Koozali.org: home of the SME Server

New Forum Proposal

Offline brentonv

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New Forum Proposal
« on: December 12, 2007, 12:18:09 PM »
hi there. just a thought. would you guys be into setting up a forum dedicated to SME integration into a Microsoft environment. All the tricks and tips assosiated with managing the Windows environment via Linux?. the reason i thought that i would suggest this is that i have met some IT professionals recently from both Microsoft and Linux backgrounds and both parties find it suprising what i have been able to achieve with Linux within the Micosoft dominated office envirmonment.

simple things such as NTConfig.POL created from an up-to-date Server 2003/XP SP2 customized ADM using an old Windows 2000 poledit.exe (some people scratch their heads) take moments of chance and persistence to discover, stumbling across the right forum or the right keyword combination on google. so what i mean is to create a new forum or how-to on contribs.org to consolidate everyone's experience in integrating SME Server into a typical office environment (or school) rather than people haplessly scrounging around various forums for answers to the most obscure questions.

after three years of research (beginning as a Linux n00b) i have managed to:

(excuse me i am just going to post an excerpt from my cv)
Quote
Rollout (Linux) saw implementation of Linux domain controllers, email servers, web servers, file servers, backup servers, firewalls, antivirus servers, VPN concentrators and thinclient desktops, with server environments consolidated utilizing “free” virtualisation technology again saving money on hardware costs. Overall penetration of Linux around 95%, with Microsoft Windows Terminal Server at each local office to facilitate familiar Windows desktop environment and users enjoying benefit of  “single sign on” and “standard operating environment” across entire organisation. Overall cost saving to organisation around 80% when compared with Microsoft only environment

people who are predominately Linux oriented need to easily find advice on the latest Microsoft products such as registry entries and changes to the Office Customizations Tool etc and vice versa, for the purposes of integration. like everyone here i want to be able to share our knowledge and experience. i don't like the idea of people to trying to compile an untested solution to a common problem by sifting around aimlessly finding tid bits across multiple sources trying to piece it together themselves (speaking from my own experiences) when they could just look it up on contribs.org.

certain things are already well documented in the how-to's (such as point and print) but i have noticed that a lot of Windows related posts on the forums are replied as "this is a Microsoft question and does not belong in this forum" and yet a different post will have an answer for the exact same question. i would be happy to submit my documentation when complete for review by the SME team. after all it is called SME Server and what small to medium enterprise isn't dominated by Windows? SME rocks so let's get more Windows administrators comfortable with it and rolling it out!.

btw: the last thing on my list of things to do is create a shared LDAP address book. if you have any advice, please share. don't say it can't be done!

i look forward to some feedback on this post and sorry for rambling on.

regards,
brenton
« Last Edit: December 12, 2007, 12:47:40 PM by brentonv »

Offline Jáder

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2007, 01:14:52 PM »
Hi Brentonv

I agree with you... a Microsoft integration forum could be useful. But is not my job say "do it" or "not yet".

Anyway, you can allways share you knowleadge... if you need online space I can provide.
I also can put your documentation on Wiki (if you have no access/time to do it).

Welcome aboard!

Jáder
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Offline brentonv

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #2 on: December 12, 2007, 01:47:19 PM »
thanks jader. i won't have everything documented for a few months yet. i will let you know when it's done (is there a PM function on this forum?) i still want to fully investigate the shared LDAP directory with my collegue first. aparantly it can be written in php http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/PHP/Create-an-LDAP-Address-Book-with-PHP/

regards,
brenton

Offline Stefano

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #3 on: December 12, 2007, 01:53:40 PM »
aparantly it can be written in php

of course it can.. but, as I said in another post, the main problem is that users wish to use address book from mail clients like thunderbird or outlook.. addressbook with web interface.. there are many of them

Ciao

Stefano

Offline brentonv

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2007, 02:06:23 PM »
thanks nenonano. let's keep this discussion on http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=39398.0. i look forward to discussing this with you further. my collegue is the php coder so i don't know much about what is possible other than what i have already posted. i don't mind writing to the directory via web interface so long as the directory is accessible to all users via client such as outlook.

