This is going to be fun!

Discussion in 'Networking and Computer Security' started by ThePenguinCometh, Jun 19, 2005.

  1. ThePenguinCometh

    ThePenguinCometh There is no escape

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    Hey, I've just managed to blag my way into a sysadmin job. :D Well, technically I'll be doing part-time voluntary work for a local school but I spend all my free time in front of a computer anyway so what the hell.

    They've got a fairly sizeable and mis-matched collection of machines, twenty to thirty, some of which share a dial-up line except for one which has a broadband connection. What they're looking at is getting a whole bunch of wireless hubs/PCI cards and getting all the machines to share the same broadband connection, primarily for email. The only problem is that I've never networked two MS boxes together before in my life and now I have the problem of setting up an e-mail server for everything from old Win 95 boxes to Win XP laptops using wireless technology. My only achievements in networking is setting up a small Slackware network in my own bedroom which took me a week to figure out and few minutes to actually do! What I have read about Windows networking is probably quite biased, given that they're the "I-spent-weeks-trying-to-set-up-a-Windows
    -network-gave-up-in-utter-desperation-tried-Linux-instead-and-finished-it-in-a-few-minutes" type postings that you find all the time on Linux forums but I'm still wary of my chances of getting this project to go smoothly. Unfortunately the ICT teacher who is calling the shots (and who seems to know her stuff, impressively) wasn't interested in my attempts to evangelize The Way of the Penguin (her excuse being that they had just spent a lot of money of Windows software - hah!) though I'll be damned if I don't smuggle at least one Linux box in there somewhere before too long, even if it means sacraficing one of my own.

    My question therefore is whether networking under Windows really is the it-does-or-it-doesn't affair that I've been educated into believing and does anybody know where I can find a tutorial on setting up an email server under the conditions outlined above. I looked under "C:\Program Files\doc\HOWTOs" but the directory doesn't exist. :) Oh yeah, everyone uses either Outlook or Outlook Express but I'll try and smuggle Thunderbird in there somewhere (card-carrying member of the Free Software Guerillas at your service!).

    Alternatively, this is one for Anti-Trend if you come across this, would it be easier to have a Linux box running Samba, DHCP (for the laptops) and the email server and have all the MS boxes connect directly to that? I've only ever had a brief look at using Samba and the Official Samba-3 HOWTO is HUGE. I really don't have a problem personally getting into studying it but I'd rather get something up and running quickly rather then spending several weeks trying to get everything going by which point they've found a trained MS engineer whose total answer to everything will be to get the school to pay for expensive software/hardware upgrades. All I need on the short-term is something quick-and-dirty that will get some results at least until such time as they decide to hire me (ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease). :good:
     
  2. Addis

    Addis The King

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    On windows, at command prompt type "man windowsnetworking" :D
     
  3. Sniper

    Sniper Administrator Staff Member

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    anti-trend is the expert with networks so it might be worth a PM.

    anyway, try doing a bit of search on our friend google. I have networked XP PC's for a business to allow sharing of their broadband connection via an router which wasn't hard.
     
  4. ThePenguinCometh

    ThePenguinCometh There is no escape

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    Hmm, perhaps I need to express my question more specifically. I've already had a look around Google and bookmarked a few interesting-looking sites but I didn't find any that really addressed the kind of situation I'm dealing with. I'm sure it's easy to get a collection of well-specced XP machines talking to each other but the problem I have is getting just about every OS Microsoft has produced since Win 95 running on a wide range of PC architectures. I was hoping somebody here had some personal experience with a situation like this as I'd like to avoid this sort of scenario.

    In particular I've heard somewhere, some post I read one a forum once, don't remember where unfortunately, that it's very difficult to get Win 98 and NT talking to each other. I don't know why this would be and don't know if it is true but I'd rather not learn the hard way as this could be my Big Break (TM) and I really want it to go smoothly and not look like a complete idiot. I don't have any training at all in networking (come to think of it I've never done a computer course in my life) and though I'm not a complete idiot I've never tried to network MS machines together, unless you count the XP laptop that I connected to a Linux server and even that wasn't too successful.

    Anyone able to offer any sensible advice, assistance, links, etc?
     
  5. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    I'm right in the middle of a bunch of career-related stuff right at the moment, but I just wanted to drop in and let you know that I can help you out with both Linux and NT-based Windows networking. SAMBA is a lot simpler to set up than it looks, and I can even provide real-world sample smb.conf's for you if it'll help. Windows networking is honestly not as straight-forward as Unix administration, and this is coming from a long-time NT admin. But NT administration isn't too difficult either, it just requires a lot more babysitting.

    All the best,
    -AT
     
  6. ThePenguinCometh

    ThePenguinCometh There is no escape

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    Should have known you'd be the one to get a sensible response from. :)

    My plan at the moment is to go along with the "No Linux" order for now and get the first two or three Windows machines going. At the same time I'll configure a spare machine of my own once I know exactly what the network architecture looks like and what is needed by the school. My main concern is that they don't have a spare machine to use as a dedicated server so their plan was to have one of the computers that sits on someones desk to be used as the internet-connected one, which is obviously not ideal. That gives me the chance to sneak in a Samba-enabled server, preferably already configured and ready to just plug in. I'll be going back there tomorrow night to get the first two machines networked. Once I've got a clearer picture of what I need and what problems I'm running into, if any, I'll keep you updated. Thanks a lot for the offer.
     

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