[HLUG] Content filtering server, email server, domain controller
Alex Mace
alex at hollytree.co.uk
Mon Feb 9 22:08:02 UTC 2009
Google Mail has IMAP access though and can import your existing e-mail
from IMAP as well, so you could continue to use your Thunderbird set
up. Like I said, I think it is a very strong offering that should be
considered :)
Alex
2009/2/9 Paul Stenning <paul at vintage-radio.com>:
> In practice though nobody needs to access email outside the office other
> than me and the MD, and we'll either continue to use IMAP off the web
> server or use a VPN. We can do that from anywhere in the world!
>
> It may be a good solution in some cases but I don't see it as a valid
> solution in our case.
>
> One good reason, as mentioned before, is the Thunderbird add-ons which
> are essential for our business and which provide functions (such as
> allowing multiple standard replies) that a more generic solution like
> Google is unlikely to offer.
>
> Best regards,
> Paul Stenning
>
> www.vintage-radio.com
> www.vintage-radio.net
> www.service-data.com
> www.sp-tech.co.uk
>
>
> Alex Mace wrote:
>> I've said this time and again to many people who ask me that very
>> question about Google. The simple answer to me is that yes, they could
>> go away. They could lose the data, etc, etc. However the reliability
>> of their service has far surpassed anything I could possible set up in
>> a similar time and the quality of the service is far beyond anything
>> I've found. Yes, they could do any of those things you mention, but I,
>> you and everyone else in the world are also fallible. It's an argument
>> that could be taken to the nth degree. What happens if 'x' disappears
>> tomorrow?
>>
>> I prefer to not worry about some never never tomorrow and concentrate
>> on finding a good solution to today's problems.
>>
>> I can see it fitting perfectly into a small business network, but with
>> the added advantage that Google Mail and Calendar can be accessed from
>> all over the world and offer great solutions for offline access.
>>
>> Alex
>>
>> 2009/2/9 Paul Stenning <paul at vintage-radio.com>:
>>> We have a few useful add-ons installed in Thunderbird and the users are
>>> familiar with it so we intend to stick with Thunderbird as the client.
>>>
>>> I can't see Google Apps seriously fitting in as an integral part of an
>>> expending small business network. And what would happen if Google
>>> disappeared, stopped supporting it or lost all the data and settings?
>>>
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>> Paul Stenning
>>>
>>> www.vintage-radio.com
>>> www.vintage-radio.net
>>> www.service-data.com
>>> www.sp-tech.co.uk
>>>
>>>
>>> Alex Mace wrote:
>>>> I'd take a look at Google Apps for your e-mail provision. I use it on
>>>> all the domains I ever set up and it is absolutely fantastic. Tons of
>>>> storage, easy user provisioning, cheap (just £50 per user per year)
>>>> and just great. Plus you get the great Google interface.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Alex
>>>>
>>>> 2009/2/9 Matthew Macdonald-Wallace <matthew at truthisfreedom.org.uk>:
>>>>> Hi Paul,
>>>>> On 02/09/2009, 19:27, Paul Stenning (paul at vintage-radio.com) wrote:Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I am looking into what is needed for a new server requirement at work
>>>>>
>>>>> later this year. If possible I would like to do as much as possible
>>>>>
>>>>> with Linux and open source, and just use virtualised Windows for the
>>>>>
>>>>> areas where Linux can't be used. Some of the requirements are:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Domain controller: The clients are all Windows (will be XP Pro or Vista
>>>>>
>>>>> Business) and we want to have a proper login system whereby people can
>>>>>
>>>>> use their username and password on any PC and get their own desktop,
>>>>>
>>>>> files and settings etc. This is the sort of thing that Windows domains
>>>>>
>>>>> do well. Can it be done in Linux or would we need a Windows server for
>>>>>
>>>>> the domain controller?
>>>>> I believe that samba and openLDAP can do this. They can definitely do the authentication, roming profiles I'm not too sure about.
