Topic: Some qeustions from a starter :)

[John]

Hi, first ill introduce myself.

I am a 22 year old men from the netherlands. Ive been webdesigning since i got my first 28k modem at the age of 12. Ive learned a lot in the wonderfull world of internet. Now i want to go a step further and create my own server. There for i have some qeustions.

First of all my internet connection goes throug a
router from linksys which is installed on a win2k pro server. Will the router work decent on SME ??

Second qeustion my ISP has a max upload of 16 kb is it still possible to maintain heavy SQL databases ?

I have a domain with a good and fast hosting service but SQL is pretty expensive so thats one reason why i want to learn to create a server for my own.
The second reason is i want to learn more about systems and how people may break into one. How to learn better about protection if you can break into one ?

Hope you can answer my (simple) qeustions?

Greetings John.

[Anonymous]

First of all my internet connection goes throug a
router from linksys which is installed on a win2k pro server. Will the router work decent on SME ??

You probably wouldnt need to use the router. Just plug your DSL modem into the external network card on SME let SME do the work.

Sorry - cant answer your other questions.

[verhoem]

Hi,

welcome "new linux" member.
To answer you're questions:

TO learn more about security:
www.linuxsecurity.com

The sql related questions: Depends on your configuration, I hope your sql queries are running locally, if not they will generate quite a lot of traffic so 16 Kb won't be sufficient. When they are run locally, the performance will be depended on the size of hmtl code that are generated. Still 16Kb isn't very speedy.

Concerning your router, is that router build in your system (eg. a pci device ?) Never heard of that bu never to old to learn. If it's not, then connecting your SME system to the router won't be a problem.

Good luck !

[Reinhold]

Hi John,

Welcome to the Linux-world .-)

Your System now:
Actually your Linksys part is a router that
performs the function of:
 (1) a gateway  (with nat ?)
 (2) a 4 port switch for your
 (3) internal WIN2k Server.
LINUX based SME can do (1) and (3) but not easily do the switch part .-)

My recommendation:
Get rid of the WIN2K server ... convert it into an SME  server  

* set up the SME as gateway and server with two NICs
...that gives you internet routing, a nat firewall, a mailserver, a Samba file & printserver
_and_, most important for you an Apache + mysql server for the outside world
...setup is really easy (burn iso, boot cd, answer .-)
* from now on use only the switch part of your linksys and plug the modem cable directly into the outside NIC of your SME.

THE RESULTING SETUP SHOULD BE A PERFECT SYSTEM
to learn about http based sql database serving...
...even with just 16k of outgoing bandwith.
Basically only html will be transmitted in&out so expect your  pages at twice ISDN speed ... slow... but ok for a user or two ... IF your SME (database PC) is fast enough for the queries (BIG Databases need RAM and fast disks).

HTH

[Boris]

This model of router (BEFSR41 v.3) is well known for ftp data corruption. Throw it away. SME has router/firewall built-in. Connect HUB or Switch to LAN adapter of SME and plug in your workstations and home server where. This will give you good start to learn and do development. As for "production" hosting of website and MySQL database, 16k uploads speed may not be enough, but it depends on usage patern.

[John]

The server will only host the SQL databases.

How does SME handle office products like word excel and acces ive heard of openoffice but does the documents created with open office open in microsoft office ?

Sorry for my bad english and all my qeustions. Iam just in the need of taking the next level in my computer life

[Reinhold]

John,

There is NO GUI in SME.
SME is a SERVER and GATEWAY box.
You will need another PC as a workstation !

Regards,

Other than that OpenOffice opens&writes  .doc format just fine ... it even allows you do make .pdf directly.
Recommendation: Grab the newest knoppix-cd to familiarize yourself with a GUI Linux http://www.knoppix.net/.
Just dl, burn and start linux from cd without touching a thing on your present windoze box ...

[John]

Thx guys for al the advice.
Ive been reading alot the past days and im going to make my win2k machine dual bootable with mandrake 10.0 and mandrake move.
This to get familiar with linux and its kernel.

My second step is to make my old p2 333 computer a SME server as a client   the reason is to get familiar with it. When i get more an more familiar with linux its my main goal to make the SME server and the router as a bunch network cards for my other computers. My workstation will be a Mandrake linux with KDE. Ill keep ypu guys posted

[John]

Jezus im glad i have made a dual boot!
I cant get the hang of it im tryin al day just to install some software

[Reinhold]

John,

GET KNOPPIX ... from 0 to DebianLinux in 3min flat.
And no changes on a running system.