Koozali.org: home of the SME Server
Obsolete Releases => SME Server 7.x => Topic started by: rgmhtt on March 17, 2009, 08:12:55 PM
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I am still running an NT server as a PDC. I want to get off it already. I was even ready to give up on netlogins by userid and go with a SAMBA workgroup. I was also looking for an email solution to replace my Scalix CE with integrated spam filtering and discovered SME.
I run Centos 5.2 on a lot of systems and am just a little concerned about stepping back to Centos 4. Centos 5 has enough problems with IPv6, going back to 4 will mean more IPv6 issues, amongst other things.
So if I can get a few questions answered I can figure out if I go with SME or do my own SAMBA workgroup with something like amahi.org and say Zimbra for email/anti-spam...
First question is DNS server. I run my own zone master, I need IPv6 and DNSSEC. Do I have to run DNS on SME, or what functions do I loose?
DHCP: Do I need to run DHCPD on SME, I do see it is optional. What functionality is lost?
WINS: Is there a WINS function? Can I have workstations on other subnets?
Is there any mechanism to migrate my NT PDC information to the SME PDC database? I read the Samba paper that seems to indicate: NO! and that Samba cannot be an NTdomain's BDC and get promoted to PDC (though once I thought I read it could be done).
Changing SME IP address. Is the IP address for an SME server fixed for the life of that server? Can I install on a test net, get it all going, turn off my NT server, move the SME server in its place and give it the old NT server's IP address to SME?
What IS the email package? What is it based from?
Well this gets me started thinking....
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rgmhtt
I run Centos 5.2 on a lot of systems and am just a little concerned about stepping back to Centos 4.
Use sme8beta3, it is well advanced and standard "out of the box" functionality is there & working.
First question is DNS server. I run my own zone master, I need IPv6 and DNSSEC. Do I have to run DNS on SME, or what functions do I loose?
sme has its own DNS server for local web requests. It looks up root DNS servers.
You can run you own DNS server if you wish, as that I assume is related to publishing your domains DNS records, which sme does not do.
DHCP: Do I need to run DHCPD on SME, I do see it is optional. What functionality is lost?
The sme DHCP server dishes out IPs to workgroup workstations. You can enable sme to do that or have another DHCP server (eg router) on your network if preferred.
sme will do it quite well.
WINS: Is there a WINS function? Can I have workstations on other subnets?
sme has a built in WINS server. I believe you can add other local subnets as additional networks in one of the server manager panels.
Is there any mechanism to migrate my NT PDC information to the SME PDC database?
I don't believe so.
Is the IP address for an SME server fixed for the life of that server? Can I install on a test net, get it all going, turn off my NT server, move the SME server in its place and give it the old NT server's IP address to SME?
You can change the IP anytime without upsetting anything. sme reconfigures itself correctly.
What IS the email package? What is it based from?......and say Zimbra for email/anti-spam...
qmail & qpsmtpd & clamav & RBL
I STRONGLY suggest you use sme "as is" as all the services have been tightly integrated and do work very well together. You will have upgrade problems if you change major components.
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Welcome to the forums :)
Mary has done a great job getting you started, so I'll just add a few things:
First question is DNS server. I run my own zone master, I need IPv6 and DNSSEC. Do I have to run DNS on SME, or what functions do I loose?
AFAIK SME Server doesn't do IPv6. What exactly do you need this for?
WINS: Is there a WINS function? Can I have workstations on other subnets?
You can add other subnets as trusted local networks with access to SME resources.
Is there any mechanism to migrate my NT PDC information to the SME PDC database?
I would suggest using the Lazy Admin Tools. You can prepare a CSV input file with the existing usernames etc. and then feed this into lat-users, thereby creating all of your users with one command.
What IS the email package? What is it based from?
Well this gets me started thinking....
If you use IMAP with your clients, and Funambol to synchronise contacts/tasks/appointments between Outlook and the server, you can get something that will be reasonable for most users. Webmail is provided by Horde, which is built in to SME Server.
Alternatively, you could look at the Zarafa contrib.
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rgmhtt
Use sme8beta3, it is well advanced and standard "out of the box" functionality is there & working.
This is good to know. Will I have to rebuild with each beta or will yum update move me from beta to beta to production?
