i am running a wisp using a knoppix box for email(postfix) and webhosting(apache). since i am the only person here who understands linux, the owner has suggested to switch to a microsoft based email server and web server so it is easier to add address, etc. I am younger and I only plan on being around till next fall and I will be leaving for school. They are concerned that when i leave if the server crashes they will not be able to get it back up.

Added email accounts would be easy enough to teach other people or even do remotley, but i am concerned about a major server crash. Switching to microsoft would cost too much, so i need to figure out a good plan to keep them running on linux.

Can anyone explain a good way to setup another server that would just replicate from the primary?

If you mean data replication then take a look at my Linux Answers on SSH and rsync.

Also, I think this is a good opportunity to look at a service contract. You could SSH in from school and do whats needed as well as have a backup server with rsync as david_ross suggested in the event that the server did go down for whatever reason. All of this could be done for far less than the cost of a M$ server....

thats what i was thinking about. and if there is a major problem i should only be about 2 hours away. i have tried explaining that linux has proved that it is a stable secure os, and we will never have to worry about licensing. i looked into rsync a little bit. does it just automatically replicate whenever something is changed?

nah, i have it setup on a schedule to backup at 12:00 and 5:30 so i could never loose more than a few hours of my users work....

Not quite but it will only copy what has changed so the synchronisation should always be quite fast.