Dear Plug Web Site maintainers: I think the questions posted by John can be added to the FAQ: Linux for MIS (Management Information Systems) Professionals. Looks like the FAQ is not being updated anymore :-)
John Paul Tomas wrote: > Need your advice on the following items if we are going to based it on our > current setup: > 1.) 800+ Computers all accessing Internet, mail, etc. > 2.) Clone PC servers PIII : DNS, Mail and Proxy. (Linux ) > > Questions: > > 1. Does it really matter if you use clone computers rather than branded ones > as your DNS, Proxy and Mail Server? Based on our office experience, the BRANDED computers last more years of service than the CLONE ones. I would say for "critical" servers use branded ones. Furthermore, the clones just hang (no keyboard response, no nothing). With branded ones, at least we get some error messages listed (dunno if its because of the board or something) on /var/log/messages. > 2. Do you recommend to have 2 DNS server? For External DNS, the more servers authoritative for your domain, the better (my company has 4). If you decide on having 2 External DNS, make sure both machines are not hosted on the same location/link (ex: one in Manila, and one in HK). For Internal DNS, we setup only one primary on our main private network and setup secondary DNS servers for each of our overseas offices connected thru WAN. >> They say its recommended for good load balancing. It it true? I wouldnt describe it as "load balancing". For external DNS, it is a "must" to have at least ONE secondary (slave) DNS server. This is mainly for having another server to query when the primary is down. If your DNS query load is really high, then you might want to "distribute" the load by setting up more secondary DNS servers and register them as authoritative servers for your domain. That way, any resolver can query which one it reach first. Based on our experience (having 4 DNS servers), we found that DNS query hits were not "load balanced". It might have depended on the location of the resolver. > 3. If Yes to #1. What specification would you recommend? We found Dell computers far more reliable than IBM. Well, thats our experience :-) I think if you have several DNS servers, you dont need a very very fast machine except for your Primary DNS. Ours is a Pentium III 1GHZ cpu machine. > 4. Are there any software that we can use in order for us to control , > Internet Browsing , Downloading aside from filtering and firewalls? Squid can control both browsing and downloading. You might want to check on Apache server proxying too. > 5. Broadband Vs. Lease Line Internet Connection IMHO, Broadband is better nowadays. You just have to pick the right provider. HTH beng asuncion www.globalsources.com > 6. Can Router help? > > thanks > SUPERMAN > > _ > 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] _ 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]