And at least Centos 5 has decent IPv6 support. Not good enough for Shorewall6, as the Shorewall developers point out you need at least FC9 to get stateful iptables support. I am told Wall6 works on Centos 5. Since I don't plan on using SME as a gateway, this level of ip6tables functionality should be enough.
The sme DHCP server dishes out IPs to workgroup workstations. You can enable sme to do that or have another DHCP server (eg router) on your network if preferred.
sme will do it quite well.
In other words, no special dhcp options to support any special DYNDNS features?
sme has a built in WINS server. I believe you can add other local subnets as additional networks in one of the server manager panels.
Great. With my 'home' network (really a lab with ~10 vlans), I need WINS.
I don't believe so.
Hey what is with this forum? 'Quoting' does not provide nested quotes. What is this a reply to? Oh, migration from WinNT; David gave me an answer to this question...
qmail & qpsmtpd & clamav & RBL
What for anti-spam? Just RBL?
I STRONGLY suggest you use sme "as is" as all the services have been tightly integrated and do work very well together. You will have upgrade problems if you change major components.
I have ENOUGH other projects where I have to do MAJOR integration. I need my mail and SMB domain to be as 'plug N Play' as possible.
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Welcome to the forums :)
Too many forums, too many listservs. ARGH!!! :smile:
Mary has done a great job getting you started, so I'll just add a few things:
And I thank Mary for all of her answers. They are very helpful.
AFAIK SME Server doesn't do IPv6. What exactly do you need this for?
I have a /48 native IPv6 delegation for my home lab. I am working on moving all of my network to IPv6 to learn the barriers and report to IPv6OPS at IETF. (I have been with IETF since '93).
I would suggest using the Lazy Admin Tools. You can prepare a CSV input file with the existing usernames etc. and then feed this into lat-users, thereby creating all of your users with one command.
What is Lazy Admin Tools and where do I get them? I assume they run on WinNT.
If you use IMAP with your clients, and Funambol to synchronise contacts/tasks/appointments between Outlook and the server, you can get something that will be reasonable for most users. Webmail is provided by Horde, which is built in to SME Server.
All users are POP (A few still on Eudora, all migrating to Thunderbird. Oh one Outlook diehard). Occational Webmail.
Alternatively, you could look at the Zarafa contrib.
I saw that beta in my research. What is this? Zarafa releasing a 'free' version? But it does not seem like I need the features Zarafa offers for my users.
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Your need for IPv6 may, unfortunately, be a deal breaker, at least until SME 8 comes out. But then Windows NT doesn't support IPv6 either, so I guess SME 7.x is still better than NT if you are keen on ditching it ASAP.
What is Lazy Admin Tools and where do I get them? I assume they run on WinNT.
http://wiki.contribs.org/Lazy_Admin_Tools
LAT is not a migration tool, but it can batch add users, groups and file shares (ibays) programmatically using input files. After this, I suggest you install an SCP client (e.g. WinSCP) on your NT server and start moving stuff across that way.
All users are POP (A few still on Eudora, all migrating to Thunderbird. Oh one Outlook diehard). Occational Webmail.
I figured you were using Exchange ~5.5. SME Server will have no difficulty with these setups - there is no need for Zarafa, which is essentially an Exchange replacement and well above the required feature set.
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What is Lazy Admin Tools and where do I get them?
You didn't think of asking Google? Sheesh!
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Your need for IPv6 may, unfortunately, be a deal breaker, at least until SME 8 comes out. But then Windows NT doesn't support IPv6 either, so I guess SME 7.x is still better than NT if you are keen on ditching it ASAP.
Per Mary's comments, I am installing SME8b3; at least for a trial. I have one box whose USB ethernet is not supported in Centos 4.7, but is in 5.2. I do have a test box I can put SME 7 on as well.
If you are wondering about running SME through a USB ethernet dongle, my current winNT server has been untouched since '96 on '95 hardware...
I just like to know if SME 8 will update through the betas to production via yum or only through reinstalls. If the later, and maybe anyway, I will do the first step of the NT conversion via SME 7.
http://wiki.contribs.org/Lazy_Admin_Tools
LAT is not a migration tool, but it can batch add users, groups and file shares (ibays) programmatically using input files. After this, I suggest you install an SCP client (e.g. WinSCP) on your NT server and start moving stuff across that way.