regards,
brenton

Offline Stefano

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #5 on: December 12, 2007, 02:10:52 PM »
i don't mind writing to the directory via web interface so long as the directory is accessible to all users via client such as outlook.

unfortunately directory is read only from outllok and thunderbird

ciao

Stefano

Offline Jáder

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #6 on: December 12, 2007, 05:16:11 PM »
thanks jader. i won't have everything documented for a few months yet. i will let you know when it's done (is there a PM function on this forum?) i still want to fully investigate the shared LDAP directory with my collegue first. aparantly it can be written in php http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/PHP/Create-an-LDAP-Address-Book-with-PHP/

Would you like to write the documentation on a wiki ? I can create one to you quickly.
About PM...normally we suggest to do not use it... because the main focus here is to share information.
BUT, if you like to write me, my e-mail is jader (DOT) marasca (AT) gmail (DOT) com .

I have great interest on shared LDAP directory, or just a shared address book. I came to linux from Novell and I was using Pegasus Mail who have a wonderfull (and simple) company-wide address book. I miss it!

I´m ASAP developer can they will move everything to LDAP (see something already done!) so all user information/pwd will be LDAP only (not text files replicated to LDAP info as today).

Regards

Jáder

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Offline brentonv

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2007, 11:51:46 PM »
thanks jader. that would be great. would you be able to make edits/comments/suggestions (collaborate) on the wiki also. that would be usefull. i'll keep in touch via email.

regards,
brenton

Offline raem

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #8 on: December 13, 2007, 03:04:48 AM »
brentonv

There is already a General Forum which could cater for sme/Microsoft integration questions/issues, and although a new forum is not a bad idea, it is another one to have to read.

I would think the best place to document such information is in the wiki, probably in the Howto Category
http://wiki.contribs.org/Category:Howto
eg Windows Integration or similarly named page.

Feel free to contribute the information and tips you have as many/most sme users will be interested.
The wiki is pretty easy to use, at it's basic level just create the page in the browser address window
eg
http://wiki.contribs.org/Windows_Integration
and start typing away, others can help with the layout etc.

Please put a link in this thread to anything that gets created.
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Offline raem

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2007, 03:12:56 AM »
brentonv

Re LDAP, there was earlier work done for sme6

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/smeserver/contribs/hmuhammad/sme-6.0/


This may be also be of general interest (although not specifically address book related)

http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1543
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Offline Per

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Wiki page created
« Reply #10 on: January 02, 2008, 11:40:18 AM »
So I created the Wiki HowTo page: http://wiki.contribs.org/Windows_Integration.
Please feel free to add your hints and tips.

Edit by Cactus: fixed URL.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2010, 08:01:07 AM by cactus »
NO! I refuse to put some clever latin sentence here!

Offline brentonv

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2008, 07:40:44 AM »
cool. just in the middle of finishing my project (windows/linux), quitting work (documenting and handing over), packing up house, moving to new town, looking for work in new town, and oh.. expecting baby in next 3 months. can't wait to get started but will have to wait a couple of months.

thanks,
brentonv

Offline Per

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Wow
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2008, 08:20:06 PM »
Seems like you are a bit busy! And baby too :shock: -just say goodbye to personal time, I know, I have three of them.
Good luck! And we will be here, waiting for you.
NO! I refuse to put some clever latin sentence here!

Offline Jáder

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2008, 06:04:23 PM »
Brentonv

As I could see from below your free time is shrinking... fast! Really fast.
Could you just send any notes you have to me and I´ll try/test and document on wiki ?
send them to dv <DOT> linufacil <AT> gmail (DOT) com

I don´t care about being 100% ok/correct/anything... just would like to start to put them on that wiki page ;)

Thanks

Jáder

cool. just in the middle of finishing my project (windows/linux), quitting work (documenting and handing over), packing up house, moving to new town, looking for work in new town, and oh.. expecting baby in next 3 months. can't wait to get started but will have to wait a couple of months.

thanks,
brentonv
...

Offline brentonv

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Re: New Forum Proposal
« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2008, 01:14:40 PM »
i am moving in two days and everything except computer is already packed away. i will be set up again within a couple of weeks and will hand over what i have to you then. i will contact you on email very soon.
brentonv
« Last Edit: January 30, 2008, 01:17:58 PM by brentonv »