Bob, found the tale of your quick and dirty installs very interesting. For some time now I have been trying to set up a Linux system to act as a fileserver for my small network of Windows computers. I presently have one machine setup on the net as a multi-OS machine running several OS's including Mandrake 8.0 and Red Hat 7.1. I have had limited success with the experiment so far. I think it has a lot to do with passwords. Right now I can access my Mandrake system from my main Windows system, but I am am unable to access my WIndows machines from Mandrake. I can't get Red Hat to work either way. I have several books on Samba, but most of them speak some other language besides common sense! Can you recommend some good reading for a Linux newbie like me? Perhaps something I can understand? I thought I had a pretty good general knowledge of computers before I started messing around with Linux... TIA!
Just a message from Doug... --------------------------------------------- http://www.gdouglasburton.com --------------------------------------------- Never forget 9-11-01 and may God Bless America! At 05:25 PM 2/4/2002 -0700, Bob wrote: >Hey John, > >I just wanted to follow up with a bit more hard info. I thought I'd refresh >on the current state of RedHat and Mandrake (more-or-less) on a system as >close to yours as I can get my hands on. I tried doing an install of each on >an old Zenith P120 desktop with 32MB RAM. I did quick and dirty installs of: > >* RedHat 7.1 (2 CDs) >* Mandrake 8.1 (3 CDs) >* Debian 2.2r3 (2 CDs) > >Here are some quick impressions: > >GENERAL >Old gear could probably use a good cleaning before embarking on this >adventure. These two old dogs have been sitting under my desk for some time, >and apparently under a few other desks before my time. I had CD read errors >on both, and a good cleaning is DEFINITELY recommended to minimize >disruptions. > >PCI NICs tend to be auto-detected far more easily. Consider spending $15 on >a generic RTL8139 clone if you don't have PCI boards on hand. It's nicest >when networking "just works". NIC detection tended to be the most >problematic area for all installs. > >MANDRAKE 8.1 >On 32MB, the install defaults to the text-mode (which is still GUI with >buttons, lists, etc.) > >I installed a custom configuration of what I thought would be a fairly >general workgroup server bundle of packages. Naturally, this is open to >debate, but it's what I went with for this casual test. The list I selected >was: > >* Internet Station >* Configuration >* Console Tools >* Documentation >* Web/FTP Server >* Mail/Groupware/News Server >* Network Computer Server (NFS/SAMBA) > >This bundle came to 301MB. While the install was slow, it was not >unbearable. Text mode is VERY MUCH recommended, both for reliability and >speed. > >Mandrake did fail to recognize the old ISA 3COM Etherlink II NIC, but >plugging through the list of 5 or 6 3Com NICs eventually yielded the right >one (3C503). After that, the board configured using DHCP just fine. > >Although I de-selected KDE, Gnome and all other X packages, the server still >booted up in a simple X configuration. It wasn't exactly speedy, but was >usable. I wound up in an xterm session, and was able to toggle to a text >login (Ctrl-Alt-F1) and work from there. Editing /etc/inittab to boot into >CLI-only mode worked as expected (the file is well documented, once you know >where to find it). > >I did have to add my Windows username to the smbpasswd file (smbpasswd -a >name), but after that, was able to access the Samba server simply >(Start->Run->\\sambaserver) and log in. Copying a 1.5MB file was not >noticeably slow on a 10Mbps shared hub. > >I only had CDs, so can't speak to the documentation. I can only say that my >general impression is that Mandrake installs well on a 32MB system. With >well supported network boards (PCI), it would have been painless. Adding a >user to smbpasswd wasn't intuitive, but from my experience with Samba, I >know that it's well documented. Again, I'm not sure how well it's >highlighted in the Mandrake docs. Their free online "university" might well >cover this, so perhaps go through that BEFORE doing an install. > >REDHAT 7.1 >Here again, I selected a fairly general set of packages for a small >workgroup server (as always, open to debate): > >* No firewall (internal server) >* Mail/WWW/News Server >* DOS/Windows Connectivity >* Network Workstation >* Dialup Workstation >* Samba Server >* Web Server >* Utilities > >This bundle came to 415MB. Again, TEXT mode install is recommended with 32MB >to reduce problems, and speed things up (relatively speaking, it's still not >"fast"). > >Keep in mind this is a slightly older version of RedHat (current is 7.2). A >few surprises: > >1. I could NOT get it to recognize the old ISA 3Com Etherlink II NIC. I >replaced it with an equally old ISA SMC Ether EZ NIC, and THAT was >auto-detected on the next reboot. > >2. Samba was NOT automatically enabled. This may be per design (again, no >manual at hand). > >I noticed RedHat has a FULL set of manuals in PDF format available on their >website. The Customization Guide seems to be the one with the goodies on >server stuff. Note: It has a nice section on RAID as well. > >The answer (easy once you know it :) is to use "chkconfig" to add samba to >the list of services automatically started for the selected runlevel in >/etc/inittab (text mode is 3 in RedHat, X is 5). This is described in the >Customization Guide. I used "chkconfig --level 3 smb on" and the system >restarted with Samba running. > >DEBIAN 2.2r3 "Potato": >Just for fun, I decided to toss my favorite Distribution into the mix. I >used a set of 2.2r3 CDs that I'd downloaded. This is NOT the current >"stable" release, but it's what I had handy. > >1. I booted the rescue RESCUE diskette, and inserted the ROOT floppy as >prompted. >2. Manual partitioning is required. I created a 128MB swap, with the rest of >my 1.5 GB as a single ext2 partition. (Not necessarily recommended, but I >wasn't going to spend a lot of time on this.) >3. PCMCIA errors are issued on boot. This is NORMAL, and the install prompts >you to remove PCMCIA support later if appropriate. >4. I selected the 2 CDs as my software source. I selected non-US, non-free >& contrib software, and a Simple software install, selecting the following >bundles: > >* Dialup >* IMAP >* Newbie Help >* Samba > >Although the installer itself didn't say as much, disk space consumed after >installation was 129MB. The install was positively speedy compared to either >RedHat or Mandrake. (It's worth noting that APT is a VERY powerful >alternative installation method for those with high-speed network >connectivity. Using APT, a debian install can be performed with 2 floppies >by pulling all other packages down via HTTP or FTP. This doesn't add much to >the install time on a fast link.) > >Network installation would probably have been frustrating for a newbie. >After reboot, a MANUAL load of the NIC module was required (insmod 3c503). I >then had to edit (create) /etc/modutils/network with the line "alias eth0 >3c503", run update-modules, and edit /etc/network/interfaces to include the >line "iface eth0 inet dhcp". Again, a well supported PCI NIC would ease this >step considerably. > >Samba fired up on boot, but you must edit /etc/smb.conf to change "read only >= no" under the [homes] for users to be able to write to their home >directories. This is well documented in the smb.conf file, but not >particularly intuitive. This "Debianism" is for security I suspect. > >OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: >The "big two" commercial packages do more for you in terms of >auto-partitioning of hard drives. This CAN be an intimidating step for a >newbie, especially when you're on your own late at night, so this is an >important consideration. It's not HARD, just NEW, and when you're stuck this >early on, things aren't fun. > >The "big two" ATTEMPT to do more in terms of network configuration. Using >PCI NICs narrows the differences considerably. > >Success is dependent on having SUPPORTED hardware. An install of any of >these distributions on unusual, tricky or unsupported hardware is likely to >be frustrating. A test install on a system with a generic NIC and IDE hard >drive might be worthwhile to get a feel for how things SHOULD work. > >Getting Samba and other services running requires a bit of post-install >work. Good documentation on this process will be ESSENTIAL. RedHat offers >downloadable PDF manuals, and very good online documentation. Mandrake ups >the ante with their online University web-based training. Debian introduces >you to the command line and manpages right away, taking more of an "into the >fire" approach. The advantages of any of these are open to long and heated >debate. > >All three work adequately on a 32MB system. A P120 is double the speed of >John's P66, but Samba isn't particularly CPU-intensive. As an unscientific >test, I dragged roughly 50MB of files from my Win2K workstation, and sent >them to the Debian system via Samba. The copy progressed at a speed that was >typical of what I see on a 10Mbps shared network. Throughout, the CPU >utilization stayed below 20% (as shown via top). Not surprisingly, X >introduces overhead, and should be avoided on a low-end server. And of >course, more of RAM or CPU or disk space is a good thing. I'd lean towrads >RAM first, then CPU and disk. > >The approach of selecting bundles of software rather than individual >packages introduces a LOT over overhead and installs packages that are >probably NOT necessary. However, they do suffice for getting a system up and >running with relative ease, and with good odds of success. Debian is very >good at letting you selectively uninstall packages later without breaking >the whole system. > >OK, that's enough fun for a Monday. Let me know if you have any specific >questions. > >- Bob > >To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with >unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. >Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. >More info can be found at; >http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