Oh, I guess I read too much into your earlier comment about LAT. I ASSuMEd you meant I could run it on my WinNT server to BUILD the CSV file of users. Seem to recall that there IS such a utility in the NT resource kit??? Boy it has been YEARS since I touched that beast; got the CD around here somewhere.
Don't need WinSCP; all the data on the server fits easily on one 8Gb USB thumb drive! Pull it all down on a client then upload on the server. Plus I can do it in a way to retain creation/modification dates.
I figured you were using Exchange ~5.5. SME Server will have no difficulty with these setups - there is no need for Zarafa, which is essentially an Exchange replacement and well above the required feature set.
No. I am running Scalix on Centos 5 for mail right now, and not using its Exchange connector. I don't like the way it upgrades, I have broken it a number of times. Or the Centos tomcat updates break Scalix. So this time around, I am looking hard at alternatives. I searched both the Centos and Fedora lists for past discussions then asked again on the Centos list. It was an old message that sent me here before I got responses to the new posting.
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You didn't think of asking Google? Sheesh!
Sure did and did not find ANYTHING about running it on WinNT, which was my mistaken read of David's reply.
I got the URL of http://wiki.contribs.org/Talk:Lazy_Admin_Tools via google before David provided it.
So this URL points to LAT for SME 7. What about for SME 8????
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rgmhtt
Will I have to rebuild with each beta or will yum update move me from beta to beta to production?
Probably there will be yum updates. Worst case is that you would need to upgrade via CD.
Again this is beta so no absolute guarantees, but previous betas upgraded to production OK, either via yum or via CD. Again there is usually no need to have to do a compete reinstall, as one or the other or both upgrade paths will be available.
In other words, no special dhcp options to support any special DYNDNS features?
If you are referring to updating an external dynamic host provider like dyndns or yi etc, sme does support those, and there is the very good ddclient contrib to keep your dynamic IP updated at your dynamic host provider site.
If you are referring to support for different types of internet connections ie cable, adsl etc PPoE etc, then there is support for the different popular types of services.
What for anti-spam? Just RBL?
Left out spamassassin rejection & filtering, and executable content pattern matching filtering, on top of qmail, qpsmtpd, clamav & RBL (RHSBL & DNSBL).
Very little spam gets through sme.
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rgmhtt
If you are referring to updating an external dynamic host provider like dyndns or yi etc, sme does support those, and there is the very good ddclient contrib to keep your dynamic IP updated at your dynamic host provider site.
If you are referring to support for different types of internet connections ie cable, adsl etc PPoE etc, then there is support for the different popular types of services.
No. I am referring to the way that MS implemented AD to do DYNDNS updates and Samba's copying of same.
I have tested one Samba server implementation that implemented this even for a simple workgroup. The server provided DHCP services for the clients and registered them to what ever workgroup name you created which was also the DNS domain.
Full use of the product required clients to get their DHCP lease from the server which made for an interesting challenge for clients on different subnets....
Of course none of this is really needed for an NT-style domain login setup that SME provides.
I run my own nameserver for my domain: htt-consult.com with my ISP and a friend being secondaries. My ISP has delegated the reverse lookup in-addr.arpa domain to me so I can maintain the reverse (I have 64 public addresses for my home lab along with my RFC1918 addresses and that iPv6 /48 delegation :) ). But I do not run a DYNDNS at this time. I expect to have DNSSEC FINALLY working next month, as well as AAAA RR for my hosts.
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So this URL points to LAT for SME 7. What about for SME 8????
Since SME Server 8 is still in beta no contribs are build and released through the SME Contribs repository channel, this will be the case until the first release candidate will be available as beta is not stable enough to build the code on, things might change to much. This is also why you are not adviced to use it in production and might also answer your questions on upgrading. Since it is beta there is no one who will assure you that future upgrades will be problem free...
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You didn't think of asking Google? Sheesh!
:lol: good ol' Charlie!
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:lol: good ol' Charlie!
And like I replied, Google helps a lot. But it does not always give you all the information you seek. Particularly if you are seeking information that does not exist!
:lol:
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I was referring to Charlie's newbie friendly comment. :lol:
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I was referring to Charlie's newbie friendly comment. :lol:
rgmhtt,
Welcome to the jungle.
