Samba n' Stuff. What's your take?

[Mr. Analog]

So, I'm thinking of rebuilding my server but this time I want to dick around with Tomcat and I thought "Hey maybe this could be a way for me to play around with a Linux server on my own". So of course I start taking a mental inventory of all the things I'll need to use it.

I could install Apache on a Windows Server and bypass having to muck with any *nix, but if I didn't want to do that (say I want to start a web site that uses inexpensive licenses *cough*) what would I need to do to make that server useful on my network.

I figure I'd need Samba to talk to any Windows machines on my network, I might be playing around with CUPS (for printing), certainly I'll need Apache and Java (to run portlets, etc).

I dunno, I'm just spitballing here. I've gotten the bug after @%&#ing around with SuSE and Debian at work lately and conveniently (or IN-conveniently) my Windows 2000 box is dead so I'm trying to make a decision to move to Windows Server 2003 or some *nix flavour...

[Lazybones]

Depends how fancy you want to get with permissions. Even with the GUI tools I find the linux permission model a PITA some times

[Tom]

The latest version of Samba and linux support exporting linux permissions as Windows ACLs for the most part, you can map user to user and it _should_ just work. Course all you get with normal linux permissions is a flat Read/Write/Execute set per file and directory. And a flat list of users and groups, where as in windows you have that mess that is the ACL tree

Anyhow, If you want to try linux, mess with it till you're sick of it (or use it if you don't get sick of it, either way ). One way to make things a little easier is to install Webmin, its Ugly as sin, and not all that easy to figure out, but it can be a lot easier than learning all of the different config files by hand.

[Melbosa]

It can be easy enough to setup and get Samba running but I found once I wanted to add in CUPS and Virus Scanner, my Samba shares became harder to setup.  Might have been a conflict or two, maybe with versions of distros, but I ended up just utilizing a Windows Server to provide the Printing Services, and ran without a virus scanner.  But after running that for about 6 months, and doing it all at the script and config levels (Webmin just isn't there yet, wish that thing would just bloom to more user friendly), I found myself just migrating back to Widows Server.  Apache, PHP and MySQL are now so easy to install on Windows, and with Windows Home Server being so cheap, can't see myself going back to Linux for the server farm in my house.

Not to say I won't continue to use Linux, far from it.  My webproxy will probably always be a Linux VM, as it is just too light weight to do any type of Windows install (but that might change when Windows Core is released).

Just my 2 cents.

[Thorin]

What do you use Windows Home Server for, Melbosa?  I thought it was just a file storage server?  You have websites running from it?

[Mr. Analog]

Cool stuff, thanks guys!

I had a bitch of time configuring CUPS for my project at work because I didn't have root, so there was some stumbling around and all the config changes had to be done over the phone with a BIGGER Linux n00b.

[Melbosa]

What do you use Windows Home Server for, Melbosa?  I thought it was just a file storage server?  You have websites running from it?

I'm about to see it's capabilities, as I haven't used it before.  But from what I read, you can use it as a web server.  Have to see what exactly you can and can't do.  But hell, Apache/PHP/MySQL will install on Windows XP and you can make it your server if you want to.

[Thorin]

What do you use Windows Home Server for, Melbosa?  I thought it was just a file storage server?  You have websites running from it?

I'm about to see it's capabilities, as I haven't used it before.  But from what I read, you can use it as a web server.  Have to see what exactly you can and can't do.  But hell, Apache/PHP/MySQL will install on Windows XP and you can make it your server if you want to.

From what I've read, Windows Home Server really isn't a server.

Windows Home Server is designed to make managing a home network, with Windows XP PCs and Windows Vista PCs, easier and more automatic. It does this by acting as a centralized place for storage, enabling remote access and providing automated backup for all PCs in house.

[Tom]

Just make sure you don't use WHS for a fileserver till they get that nasty File Corruption bug fixed (slated for summer iirc).

[Melbosa]

Like I said, will evaluate and let you know what I find out.