On Wed, 4 Mar 1998, Marcus Brinkmann wrote:
> I have managed to promote Debian in a small but expanding firm
> (currently a dozen systems). They have old Novell Net and Samba at the
> moment, but they like Linux and want to change somehow. They allow me
> to give them a wishlist for a Debian System, and they'll buy it, and
> now I really need some help here.
>
> TASKS: File Server, Print Server, Internet Connection per ISDN (so
> this would work as a Gateway & Firewall) (light load), File Backup,
If you can do it, i would suggest that you put the gateway/firewall on a
separate box. scrounge up an old 386 or 486 (running debian, of course)
if you have to.
It's not a performance issue - a well configured debian box can easily
handle all of those tasks - it's a security issue. the fewer services
running on your firewall, the less likely it is that a newly discovered
security hole can be exploited.
something like this ought to do it:
^ (ISDN line to the internet)
|
|
v
+-------+ +--------+
| 386 | | Server |
+-------+ +--------+ (other machines)
| | | | | |
+------------------------------------------------------------->
eth0 - 192.168.1.0/24 (internal, firewalled LAN)
one box *can* do the lot, but it greatly complicates the firewall and
other security configuration.
> and probably to be used at Workstation, too (login, probably with X
> for Windows)
see comments below about mixing WS & Server functionality.
> If you could take a quick look at the following lists and comment on it, I
> would be very grateful.
>
> Pentium >= 166, probably not so important
> RAM >= 64, probably more (96?, 128?)
more memory is good. much more important for fileserver performance than a
few extra Mhz processor speed.
> SCSI discs, 2 or more each 2-4 GB. Is buslogic available in Germany? Other
> good brands?
> Mainboard ASUS
> Normal architecture or PS/2 (is PS/2 well supported?)
PCI.
> What is a good Graphic card (they'll need a good one) is Matrox Millenium
> well supported? Other brands?
anything that works. an S3 Trio-64 is good value for money...cheap and
adequate for most needs.
remember that this machine is primarily a server, not a workstation.
mixing those two functions is OK if the user is the system admin
and knows what they're doing (and how to avoid harming system
performance/stability)....however you can't trust a normal user to know
that they really shouldn't be playing quake or real-video on the company
file-server.
> What is a good backup device?
DDS-2 or DDS-3 tape. don't bother with flimsy toys like ftape units.
> What is a good network card (they will switch to a faster network soon, at the
> moment they use NE2000 compatible cards, but I recall something with 100Mbps
> or so).
PCI NE-2000 clones work well in my experience. they're not the fastest
card around, but they're dirt cheap and easy to set up.
> Other things (as CD-ROM, Monitor, etc) I do not expect problems
> with. Should I?
i've had problems with 24x CD-ROM drives. didn't bother figuring out
why, i just swapped it with a W95 user for an old 8x cd-rom.
craig
--
craig sanders
--
TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