Meet Charlie Brady, our 'beastie' core developer..
don't be shocked if he is very strict to forum rules like : search before you ask/don't ask same question twice, RTFM, don't report problems here:report to bugzilla, blah blah...
Some people especially SME server newbie can't accept it and get mad at the way he communicate it..
Put that all behind, SME server is a great server distro.. believe me.
thomasch
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I'm no newbie to SME but I still don't like rude comments. And answering a question with
RTFM
should never be condoned. (Not that Charlie has ever done that).
Steve (SME user since 2003).
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steever
Is it the F part of RTFM that irks you (and one possible implied meaning), or is it just that someone is saying RTM (read the manual), rather than answering more specifically.
Some people have a rude meaning for the F whereas others have a more tasteful meaning, usually people will (wrongly) assume the worst version. Some people seem to very quickly and easily get hot under the collar over implied meanings, problem being they are the ones who implied it, rather than the original poster.
If the information/answer is indeed in the manual, and the question is answered with a RTM suggestion (without the F), whats wrong with that ? (ie I don't see anything wrong with it). No need to repeat what's already been written and published.
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Exactly, Mary. The meaning of the F in RTFM is pretty offensive. Everyone knows what it stands for and it's just plain rude. I've seen it three or four times in the forum. RTM is an OK response, I suppose, particularly it it's hyperlinked to the part of the manual or wiki that will help.
I've noticed over the last 12 months that the forums have become much unfriendlier. I hope we can try to amend this. It was the friendliness of the community that first attracted me to this distro in the first place.
Steve
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steever
The meaning of the F in RTFM is pretty offensive. Everyone knows what it stands for and it's just plain rude.
Many people do not attach the rude meaning (the one I assume you refer to) to the F letter, they have other quite unoffensive meanings for it. It all depends on the reader and what they imply the original poster is saying/meaning.
I've noticed over the last 12 months that the forums have become much unfriendlier.
I disagree somewhat. I think that certain readers/posters are jumping to conclusions, and are more hot headed and intolerant in their responses to perfectly pleasant suggestions etc (when read literally and without implied meaning). The issue is that these hot headed types imply the original poster is suggesting something bad and get annoyed by it.
For example I have had dealings with some high profile users of this community, and I know that everything they say is well meaning, well intended and not at all harsh or unpleasant, but they have been attacked many times for supposed unfriendly and harsh responses.
The unfriendliness and criticism was generated by the "temperamental & reactive" respondent and NOT by the original poster.
I'd ask people to be much more tolerant of suggestions and not to automatically take offense and become emotional about a technical suggestion, which includes NOT implying a bad meaning, as in many/most/all cases there was NO bad meaning ever intended or in fact present when read literally.
I also speak from personal experience, as well as observation of posts of other people I have some personal knowledge of.
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I am sorry I never means that 'F' in rude way.. .. Apologize..
English is not my mother tongue and to me RTM and RTFM has the same meaning,
I think it in positive way. I always think F is 'Fine '.
I see 'RTFM' term everywhere everyday for years since 1994 makes the 'rudeness' of RTFM abbrev become 'no rude at all' to me.. RTFM also a more popular term than RTM.
And to me RTM or RT-Fine-M is an OK response..
thomasch
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thomasch
...I think it in positive way. I always think F is 'Fine '.
Thank you for confirming that there are some amongst us who do not automatically connotate bad or rude meanings for popular abbreviations/phrases.
Those who choose to see & imply "bad", need to drop the attitude and think more positively and look for the good intent behind posted suggestions.
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Thread has taken a turn or two, so allow this 'Newbie' an Introduction...
I am Robert Moskowitz of ICSAlabs, an Independent Division of Verizon Business Systems. I work out of my home in the Detroit area with an extensive testing lab. I have always supplied my own FIle Share/Print Serve services here for my work and family. I have been running an NT Domain at home since I finished the NT 3.1 beta back in my Chrysler days.
I sat in front of my first Teletype in '66 as a High School junior; BASIC was 2 years old. I have been working in the Computer field since '74 and been with ICSAlabs since '98.
My area of expertise is in security protocols. I have been active in the IETF since '94 and IEEE 802 since '01. You will find my name associated with a number of standards like Private Addressing, IPsec, and WiFi security.
