Running multiple services on a single Linux box is not advisable, especially if we consider network/system security.
First, you need to know which section/department requires heavy load and security. Subnetting is higly recommended if you are planning to segregate each department/section. Second, design a logical network which will segregate each section into different local domain, VLAN is good idea if you are considering secured network. Third, don't run multiple services on a single Linux box. A dedicated mail server needs substantial disk storage but little CPU power. The number of email users determines the size of of disk you need. Allow anywhere from 5MB of storage per user for light e-mail users to 25MB per user for heavy email users. A 500 MHZ Pentium with 128 MB RAM and 8GB of disk storage should be able to handle at least 200 e-mail users. A dedicated subnet router/firewall for each section needs little CPU power and almost no disk storage A 233 MHZ pentium with a 64 MB RAM and 500MB disk drive would work fine. Then you can do the same by assigning a dedicated sever for your web/ftp, and other services. For the main router/gatewatey/firewall, a 500MHZ CPU with 128 MB RAM and 4GB storage would work fine for your system. Finally, I recommend RedHat 7.1/7.2 if you are planning a software based network services (e.g., router/firewall), however, if you are planning to use a hardware based I recommend Cisco systems. I hope these information will give you an idea. Al Maclang, CCNA, BCLA, BCCTS IT Engineer/Administrator Hello all, I would like to know if a single Linux box running primarily as a router/firewall/mail server would suffice for 100-200 hosts. We want to isolate the network physically from a larger network and just masquerade the 100-200 hosts through this one Linux box. We are also hoping to add web, ftp, etc functionality if the load would not be that "high" on our box. We are planning to use MDK 8.1 on: single Athlon 1.6 GHz 256 RAM (more if required) 2 NICs (more if required) HD space is not a problem or would a Dual Pentium III 500 be better? Any suggestions? TIA __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1 _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
