Topic: Compare SME Server to other alternatives for home users ?

[andybh]

Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but.....

What exactly is SME Server ?

What DOESN'T it do ?

I'm was looking at other stuff (IPCop, Smoothwall, etc) and then got sidetracked.

Seems to me that SME can do all the above can do and then MORE !

There must be a downside somewhere - could someone point me at any obvious differences ?

My needs are (fairly) simple - sharing a broadband connection between home PCs but then hopefully expanding that to add proxy, webfiltering (Dans Guardian) to protect the kids from porn etc, and the ability to host a website on the box rather than port forwarding to a Windows box on the LAN sounds like a plus. (etc, etc, etc)

So wheres the downside ?


Thanks,


Andy

[sspfunk]

there is no downside!
welcome to SME!

hehehe, seriously tho, i have been using e-smith/SME for many years, and have looked at ipcop and smoothwall, and there is no reason at all for me to switch

SME will do everything you are looking for and more.

[hamishau]

Hi andybh,

I looked around at a number of distros for what I wanted and settled on SME. I haven't looked back! It has been perfect, especially as I am a relative Linux newbi.

I am using it to share a DSL connection between three of us; using it to host the two domains we have, with email and websites; using webmail to access that email remotely, all on dynamic DNS (script runs every minute to update if IP changes). I also have anti-spam and anti-virus installed (added on after the install). All this happens on a PIII-500 with 192 MB RAM and a single 20 GB IDE HDD. It is brilliant!

The install is a breeze - took me about 40 minutes on that PC. I ran the update script which is available from this site, which adds the anti-spam and anti-virus and other stuff.

Configuration of the server took less than 30 minutes - adding users and configuring things the way I wanted them.

Saying this, I ran this up a few times testing, but I literally had my server up on the net serving webpages and email within 2 hours.

Hope this helps a bit.

Hamish
Melbourne, AU

[AaronG]

SME is my first linux server/box and it is great. As a newb it is very straight forward.

I am a Windows 2000/2003 Server engineer and I can honestly say that for MOST setups SME is more than adequate. I don't miss anything from Windows with this server.

Additionally SME is backed up by a great support net and community.

THUMBS UP from me!

I did how ever have ALOT of trouble trying to configure QMAIL for SMTP AUTH but only because CONTRIBS went offline while changing servers  


Cheers
Aaron

[del]

Hamish,
Can you point to the update that did this "I ran the update script which is available from this site, which adds the anti-spam and anti-virus and other stuff"
Cheers,
Del

[andybh]

hehehe, seriously tho, i have been using e-smith/SME for many years, and have looked at ipcop and smoothwall, and there is no reason at all for me to switch

SME will do everything you are looking for and more.

Thanks guys - thats just the response I was looking for.

I'll probably give the install a bash over the weekend  


AndyBH

[jon]

i've run e-smith/smeserver for many years.  the main benefit of smeserver (applications and parameters are templated) is also its main problem.  adding programs and other applications has a steep learning curve and setting them up is clearly not trivial.  but, if you simply want to run a standard web/mail/file server with a built-in firewall, i haven't seen anything that beats smeserver...

[andybh]

Install "at the weekend" not needed.

All up & running 1st time within an hour (or so).

Seriously impressed so far.....
 

Andy

[guest22]

Hi,

I do agree, Lycoris SME Server is a great 'all in one' solution for many different scenarios

1 heads up tho, the update script mentioned is a user contributed contrib and NOT an official contribs.org (Lycoris) release/update/script. AFAIK it works cleanly and is a job well done.

Cheers,
RequestedDeletion

[HappyAnchovy]

Distros like IPCOP and Smoothwall provide ONLY routing, firewall, connectivity and basic networking support.  they don't do most server stuff - and they concentrate on providing a gateway from your network to the outside world with the best security they can.

They deliberately DON't provide various server services - web, mail etc.

I use SME Server behind IPCOP.  I think IPCOP is specialist, whereas SME Server provides server functions that I like, butisn't as secure or as simple to operate.  Each to their own...

[Damian]

I have to agree with HappyAnchovy.

I've been a HP-UX/Solaris/Linux Sysadmin since '92 and am not at all comfortable with services like Samba running on the "firewall" machine (see loads of other posts on this).

SME is superb and has no real competition for features / ease of use / cost. We also use it when only Samba is needed due to 1. Ease of configuration and 2. Built in software RAID.

So get the best of both worlds and install SME as server-only and front it with an IPCop machine!

Damian

BTW - the combination above is the ONLY one we install on customer sites

[azche24]

Jo, Damian,

... since '92 and am not at all comfortable with services like Samba running on the "firewall" machine (see loads of other posts on this).

Damian

Is there anything other than potential risks with samba on firewall? Samba/Apache seems to be not so vulnerable compared with the standard MS-IIS, which normaly also runs on a ALLinONE Server in SOHO environments. And i never heard anything bad about the firewalling of e-smith.

I ask because some guys here in germany (de.comp.security.firewall) tell the same stuff.

The security issue on lycoris / e-smith are the user databases running on a firewall, not the samba. And this is the main difference to a hardware- or software firewall like ipcop. Or am i totally wrong with that?

[Damian]

Hi Alexander,

Samba is an open protocol which is designed for sharing resources. If it's running on a machine which is correctly configured then there is minimal risk. Misconfigure the machine and you have no second chance. Exposing Samba to the untrusted interface directly will certainly cause havoc.

Running a dedicated firewall server and a dedicated file/mail server on two sperate machines gives you that margin for error that can save you when you make mistakes.

The issue really is not just applicable to Samba. As you say, databases are also vulnerable, as are any other services that use network sockets.

Example with everything on one box: the mysql instance used in SME can be used for other tools installed in your ibays. With a simple modification to a template you can allow mysql to communicate via network sockets (by default it ignores them). Once configured for sockets mysql can answer database queries from any machine on your network. Very handy and great if you want to run Mambo server or something similar on SME. If you don't tie down access to mysql tightly you'll be making access to your databases directly onto the internet.

Even supposing that you don't tie down mysql access to your trusted network correctly, if you had a seperate machine running your firewall this would then have minimum impact because you haven't forwarded ports on the firewall for mysql access from outside.

Also bear in mind that if more than one person administers the SME server then the chance of misconfiguration increases.

The developers have done a great job reducing the opportunities for bad mistakes with the GUI design. It's still possible to lose it all though through poor configuration decisions.

This is an example of my reasoning on the subject and others will certainly have a different take on it. When it comes to the crunch though, there's no-one else responsible for your mistakes so you'd better be sure you're right!

BTW - if you only have one machine then that's the decision made!

Damian

[girkers]

I too have looked at IPCop and smoothwall and they do there job very well, but for an all round solution I would suggest SME.

I only use SME personally behind a hardware firewall so it is only running in Server mode, but I am yet to find a product as complete and as easy to use.