat package