On Fri, 2014-10-24 at 10:46 -0500, Bruce Dubbs wrote:
> Christopher Gregory wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am going to be re-doing my landlords LAN and I need a little advice.
> >
> > Currently there is a windows 2003 enterprise server which has a second
> > hard drive in it.  The great news is that this pos os is at eof around
> > april next year.
> >
> > I am going to be replacing it with a systemv version of lfs and just
> > bare needs applications on it.
> >
> > The challenge is I do not want to take the server off-line to do the
> > installation of linux.
> >
> > What I need the advice on is, would it be possible to actually mount the
> > second hard drive over the network so that I can set jhalfs loose to
> > install?  I know that samba is for normal windows shares, however I have
> > never done anything with nfs and never before have I had to do it to a
> > server that has windows on it.
> 
> Yes, it would be possible, but I wouldn't recommend this approach. 
> Since this is a 'mission critical' system, I would build it on another 
> system and test it out well.  Only then would I make the switch.
> 
> Since the hw is probably quite old (using a 2003 OS), a used, but newer 
> system probably would not be very expensive.
> 
> One comment about using LFS on the system.  While efficient, it makes 
> you the indispensable person.  If you are not available for any reason 
> and there is a problem, then the owner if probably out of luck. 
> Something to consider.
> 
>    -- Bruce
Hello Bruce,

With regards to the indispensable issue, it would not matter what os was
installed as even now all the upgrades and problems I have to solve.

It is certainly older hardware, the processor is an AMD athon 64bit dual
core.

He had the motherboard replaced a couple of years ago.  I just do not
like suggesting that he buys a new computer as what he has will do the
job.

If I had a 64bit machine I could just do the install on an external hard
drive and compile a generic kernal to cover the installed hardware.

This is the reason that I wish to get it installed early so that I can
test it for a couple of hours a night for a few weeks.  Maybe even have
the guests use it so that I can get an idea just how well it is working,
though that would not be till I had done a few days testing myself.

If there were issues with it, then it would just be a matter of
rebooting to windows and there would be minimal downtime.

Whilst working for a webhosting company I had to do an emergency
transfer of customer accounts onto a new server.  We did do an
announcement that it would be happening but we had to do it way before
the time without any further notice as the raid array was collapsing.

That was a classic case of the company owners overloading the server.

That took three days to complete working round the clock.

The bottom line here is that with opensource he will be far better off.
By not having to buy a new server licence, and more than likely having
to buy a new server to actually run a new version of windows, coupled
with the fact that he would need to continue to pay for the existing
hotspot licence every year.  

I will most probably be saving him close to $2000 by doing this.  I am
including the price of windows server licence in this along with new
hardware.

Which now brings me full circle back to the start again. :)

Would I need to install/activate an nfs service on windows to do this,
or just make sure that samba is installed and running?

I really do hate having to do it this way, as it would be far simpler
just to have another system to install it on and test, though even that
would not really be possible as I do not have wireless coverage in my
room and I need to test with the wireless access point and adsl modem
that he has.

I am just one of these people who do not like spending others money for
them if I can possibly help it.  There are too many sharks in the IT
industry in New Zealand for me to add myself to that list.

Regards,

Christopher.

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