Very Computer

Hi,

As network administrator for a small company i'm looking for a cheap
solution for a mail, internet and fax-server. I heard this can be done using
a LINUX system.
Is there anybody out there who has set up a system like this?
What are the system reqs?

Advice would be welcome.

| As network administrator for a small company i'm looking for a cheap
| solution for a mail, internet and fax-server. I heard this can be done using
| a LINUX system.
| Is there anybody out there who has set up a system like this?
| What are the system reqs?

Mail and fax are generally low impact services which will run on about
anything with 16MB of RAM or so. I'm not sure what you mean by "internet
server," so I can only guess you mean a firewall and router. While you
can do this on virtually anything, if you want to be able to have
moderately complex rules, logging, masquerade, etc, I would look for a
Pentium class machine rather than [34]86.

I used a 386SX-16 for a while in just this way. It functioned, but the
machine name "glacial" was related to the performance, not because it
was cool!
--

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups

Hello Steven,

    I am currently setting up a Linux server as our network, e-mail and web
server. I am
now able to connect 2 Windows 95 machines as clients. I can now do the
following:

    1. By using Samba, I can share files between Windows 95 clients(although
only on
Share level not User level) and the Linux server. I can also share printer but I
am not onto
it yet.
    2. By using Sendmail, I can now send and receive e-mails between the Windows
95 clients
and the Linux Server.
    3. By using Apache, I was able to setup the Linux Server as a Web server.

    The one I had done above is only a small network which could be easily made
to a larger
one by just adding new clients. I still haven't connected to the internet yet
but once I get
connected the setup above should work (hopefully).
    There are a lot of Linux available but I think the best so far is RedHat
Linux 5.1. It is so
easy to install and setup. You could download it from www.redhat.com or just buy
a
CDROM version for a minimal fee.
    For system requirements, go for the best PC that you can buy with lots of
memory, at
least 128MB, and HardDisk, at least 2GB or more (depends on your needs, the
bigger the
better). You'll also need a CDROM. For video cards, you just need something that
can do
upto 2MB video memory. Sound cards are optional. If possible, don't use the
latest video
cards or sound cards, Linux might not be able to support it. Lastly, you'll need
a Network
Card. 3com 3c5x and 3c9x series will do.

Regards

PS. I won't do a fax server but I think it is possible.

Well, I'll be doing this myself in a month or two!  So I've been doing
some research and testing.  Yes, what you want to do is possible.  Here
is what I've got:

133 Pentium with 32MB ram that will have the following stuff on it:
(RedHat 5.1 based system)

Firewall (fwtk/masquerade, something like that)  <<< this is the part
I'm
           still trying to figure out.  I currently have a class C
address
           here, but may be going to a cable modem where I will only
have
           1 IP address.  I have currently 4 macines here, with a couple
more
           coming soon.

mail and anonymous ftp.  (This is simple, and comes with RH)
HTTP proxy (probably Squid)
fax & answering machine (mgetty+sendfax, with vgetty for voice
capability)

I really like the fax/answering machine stuff.  I've played with it a
bit and have figured out how to have it automatically convert the
incoming fax/message and email it to me (on another machine), so all my
messages (voice too!) will show up in Netscape Mail.  Of course, it
helps that I'm the only user and don't have to worry about WHO should
get the message or fax!

So yes, you can certainly do all that with Linux.  Unless you have a
large network then I think a machine of the class I will be using will
be plenty.  The biggest bottleneck will probably be the firewall itself
anyway (scanning the packets between the network cards).

Good luck!

--
Brian Wainscott |    No Jesus ---> No Peace

Ok I have managed to setup  a fax,email,dns,file&print,web server that also
automatically dials the internet whenever a client on the lan tries to
access an external site. This was done using the following
packages/hardware:
Hylafax,
Cyrus imap (email),
redhat5.1
apache
diald
ipfwadm
very old 486 sx 33 overdriven with a kingston p75 chip 16 mb memory and
400mb hd
usr 56k modem

I have three win95 machines on a home network that can all fax and send
email, and browse the web from the desktop. Received faxes appear in a
central email folder. Email is handled through outlook express on the
client side.

I will say this though - I started setting up linux over a month ago, just
to see what it was about. Then I slowly added to it till now it does
practically everything!! It is also reletively quick so long as you do not
load xwindows on the server!!

I do only have three users on my network tho. If you are to seriously use
the file and print stuff you would probably need a p200 or above with
plenty of disk space (5-10Gb?)

I am just amazed that it all works together so well - its been running for
two weeks no stop with no crashes or anything...shame I have to wipe it all
and start again on a new computer tho :-(

Sam

Quote:> Hi,

> As network administrator for a small company i'm looking for a cheap
> solution for a mail, internet and fax-server. I heard this can be done
using
> a LINUX system.
> Is there anybody out there who has set up a system like this?
> What are the system reqs?

> Advice would be welcome.

It's not Windows ;-)

Quote:>shame I have to wipe it all and start again on a new computer tho :-(

Again: It's not Windows

Just copy the file system. Maybe you must reconfigure something
(e.g: /etc/fstab)

Generally it's a good idea to copy an unused filesystem. So boot from a
floppy or better create a small HD-partition with a minimal Linux system and
boot that. Then mount a partition and copy it to the new disk. I even did
this over the network.

Hans

Just to see how it would work and experiment with networking I
installed RedHat 5.0 on an old 386DX33 running a Cyrix 486DRx2/66 with
8 meg RAM.  It serves apache (httpd), ftp, Samba (WINS and file
sharing), tftp for router config backup, dialin network access and IP
Masquerade for internet access.  It could do SMTP too, but I point
pine at our factory mail server.  I have done sendmail and fax (using
normal printer commands) on my home box, but have not shared printer
or fax yet (explained in a HOWTO).  Admittedly X is faster from home
via modem, but it will run X in a pinch.

Our factory Linux box (3K miles away via frame relay) is a P133 32 meg
running Slackware that serves 100's of users for SMTP, POP3, and
'squid' as web proxy.

David Efflandt/Elgin, IL USA