Topic: SME (e-smith) Server for home use

[smallstool]

I have just been treated by the wife to a Sereniti-2000 enclosure plus EPIA-M10000 for my birthday and would like to put it to use as a central file server for the whole family to use.

Questions are:

Is SME (e-smith) Server the best to use? (I like the fact that I can hide the box away and control from any other machine).

I already have a similar box running smoothwall for my firewall (I will keep this as it is).

Intend to buy 2 x Seagate 160gb drives and use RAID 1 support - any other suggestions?

Would I get much benefit in using 512mb over 256mb RAM?

My daughters PC runs XP home - is there an easy way for her to join the servers domain?

Just starting to get to grips with basic Linux (playing with mdrake 10.1 and suse 9.2) but cant see an easy way for me to use these like e-smith.

Many thanks for reading

Smallstool

[markehle]

SME IS PERFECT for this situation!

I have been using SME on a Compaq Proliant 1600 home for about a year now, and besides the high electric cost of running the thing, I am really happy!

Using an ITX-based machine with SME would make the perfect home server. Go for more ram, it never hurts!

However, for learning Linux itself, get a spare box and load a stock distro of you choice (mine's Fedora) and play with it - too much playing with SME and you can break it without knowing why. Looks like from your post that you might be already heading in that direction. If you are using SME for email/web serving, you do not want to break it if other people (in your house or out) are relying on it.

Have fun!

Mark

[treyh]

I have only been using SME for a short time but have benefited great from it...

Not only can you use it for a file server, it's an out of the box web and email server.

512mb of ram shouldn't be needed if you're not running a  web or email server, but hey overkill never hurts.

You can specifiy SME to be a domain controller, so you will have to change XP over to the domain which is very easy.

If you'd like to have content filtering and etc, visit here. I use their suite of software and set pam_auth (makes users login after opening browse) and I am able to monitor what they go to, and limit their access. Best yet, the entier suite of software is only $100. Visit Here.
http://www.dungog.net/sme/index.php

[whistleruk]

I agree, been using SME server 6 with no problems as a home Gateway/Mail/VPN Server for nearly a year.
XP Home does not support Domain Logins or Duel CPUS (others with I can't remember) but I don't think that will cause problems in the home environment as you not using multi machines.

[treyh]

I agree, been using SME server 6 with no problems as a home Gateway/Mail/VPN Server for nearly a year.
XP Home does not support Domain Logins or Duel CPUS (others with I can't remember) but I don't think that will cause problems in the home environment as you not using multi machines.

I forgot about xp home not having that feature, or several others offered by pro

[djhomeless]

I have just been treated by the wife to a Sereniti-2000 enclosure plus EPIA-M10000 for my birthday

Too spooky, my wife treated me to an Epia ME6000 before Christmas!

I think the kit you have would be perfect for a home file/web server. I currently have a co-located server that I'm paying £30 ($55) a month for. As I'm also new to Linux I've taken the slow route to migrate my various domains onto the box.

You'll love the stability and ease of use of SME. Also, the comminity is very very strong! Since firing up my box I've added a lot of contribs, and followed many howto's to 'improve' the system. None of that would have been possible without the community.

Just take your time getting things running!

Geoffrey

[drywalldude]

Here is a screen shot of what you are wanting to do except with ipcop

http://ericswww.com/rpm_bay/sme_remote_view.JPG  

[smallstool]

Many thanks for your help and comments.

I built my mini-itx box yetserday and installed 2 h/drives and 512mb.

I am busy transfering files for the 5 users at the moment, the email and web server looks great but will try and getting it running 100% as file server and domain controller first.

Interestingly I downloaded 6.5 beta to try and installed it one 2 machines, and got the same problems on both:

The index bar down the left side (Users,Groups,Quotas etc) showed up and then another lot the same appeared in the main window.

Clicking on Users I was able to access the next screen (very slow), but was unable to access anything else.

I have gone with 6.01 and it seems great.

Thanks again and have one on me  


Smallstool

[laurie_lewis]

I did read somewhere on a hack so that xp home can log onto a domain.  Google away and it may appear.

[laurie_lewis]

Would love to know how the M1000 goes as a server as I am looking at ditching my big old server and seeing how something smaller goes.  I also have 5 users at home.