>>>>> Email: Currently the clients use Thunderbird to access email directly
>>>>>
>>>>> from the web server using IMAP and send using SMTP. We would like to
>>>>>
>>>>> have our own email server which fetches email from the web server
>>>>>
>>>>> (probably using POP3) every few minutes and which the users connect to
>>>>>
>>>>> using Thunderbird and IMAP as now. We would like to be able to retain
>>>>>
>>>>> messages that the users delete for a period of time and to be able to
>>>>>
>>>>> back up all email reliably. We really do not want to head down the
>>>>>
>>>>> Exchange/Outlook route. What are our options with Linux? Ease of
>>>>>
>>>>> configuration would help of course!
>>>>>
>>>>> Fetchmail, Cyrus or Dovecot for IMAP/POP3 and Exim4 for SMTP. Or you could get a static IP and run your own POP3/IMAP/SMTP server.
>>>>> Web content filtering: We want to limit the websites users can access.
>>>>>
>>>>> Some sites (adult, illegal content etc) would always be blocked, most
>>>>>
>>>>> others would be allowed for a certain amount of time each day (say one
>>>>>
>>>>> hour to allow people to use Facebook, BBC News, Amazon etc during lunch)
>>>>>
>>>>> and a selected few would be accessible all the time (the ones needed for
>>>>>
>>>>> work). We would need to be able to override the 1 hour restriction on
>>>>>
>>>>> an ad-hoc basis easily if someone needs more access on a particular day.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> SQUID (also itegrates with OpenLDAP and can be used as a transparent proxy - i.e. one that your users are not aware of). File sharing: That's easy enough - Samba. It needs to link into the
>>>>>
>>>>> domain controller stuff though so it follows password changes.
>>>>>
>>>>> Easy to do. Loads of tutorials out there on how to do this.
>>>>>
>>>>> Intranet and development web server: Easy, Apache with PHP and MySQL.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd recommend Joomla or Sugar for an intranet. Don't underestimate the power of SugarCRM, it is not just a CRM system.
>>>>>
>>>>> Managing the whole thing: Probably Webmin. Remote access to this would
>>>>>
>>>>> be very useful but that will probably be handled by VPN routers.
>>>>>
>>>>> Personal preference of course, but I'd always go with text files. Webmin has been known to overwrite any manual changes made to a system and cause the system to completely stop working as a result.
>>>>>
>>>>> Eset anti-virus management: That will have to be done with Windows in
>>>>>
>>>>> vmware (or virtualbox if I can get it to work).
>>>>>
>>>>> I've not used Eset, but you can link ClamAV into Samba to provide virus protection on the network.
>>>>>
>>>>> Backup: On my home server I am using Simple Backup to backup to a
>>>>>
>>>>> removable USB drive every day. It works reasonably well except it has
>>>>>
>>>>> no way of notifying if the backup disk is full. Backing up to tape
>>>>>
>>>>> would be useful but there seems to be a shortage of easy-to-configure
>>>>>
>>>>> tape backup applications. It obviously needs to back up the email,
>>>>>
>>>>> documents and all user desktop settings etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> BackupPC or Bacula are your best bets IMHO.
>>>>>
>>>>> If I can do most of this with Linux I will probably go for Ubuntu Server
>>>>>
>>>>> 8.04 LTS as that's what I'm familiar with. CentOS is another possibility.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> So how much of this can be done with Linux, what packages are suggested
>>>>>
>>>>> and how easy is it to configure? Most is possible with Windows Small
>>>>>
>>>>> Business Server (which uses the dreaded Exchange Server) with a separate
>>>>>
>>>>> content filtering application, and I have done most of that with Windows
>>>>>
>>>>> SBS for another client. I'd like to do it with Linux this time though.
>>>>> Hope this is of some help, if you want any more advice on setting this up, feel free to contact me either on or off-list.Kind regards,Matt.
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Herefordshire LUG mailing list
>>>>> Web: http://www.herefordshire.lug.org.uk
>>>>> List: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/herefordshire
>>>>>
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>>>
>>
>
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