I moderated my first discussion list on a PCBoard network in '85. I have no idea of how many maillists and forums I have membership in. I tend to be active in a handful each day. These days my main work is with HIP (RFC 4423), IPv6, SIP, and 802.11s (meshes).
As far as RTFM, F frequently means foobared. I spent a day going through the SME wiki before posting here. IMNSHO, SME's docs there are foobared, but I quite understand the challenge of a community like SME's to develop and maintain documentation. Thus the list and one hopes, good searching functions. Google can be your friend or your enemy (Pages' father was one of my profs at MSU; remember him as a little kid). Of course my Dyslexia does not help in all of this, other than superior visualization skills (read "The Gift of Dyslexia").
At this point my goal is to bring up two test SME systems and move them into production. One will be a replacement for my 12+ year old NTserver. The other for my 3 year old Scalix server. There may be a couple WINS systems in there, or if I can get a good 'standalone' WINS configuration, I would run it on some of my other systems here and avoid more dedicated systems (or having to get into VM/XEN setups).
So for now I am a nudge, asking questions. After I get a feel for things, I may be a aid to others. In terms of NT Domain knowledge, I am just a user and there HAS to be people that know a LOT more than me. And I am NOT a programmer; never coded in C, though I did do a bit in B. I am an architect and theoretician. I DO know a bit about security goo...
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rgmhtt
As far as RTFM, F frequently means foobared. ......
I spent a day going through the SME wiki before posting here. IMNSHO, SME's docs there are foobared,....
I looked up foobared, but I'm not really sure I understand or interpret what you are saying/meaning.
Please define with plain english words.
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Well, it is the programmer's alternative to fubar. In networking, it allowed us to talk about system foo and system bar, or domain foo.bar.
But we all knew it was really fubar....
Scott O. Bradner (one of the original IETFers, and likes to use just his initials in email addresses, maybe Charlie knows him!) said a long time ago:
The amount of clue in the Internet is a constant.
The Internet is growing geometrically.
I leave the math to you.
Actually the documentation provided is quite good. It is when something is missing and you don't know it until you hit it....
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So for now I am a nudge, asking questions. After I get a feel for things, I may be a aid to others.
That is very well and is considered as desired community behavior at contribs... so continue :-)
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I know this post is a few days old, so my apologies for that, but I had to throw my 2 cents worth into the above tangent...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM
It's been my understanding that read the fantastic manual, read the fine manual, read the field manual, etc, are all ways of politely avoiding the original intention of the phrase.
I've noticed over the last 12 months that the forums have become much unfriendlier. I hope we can try to amend this. It was the friendliness of the community that first attracted me to this distro in the first place.
I have to say that I agree with that in some regards, I do not know whether they have become unfriendlier, or the resposes are easier to take that way. Since you can't convey facial expressions or emotion (unless you use emoticons I guess :P ), it is sometimes easy to misinterpret how a post was intended.
Thank you for confirming that there are some amongst us who do not automatically connotate bad or rude meanings for popular abbreviations/phrases.
You see, if I look at that quote in the light of a newbie, who did not know that you are a very helpful poster who takes time out of the day to post and contribute to this community in a large way... I probably would think that your above post was unfriendly.
I direct all this in a general sense, not particularly at anyone...
I may be out of line, but I think that perhaps since we are all here for the same reason, it doesn't hurt to put a couple extra lines in to show that your post is not unfriendly. Even a smiley can lighten the post and show it was well-intended ;)
That's my two cents up...
--Josh
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JoshuaR
You see, if I look at that quote in the light of a newbie, who did not know that you are a very helpful poster who takes time out of the day to post and contribute to this community in a large way... I probably would think that your above post was unfriendly.
Therein lies the problem. People want to ascribe more meaning than the literal meaning. We are working here in a text based medium, so it's incorrect to read more meaning beyond what the written word says.
I think it's a foible of human personality to identify negativity, even where it doesn't exist.
My words were a simple thank you, nothing more.
"Thank you for confirming......"
Why would you (from a newbie perspective) even contemplate thinking that the statement was unfriendly ?
I am skilled in english language, and understand well how to create a cynical or sarcastic "tone", but ascribing that where none exits is a quite unnecessary association.
I never use smileys or similar, just let the words do the talking.