Can you notice the difference that raid 1 is making on your hard drives?  Is it taking a lot of grunt out of the M1000 to run it?

Any other feedback appreciated.

Thanks

Laurie

[arnoldob]

You may wish to look at this topic and report the issue you had with the 6.5 update there:
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=25667.0
I've been using SME 6.01 at home for close to a year now and I love it. I would take the suggestion to have another box to test stuff on very seriously. You can easily break stuff without knowing why. I use a "doorstop" class PII 350 w/ 128 MB to test stuff before moving it to the production box.

Good Luck

Many thanks for your help and comments.

I built my mini-itx box yetserday and installed 2 h/drives and 512mb.

I am busy transfering files for the 5 users at the moment, the email and web server looks great but will try and getting it running 100% as file server and domain controller first.

Interestingly I downloaded 6.5 beta to try and installed it one 2 machines, and got the same problems on both:

The index bar down the left side (Users,Groups,Quotas etc) showed up and then another lot the same appeared in the main window.

Clicking on Users I was able to access the next screen (very slow), but was unable to access anything else.

I have gone with 6.01 and it seems great.

Thanks again and have one on me  


Smallstool

[harkon]

I did read somewhere on a hack so that xp home can log onto a domain. Google away and it may appear.

For what its worth, there is no way to make XP Home log into an NT Domain. It can't ever become a domain member. The best you can do is workgroup access, you still need to authenticate the user, but you aren't really a domain member. The hacks referred to here simply make a workgroup login look like a domain login, just smoke and mirrors.

If all your daughter needs is file and printer access, then a workgroup login will suffice, she really doens't need to become a member of the domain. FWIW, I have several systems in the office running XP Home, accessing SME server and Win2K Server without incident.

Isn't Windows fun?

[mocco]

Just to echo. You are asking for trouble using 6.5 beta in your production or home environment. Use 6.01 with all the patches.It is the most stable at the moment.

Many thanks for your help and comments.

I built my mini-itx box yetserday and installed 2 h/drives and 512mb.

I am busy transfering files for the 5 users at the moment, the email and web server looks great but will try and getting it running 100% as file server and domain controller first.

Interestingly I downloaded 6.5 beta to try and installed it one 2 machines, and got the same problems on both:

The index bar down the left side (Users,Groups,Quotas etc) showed up and then another lot the same appeared in the main window.

Clicking on Users I was able to access the next screen (very slow), but was unable to access anything else.

I have gone with 6.01 and it seems great.

Thanks again and have one on me  


Smallstool

[smallstool]

Many thanks again using 6.01 and its running great, have got all machines on domain now (except XP home box) and my little m1000 mini-itx seems to be lapping it up!
 

[addodge]

I have smoothwall too, and am having a few issues with routing.  I was wondering if you could help a brother out  
smoothwall is setup red, orange, green
red = external ip
green = 192.168.1.1 =>hawking wireless router
orange = 192.168.2.1
the wireless router is setup to give out dhcp in the 192.168.2.1 range.
The problem i am having is i cannot get sme setup so that it will access the internet through smoothwall.  I know that the orange network does not work off of dhcp so i have specified a address of 192.168.3.2 with a gateway/dns of 192,168.1.1 i have also tried a gateway/dns of 192.168.3.1 and still have no luck.  I dont want to steel the thread, but if anyone has had this setup and can shed some light i would really be happy.
Thanks
Andy

[dhardy]

red = external ip
green = 192.168.1.1 =>hawking wireless router
orange = 192.168.2.1
the wireless router is setup to give out dhcp in the 192.168.2.1 range.

Either your typing is wrong or your addresses are wrong. If your AP is giving out 192.168.2.x then it should be on orange not green. If its on green it should be passing through dhcp from Smoothwall.

You don't have a 192.168.3.x network listed. If the SME is on Green it should be 192.168.1.x, if its on orange it should be 192.168.2.x

The default gateway should be the smoothwall IP on that subnet - either 192.168.1.1 for the green or 192.168.2.1 for the orange.

I'm presuming that you have got the orange and green interfaces on the Smoothwall connected to DIFFERENT hubs or switches and that the access point is either connected to a hub and the green port or uses a crossover cable and connects directly.

This is all basic networking stuff -   - if you have trouble with smoothwall try m0n0wall from www.m0n0.ch

HTH
David.

