Topic: Questions from a newbie...

[soa]

First, let me apologise, i am a complete newbie at this, having got a friend to burn me a disk of the sme iso.

I'm attempting to gain a bit of experience with the sme server on my home network as a server only; as it's experimental it is on a small, low-powered platfor, a Compaq EN6400 deskpr, which is a PII 400MHz machine, running a 6.4G disk and with, I understand a Intel Pro 100 VM NIC.

It boots from the installation CD fine and the installation runs great but I get a message saying unknown ethernet adapter (driver unknown).

I have checked the RedHat site, and it says this box is RedHat ready - is it just it is ready for an *older* version of RH Linux.

I have searched the site here, but am evidently not using the right terms or don't undertsand what I'm told.

Do I need to get another NIC (even in Britain, they won't break the bank.)(and what's the easiest way of finding what 5.6 *will see*)

TIA
--
Steve
UK

[ldkeen]

Are you able to give SME 6.0 a go. You might have more luck with it detecting you're NIC. Having said that I think the driver your after is the e100 and Darrell May has compiled some some rpm's for SME 5.6 You can grab them here: http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/dmay/mitel/contrib/Intel/sme56/e100-2.1.29-sme56.i386.rpm Just go ahead with the installation bypassing the NIC driver (or choose any driver) then install the rpm and login to the admin console again and rerun through the setup choosing e100 this time.

[soa]

Thanks mate (I'll give the d/l a go.)
Can't try 6.0 yet as I'm at the end of bit of damp string here, no broadband as yet...

Now, just to work out how to install an RPM and I'm away...

[Reinhold]

soa,

Don't buy a new nic ... go for SME 6.x.
The newer kernel will detect that nic out of the box.
...but don't you want a 2nd NIC anyway - to use SME as a gateway  

BTW: That machines HW is OK as SME server base if you pop in at least 128Mb RAM.

Enjoy

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Reinhold (can't do 6.0 as my friend hasn't got it and no broadband so neither of us can burn the ISO. I currently use a Smoothwall firewall -on older kit - but in *June* Broadband arrives. I can then download the ISO

I'd then like to sack smoothie (cannabalise the spare NIC) and use SME Server6.0  - but I wanted a play first...
I will get some more RAM before I use it in anger...

so, I've currently got the RPM - do I need to go to admin, press F1, and somehow mount a floppy, coppy the RPM to some directory, and then "install (some letter sequence) nameofRPM"?

[wykyd]

I am running SME-Server on a AMD K6-2 400, and it runs fine.

I ran it on a P200 MMX for a while and it still ran OK.

[Reinhold]

soa,
 
Floppy in SME is /dev/fd0 it should be automounted ...
rpm -Uvh filename is the rpm install command
...but since you need nic activation still
I'd recommend looking into one
of the several HowTos for
additional nics here
on contribs

Are you sure you cannot get your hands on a 6.0 ISO ?
Im not in the UK ... but some other generous soul might be
If all else fails I'd rather offer to send you a CD internationally
then let you start with that old 5.6 version  

Regards

[Anonymous]

Thanks again Reinhold.
I'm asking a colleague to burn me a 6.0 , but it'll be a week or so till he gets back. I continue to search for the idiots guide...or " How To " for loading an RPM...

[JHML]

I had SME 6.0 on a PII 266 with 192MB, ran superbly even though NT4 only barely ran (was even worse when I installed exchange).  Now lives in the same box only with a 400 and 256 - quick and stable.

[raem]

Idiots guide to installing rpm

Copy rpm to your home folder using a Windows PC conected on the network. Look in Network neighbourhood or similar for the server name and your user name, copy the rpm there

Login to your server as root either directly at the server (console) or remotely using putty.exe

then do
cd /home/e-smith/files/users/yourname/home
ls
to show the files in the folder
rpm -Uvh rpmname
to instal
eg
rpm -Uvh dmc-mitel-backup2ws*.rpm

it will then instal, your done
Go to server manager to configure etc etc.
Read the manual
Also you might like to read the informative help files available here, but some of it relates to commercially available programs from dungog.
http://www.dungog.net/sme/help.php

Search this site also for lots of good tips, all your questions so far have already been answered many times.

Regs
Ray

[Anonymous]

Thanks, ray, that should help me a lot.
As I said, I have looked for the How To's here, but a lot of the stuff assumed that I could actually see the box on the network. I think I'll find it a lot easier when I get the SME 6 iso, and work through the docs on that... which'll be eaiser when I've actually had a play for real.  Thanks again for everyone's patience.

Steve

[bobk]

 I continue to search for the idiots guide...or " How To " for loading an RPM...

Assuming you have the rpm on a floppy, try the following:

Start the machine.
Press [alt] + [F2]
user name = root [enter]
password = the  password you assigned during the install [enter]
put in your floppy disk
type "mount /dev/fd0"  without the "" [enter]
type "mc" [enter]
[enter]
up arrow 3 times to /mnt [enter]
down arror 2 times to /floppy [enter]
you should be able see the file on the floppy disk
type "rpm -Uvh thefilename.whatever.rpm" [enter]
watch it install
type "exit" [enter]
type "exit" [enter]
yes do it twice
press [alt] + [F1]
select "Configure this server" [enter]
Go through the configuration process and select your card. Continue to the end and let the machine reboot. Enjoy the magic!

[Anonymous]

Just a quick thanks to all - I got a colleague to burn me a 6.0 (OK, he burnt the iso to a disk, but I was able to actually burn the image to a disk from the iso).

Recognised my setup striaght away, and I'm now playing with it. Currently it's a server only, but soon, I think, I'll drop smoothwall and use this as my gateway, too. When broadband ADSL arrives, I'll drop the spare NIC in...