Topic: Is this a live/active project, how well recommended is it?

[jptechnical]

Forgive the question... I am definitely not trying to be rude or accusatory.

I have been watching SME for a while, I see you have jumped up a full version since I last looked.

How many small businesses (~10-20 users) are using SME for their primary server? I have been an MS shop putting in SBS for a long time... but I have been able to change about 90% over to linux (thanks Ubuntu!) for my desktop and my servers. I have not deployed any linux SBS killers for a couple years, and then it was ClarkConnect (now max 10 mailboxes... sad). I just wanted to get a feel for how much SME is utilized and if it is actively being developed, bugchecked and maintained.

The main site has never been really well maintained that I have seen (latest news July 22 2007), but then again... my site has nearly a year old content too . But it gives me reason for pause.

So, if willing, chime in and tell me why you think SME would be a good fit for small sub 20 user networks for basic email and file sharing (PDC emulation). What obstacles have you see/overcome? I have about 2 weeks to make a decision for one client whose *really old* scsi backplane died... getting them a new server and considering backing off of SBS since they don't use anything but mail storage.

Thanks!

[mercyh]

This might help a little as far as install base.

http://smolt.contribs.org/

http://smolt.contribs.org/stats.html

[jptechnical]

I was looking through there, I love the architecture stats!

I guess what I am really looking for are some testimonials and real life implementations.

but... I love me some stats

Thanks for the quick reply.

This might help a little as far as install base.

http://smolt.contribs.org/

http://smolt.contribs.org/stats.html

[mercyh]

This page should give you an idea of how active/updated the documentation is.

http://wiki.contribs.org/Special:Recentchanges

The killer for us with Microsoft SBS is that we have been unable to come up with a good easy solution to replace MS Exchange. There has been much work and if you are willing to use something other then a client for shared calenders Egroupware is as close as we get. We seem to be a bit stalled out on making Outook sync appointments with SME.

The domain on SME is a samba domain so it does not have active directory. It would be more like an old NT domain.

IMHO if you are looking for a simple filesharing/e-mail/webserver solution SME is just as good as SBS it is also simpler and has better support..........

[jptechnical]

I am sick of exchange anyway... I would rather do imap and caldav (if I can get the latter working right... need more time). So the exchange issue is a non-issue. But... thank you SO MUCH for bringing it up! I want to hear it warts and all!

The killer for us with Microsoft SBS is that we have been unable to come up with a good easy solution to replace MS Exchange. There has been much work and if you are willing to use something other then a client for shared calenders Egroupware is as close as we get. We seem to be a bit stalled out on making Outook sync appointments with SME.

[CharlieBrady]

Forgive the question... I am definitely not trying to be rude or accusatory.

Just lazy, I guess.

[mercyh]

CharlieBrady,
Do we want new users or not?

[jptechnical]

You nailed it 

Just lazy, I guess.

Have you ever searched for how many RTFMs there are in your favorite board? It tells alot about the community, in this case, you are clean as a whistle . I think it is pretty promising that my first 2 posts were positive and informative.

I have been reading forums, lots of searches, but I have never been good at finding the right keywords to search for. If you have some existing posts with testimonials, or polls on how people are using SME or similar, I would love to pour over them... but I am not using the right keywords.

[mercyh]

jptechnical,

Just so you know the lay of the land. Charlie can probably take more credit for this distro then anyone. He is probably the leading expert on this distro. If you ever get in deep trouble he will probably be the one to bail you out.

[jptechnical]

I saw his post count. And I was commending Charlie for not using RTFM, in fact, there are very few of such posts. I meant that comment to be complimentary. I was typing while on the phone... it sounded more complimentary in my head. Sorry if it looked otherwise.

Great, I have already made the lead developer mad at me... I am screwed!

I have iso and I am firing up a VM later today.

Thanks for the responses. Don't blackball me Charlie... plz.

[mercyh]

jptechnical,

I don't see anything derogatory in your post. And I very much doubt that this

Great, I have already made the lead developer mad at me... I am screwed!

is the case.

[jptechnical]

Great... got a little nervous there.   

Thanks for the replies, I am confident this is an actively maintained project, I look forward to giving back where possible. I guess I better start testing so I can give my client a couple choices.

[Stefano]

I guess what I am really looking for are some testimonials and real life implementations.

one member of this community has, for sure, more than one thousand servers installed..

if you are looking for a PDC/file/print/web/mysql/mail(imap/pop3) server, you are in the right place
the base is rock solid (CentOS/RedHat), the implementation is great, the community is "alive and kicking" (Cit.)

you'd try to setup and configure.. SME is the classic "setup and forget" distro..

HTH
Ciao
Stefano

[mercyh]

another is working on this little project:
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=41425.0

[byte]

IMHO if you are looking for a simple filesharing/e-mail/webserver solution SME is just as good as SBS it is also simpler and has better support..........

A simple secure out of the box solution is the SME Server