[Ness]

Many thanks again using 6.01 and its running great, have got all machines on domain now (except XP home box) and my little m1000 mini-itx seems to be lapping it up!
 

As I think was mentioned above, if you'd like em all on the network with shares and stuff, don't use the Domains setup, use Workgroups instead, I have a mix of XPHOme and XPPro machines and all can se each other and the server's shares by setting all to the same Workgroup name and giving each user a login password pair that is matched by an account on the server. Works well and is very reliable.

Chris

[smallstool]

Have been running as a file server now for a couple of weeks - everythings been great.

I decided to treat myself (and the family) to a domain name.

I signed up to easyDNS service and got a domain name.

Unfortunateley I cant get to see my webpage can anybody help?

Details as follows:

Main ISP Blueyonder cable 1.5Mb service

EasyDNS service domain: Bergsweb.com

SME as serveronly sitting behind Smoothwall Express Firewall with following settings:
Service:  easydns
Hostname:  bergsweb
Domain: bergsweb.com
No Proxy, enabled Wildcards, added easyDNS username & passwords.
I have opened port 80 on smoothwall and can ping www.bergsweb.com ok

Any help would be greatly recieved.

Smallstool

[rod123]

Hi

I can see your smeserver minimal-type web page at www.bergsweb.com no probs.

Rod

[StuC]

I can see it from here.
Could be a dns problem, like your machine does not have the domain as registered local so it asks for an address from the EasyDNS server.
As the result is your external address you wont be able to loopback to the web interface.

try adding the domain to the sme box so it connects locally?

If your browser gets its DNS from outside the local network then you will be trying to go out via the Smoothwall and connect back to port 80 on the smoothwall.
That dont work (I think)
so either use your sme server as a proxy, having added the domain it will serve up the page without accessing the net.
OR
make sure your dns server is the SME box
OR
if you dont want to use the sme for dns/proxy add an entry in your hosts file that has the domain and local address

[smallstool]

Nearly there, thanks for your help - its good to know you can see it - even if I cant!

Settings as follows:

Hostname Visibility Location Local IP Global IP Ethernet address Action
bergserver.bergsweb.com Global Self       Modify  Remove  
bergsweb-server.bergsweb.com Local Self          
ftp.bergsweb.com Local Self       Modify  Remove  
mail.bergsweb.com Local Self       Modify  Remove  
proxy.bergsweb.com Local Self       Modify  Remove  
wpad.bergsweb.com Local Self       Modify  Remove  
www.bergsweb.com Global Self       Modify  Remove

SME box is DNS server (I think) still no joy  

PS how to I turn on HTML for messages in Forum?

[StuC]

Assuming a windows box, run ipconfig/all from the command prompt.
Note the addresses for DNS server, the first one should be your SME box (you should not need any others)

Then check in your web browser that if you use the SME server for a proxy (which makes sense) that it does not use the proxy for "local addresses"

Then two things should happen
1 your dns server replies with your INTERNAL address, not the address the rest of us get outside your network.
2 your browser allows you to connect directly to the local address:80 I.E. the webserver on SME server

As for HTML in post dont know sorry

and for tidyness sake I'd delete the wpad, ftp and bergsweb-server bits unless you need them.
I dont even know what bergsweb-server is.

[djhomeless]

Bergsweb.com is up and active.

My guess is your local PC is not able to resolve a proper DNS server, or your router does not have the proper rules to forward your request.

I have the same problem with my Netgear router. The only way to work around it was to add an entry into my host file (on the client machine).

Geoffrey

[smallstool]

Thanks for your help guys

I had 2 x DNS servers running at 192.168.0.1 & 192.168.0.50

Now appears to be working ok - many thanks.

Will keep ploding away and playing -e email next!

[splunk]

I'm about to order an Epia800 myself to replace my current P3 450mhz SME server.

[MSmith]

I'm arriving a bit late at this party, but if you want a truly huge WAF ("Wife Acceptance Factor") you might consider making a PVR out of that machine; I'm running MythTV on a Shuttle SFF machine with a Hauppauge PVR-250 and a standard universal remote controls it for everyday use; bye-bye, VCR!

[treyh]

I tried the 1.3 version from osticket.com and it's working great now, eventhough it's still in beta form