Hello all,

We are currently running Netware on our file and print server, but we are looking at possibly moving it to another platform and then Linux is an interesting alternative, however, my Linux knowledge is very limited so I've got a few basic questions for you.

Which distribution would you recommend for a server that will run file/print, dhcp and dns?
Which distribution is the best to start with for someone who is used to Windows server and (to a lesser degree) Netware?
What kind of clients are needed on the clients?
Can the printers be installed automatically on the clients like in Netware?
We are using Zenworks to distribute small files and updates to our clients (Windows 2000 and XP), are there any Linux based alternatives you can recommend?

Any other advice or things to keep in mind when looking at this?

Thanks.

/Marcus

just about any major distro should do the trick, although there is a learning curve w/any of them. for windows based file and printer sharing from a linux server you'll need samba, which comes w/all major distros. you can read up here

http://us1.samba.org/samba/

printer configuration can be a pain if the printers in ? are not supported or only partially supported, you can check for printer support here

http://www.linuxprinting.org/

other things to keep in mind are learning a new os. if you have network functions that are a neccessity, i'd reccomend a slow migration. i.e. get a linux machine up and running on the network in addition to the existing machines, then take some time to learn it. you might even try multiple distros to find the best fit. once you've got that under your belt, then look at migration. the last thing you probably need is to transfer existing needed work loads to an os you haven't learned to use. it can be a real headache, not to mention the stress factor. hope this post is helpful.
good luck.

I use one box for dns and dhcp and so forth - runs smoothwall and it's the router and firewall.

A print server can be any distro. I use mandrake for mine. Don't know much about netware, but linux and samba will handle serving to windows clients. With cups printing the printer will be auto detected by linux clients but not really auto for win clients, but easy set up. Samba will share the printer so they can access, but the win clients will need to install the driver. There may be better ways of doing this that I don't know.

You don't need any particular client apps on the win boxes other than you would normally have for win sharing. The linux samba server imitates an NT server box.

Can't really say about some of your points as I don't know 'zenworks' etc. My personal choice for most machines now is Mandrake as I have a long familiarity with it.

I should note that you can run dns and dhcp on any box, I just use a secure smoothwall box that just runs the basics as it's the router/gateway/firewall.

Thanks for the input so far.

A few follow-up questions:

Does Samba require any clients to be installed on the Windows machine to be able to access the files and printers?

Is it possible to have printers installed automatically on the clients when the log on? That is set up on the usergroups which printers they should recieve and then the users get those installed.

Are there any good Linux solutions that can be used to distributing things link fonts and other small files to the clients?

/Marcus

Samba doesn't require anything to be installed on the Windows boxes -- it just provides shares that Windows can see (be they shared directories, printers, et cetera). As for printers, do you mean like a logon script? This is something you could do on the windows end (have the script hosted on the *nix box and then called by Windows onLogon) and should be the same as in most MS environments.