General Linux server questions

[gaby2k4]

General <a href="http://www.bodhost.com/ " target="_blank" title=" Linux Server" style="color:#000000;text-decoration:none;">Linux Server</a> Questions -

First, I am new in Linux but I am learning quickly and a bit familiar with Fedora Core 4. We currently use Win 2k and 2k3 servers for everything (networking, public hosting, etc).

I would like to set up a Linux test server and make it public. Eventually I know we will purchase Red Hat Enterprise, but before we want to know much about Linux, I would like to test with a free version. What is recommended for high end operations like clustering, high-availability, VPN hosting, etc.? I was thinking Red Hat FC or Red Hat 9.

Also, how can I find Linux equivalents to the Win2k3 server roles (VPN, FTP server, Terminal Services, etc.)?

Finally, is it possible to set up a network similar to Windows? A domain with users and domain controllers. Is it also possible to set up a network where computers can log directly onto a Terminal Server like a Novell or Citrix network?

Thanks for all the help,
James

[sainsalex]

I'm not over familiar with all of these parts across both platforms.. so - Most distros can be configured for what you want, but Red Hat ,Debian or SuSE will be the best options. (Debian will be a bit more manual, bit more purist). FTP is out of the box mostly, Terminal Services is there but may work a litlle differently. You can certainly have linux clients running SSH with the X server running on the clients. I won't swear on this though as TS is a lot more native to Unix systems than Windows. Remember MS bought Citrix technology to make it work.....

Clustering on RH is supposed to be very good, think Mandrake do it too and you can rely on high availability - Forget the words defrag and reboot . Most things can be fixed without rebooting where fixing is needed. Networking is native to with OpenLDAP and similar protocols. Using SuSE or NLD/ Novell Server provides native netware support. The only part I'm not really faamiliar with is VPN, never had need for it.

Anyway, I think if you are looking for these kind of services and are running in a corporate network or need high availability/support you should consider something with solid support like Red Hat Enterprise, though download a traunch of free disc, everything from A-Z and live disc galore to get familiarity.

If you need any help there will most likely be someone here to help you, everyone likes to share

[myrthosster]

James no disrespect here but if you need a domain that acts like windows, why don't you just buy windows? Windows is the closest thing to windows that I can think of.

Linux has a lot of cool and exciting features, but it isn't windows.
BTW in linux tc is rdesktop and it works good. check it out type rdesktop then IP address.
Cheers,

[lagunagreener]

hi james,

in order to configure VPN,choose Red hat enterprise linux.

to configure a host-host [or] network-network(i.e) permanent VPN connection choose ipsec
to configure a network-host (i.e) temporary connection choose cipe,which we are configuring in windows.


bye

[Sean]

If you wish to use RHEL, then i guess you should go ahead with CentOS or whitebox which is compiled from the sources of Red Hat. You can give it a try when you are about to Setup with RHEL, thereafter copy the data as well as Configs, then install RHEL, restore it and it is done. If you want to test the server, then have a look at SuSe and Debian. In relation to that, you can have a look at the following too -

ftp server = vsftpd
VPN = Poptop for pptp based vpns, freeswan for ipsec based vpn.
Terminal services = Nomachine for gui (Freeversions to check)