If I want to make a joke or be nasty, I'm sure my use of english language is good enough to do that without needing a funny little face, and there will be no doubt as to the meaning of my words.
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Why would you (from a newbie perspective) even contemplate thinking that the statement was unfriendly ?
Simply because the only times that I hear someone 'in the flesh' say something along the lines of "there are some amongst us" or "some of us" etc, it is said with a sarcastic tone.
I knew what you were saying wasn't meant in any sarcastic way, that's why I felt it safe to use your quote as an example. It's my opinion that we derive the meaning of a lot of what's said from how we have heard phrases used in the past (eg. all the various opinions on RTFM).
This article too makes a good point: http://www.reellifewisdom.com/communication_ninety_percent_of_what_youre_saying_isnt_coming_out_of_your_mouth (http://www.reellifewisdom.com/communication_ninety_percent_of_what_youre_saying_isnt_coming_out_of_your_mouth)
I may very well be incorrect...
I just wanted put it out there that it can't hurt to make sure our meaning is conveyed in a friendly manner.
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JoshuaR
....and as a counterpoint, I'd reply to all:
I just wanted put it out there that it can't hurt to read friendly intent into all posts in preference to other less friendly meanings.
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it can't hurt to read friendly intent into all posts in preference to other less friendly meanings
even You didn't think to check google? sheesh!
I'm trying hard to find the friendly intent in that, Mary.
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steever
You didn't think to check google?......
I'm trying hard to find the friendly intent in that...
A literal question, nothing unfriendly about that, apparently framed as a
recommendation to use google.
...sheesh!....
I'd say an expression of frustration/disbelief by Charlie, in needing yet again to advise posters to use google search engine, which search they could have easily instigated themselves.
Anyone using this forum or sme server knows about Google, even my 83 yr old relatives know about Google and Google Earth, and they do not even use a computer, so it should be the first port of call for most users.
I see nothing unfriendly there, it's just Charlie (or whoever happens to say it) expressing their own personal "exasperation".
PS All interpretations are mine, and not necessarily what Charlie meant, although I'd guess I am close.
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A bit OT, but IMHO we should build a Google Custom Search engine to search Bugzilla, the Wiki and the Forums, with perhaps the RHEL 4 docs as well.
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A bit OT, but IMHO we should build a Google Custom Search engine to search Bugzilla, the Wiki and the Forums, with perhaps the RHEL 4 docs as well.
well, you can file a bug in bugzilla for that :-)
ciao
Stefano
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I see nothing unfriendly there, it's just Charlie (or whoever happens to say it) expressing their own personal "exasperation".
Quite correct, Mary. Google doesn't get frustrated when asked to answer questions that could trivially be answered another way. I'm different.
There's no servant class here. I consider it pure laziness if someone asks a "what is xxx" question here, especially so when that someone is clearly a sophisticated computer user. That person is either being thoughtless, or exploitative. In either case, unfriendly.
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Good points all round.
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Quite correct, Mary. Google doesn't get frustrated when asked to answer questions that could trivially be answered another way. I'm different.
There's no servant class here. I consider it pure laziness if someone asks a "what is xxx" question here, especially so when that someone is clearly a sophisticated computer user. That person is either being thoughtless, or exploitative. In either case, unfriendly.
Or simply misunderstood the original information so the google response just did not seem to answer the question.
Point in case I THOUGHT that lazy tools was something I would use on my NT server to pull out the user information so that I could then load them into SME.
When google just returned information on lazy tools with SME I believe I was missing something.
The answer I received was I sure was missing something: My mis-reading the answer to use lazy tools, It had nothing to do with NT server, but just a good tool to mass load users into SME.
OK. My bad. My Dyslexia inserting itself. Charlie yells at me to use google. Hey, my dyslexia malapropisms have resulted in MUCH worst. 50 years of dealing with the consequences of dealing with people through my dyslexia has toughen my skin.
It has also taught me that sometimes you don't know why a person seems to be coming out from left field. Give them a chance.
I am putting together my business plan for implementing SME for phase one migration.
Thanks for the great product.
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Charlie yells at me to use google.
Not so. As Mary correctly intuited, I expressed frustration that you apparently didn't think to, or were too lazy to. I don't yell. I do expect people to do their own homework. I do expect people to correctly represent what I do and don't do.
