[Wylug-help] Server Support

[Roger]

I can't give much help, but have small things to say...

On 30/09/2010 19:17, Roger Greenwood wrote:
>
>> If you are thinking of installing an Apache server make sure it's on a
>> different box. Firewall ? Wot's one of those ? Don't worry about that.
>> Point and click configuration in fifteen minutes....
>>
>> http://www.pfsense.org/
>>
>> This is used by a lot of Government departments and big commercial
>> organisation to keep out the nasties. My own contribution to the project
>> was to write about it for IT magazines.

I use the Bering LEAF Firewall.  It runs way faster than even current 
internet speeds on a very old PC (486?) and fits onto a single floppy 
(though, of course that can be a CD, so it's write proof).

I've only ever (over several years) had two problems: the first was when 
IANA revised the IP allocation table and i temporarily (till I diagnosed 
the problem) found that BT customers were being rejected as invalid; the 
second was when my ISP changed its policies and the RAM drive got choked 
with requests for dynamic IPs - increasing the amount of RAM dedicated 
to that (still tiny by current standards) fixed that.

> Thanks for the comments. Looks like pfsense needs to be on its own
> hardware, so not an option for me at the moment. I do have apache
> installed, but it will not be for external use.

Remember how slow (in comparison local machines and networks) the 
Internet still is - a box that is a decade out of date is well up to the 
job.  I bet Freecycle (amongst many other possible sources) would be 
able to provide adequate hardware for the cost of going to fetch it. 
You can use the screen and keyboard from a current system on the very 
few occasions you actually need to log into a firewall box.

> Here is an update :-
> As it turns out Ubuntu server includes postfix. I have since also
> installed dovecot and fetchmail (as this is a test and I need to get
> some mail from somewhere without affecting the existing system).
> I have installed gnome, and used evolution locally to test sending
> (works). I can also collect mail using another machine using
> thunderbird. I installed webmin to help me get my head around all the
> different settings. I have ssh access from the lan and remotely, which I
> am trying to use for most of the time (using vi is not my kind of fun,
> but I am getting better).
> I can access the machine desktop using vnc, if I have to.
> Samba is now installed, but I have not yet worked out how to share the
> disk with a windows user. Also I can get at the existing windows box
> from the gnome desktop, but have not yet found the secret incantation
> that gets me a permanent mountpoint.

That sounds to me (please chip in those who know much better) as if you 
are putting the cart before the horse, so to speak (unless, as is 
likely, I'm not understanding what you want to do).  Do you want to get 
access to the Windows box's disk from the server, or vice versa?

If you want a file-server, then you want the other boxes to access files 
on the server, not vice versa.  If I'm right, you want samba to make 
what are local files on the server accessible to other machines.  On the 
server, those are part of the local file-system, so don't need any magic 
at all.

> This is taking longer than it should, I know, but I am only able to play
> in my spare time.
> I would appreciate any tips on the best methods of sharing a disk (now
> resized with gparted) with windows users, and how to set up a backup
> email system without getting into changing any MX records. I guess my
> problem is I need a deeper understanding of so many things at once.

I may well be wrong, I'm a tyro myself, but it sounds to me as if most 
of your problems are due to applying client thinking instead of server 
thinking.  The server has local access to its resources - it doesn't 
need to do clever stuff to reach them.  What it does need to do is to 
make those resources available to clients.  That's what server 
applications, like samba, are designed to do, so you don't need to be 
clever, just get them going and tell them what resources you want them 
to share.  Sharing is what they do.

I hope that helps.  I myself am hanging on by my fingernails.  The most 
important thing, it seems to me, is to adopt the right mindset.  Once 
you do, then the software itself is aimed at what you want, so you don't 
need to be very clever!

R

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