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Not so. As Mary correctly intuited, I expressed frustration that you apparently didn't think to, or were too lazy to. I don't yell. I do expect people to do their own homework. I do expect people to correctly represent what I do and don't do.
My bad, Charlie. I was up to 3am in too many protocol debates, up at 7am (after a whole week of protocol debates), and now I am in a NAT66 debate (NATs for IPv6) and I am NOT thinking clearly. No excuse.
Sorry for misrepresenting your position.
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well, you can file a bug in bugzilla for that :-)
Bug 5106 (http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5106) submitted.
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Hello there !
THis may or may not be helpful for you, but since my setups are pretty much common these days I will give my opinion on SME Server.
1. I use it since 4.2. Have no idea when that was, perhaps in 2000-2001.
2. I use it at home, at office, in neighbourhood nets, on crap hardware and virtual machines, as well as dedicated machines.
3. I use these features:
-proxy+the filtering it provides
-http
-ftp
-pop
-smtp
-imap
-VPN
-clamav
-spamassassin
-router (plus some hacking I did for a couple of them)
-mysql
-Samba (heavy usage, including truecrypt volumes hosted on SME and mounted on workstations, backups, some kind of NAS also with many TB of data)
-games hosting (emulators in java for LAN parties and such, even counterstrike servers a few years back)
-ISP (hosting space for friends with some contribs like userpanel and awstats and the like)
What I did not use so far is SME as PDC, but I am planing for the future when windows 98 and XP Home stations will get upgraded AND there will be a stringent need for it.
SME also seems not well suited to do advanced QoS for a couple of reasons, even tho some contribs exist, but where i needed it i preffered things like IPCop, Brazil and other dedicated firewalls out there, at first because I was more used to those and they are made for that purpose, now because it does not cost much to virtualize those too and get a headache off my head.
Again, virtualization offered me the resources to split SME services into more machines. Like one for mail, webmail, FTP, webdav, and related stuff which is exposed to the internet, another one for Samba official (files for work), one unofficial (ppl share personal stuff, pictures, movies from parties, meetings, hunting, backups from their laptops and similar stuff so I dont have to backup those twice a day like in the other server and not provide them any excuse to clutter it). Also made it very easy to backup those servers.
I have some more as "MX 20+" machines, because power is not so reliable and we have lots of offices which needed gateways anyway so no mail is lost ever.
I am not a SME fanatic, I do use many other distros, but SME does my job quite well and of total number of servers i am looking after, they are the main bulk and the ones requesting the less attention.
If you need a scalable solution, SME comes the closest to one size fits all I ever met. Many customisations are available for ppl that know what they are doing, heck, it can be a fax machine, a PBX, i wonder how long till it will cook the food for me and buy groceries...
I feel very much in debt to the ppl that make SME Server OS for saving me a lot of time of my life and allowing me to manage 20+ networks, each with different characteristics and needs.
So far, at a small scale, SME can do everything, it can be customized, can use updated packages when absolutely needed and uptime and/or security are not stringent needs, for example in home and residential networks, but in production environments, I would never suggest tampering with it unless you are a linux guru+SME templating and anatomy expert in which case you are either a developper or you do not need SME at all.
For me SME saves time in many places:
-upgrades
-installs
-security auditing (never got hacked, at least I dont know of any such successful attacks, even if at times some ppl "forgot" to update phpBB, image galleries, webftp and other security nightmares out there)
-back-ups
-and last, but most important, reliability.
Thank you SME people, this is a project which has way too little fame for what it is worth. Windows servers do half the job and cost loads of money, while SME is something different tho does the same job and more, needs a different way of thinking but offers more options in a more secure environment, an unlimited number of installs and users, it is the difference between work and fun.
I have fun at work and I work having fun for friends and ppl I know and SME Server is part of this fun.
But most of all I enjoy the freedom. Number of installs, concurrent connections, those were never a problem for me while others struggle with this every day. Virtualization allows me to run many servers while lessening the electricity bill and pollution, simplifies the back-ups, reduces downtime, increases redundancy, add to this SME server and we have the wonder admin that manages almost alone 15+ servers at work and has time to SSH into others, in order to troubleshoot or add some hacks.
M
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Thanks for your input maounique, and welcome back to the forums! :)