Server Environment Questions
 

I'm in college right now and need a server to serve files and stuff that I need in class that are impractical to load onto my laptop.

I was using a Win2K environment but that breathed its last today. What I need, in simple terms are:

1. Must be able to share files with a Windows PC.

2. Must be able to share a printer with a Windows PC.

3. Must be able to act as a VPN server.

4. Must have some sort of remote-access system (I like VNC a lot).

5. Must be able to operate independently of mouse and keyboard and monitor. I don't have a monitor. I will borrow a friend's to install the damned thing. Any further maintenance operations will be performed via remote access.

6. Must be reasonably secure. It will be behind a SPI firewall so as long as certain ports can be forwarded, its OK.

7. Must be able to read NTFS disks. That's the format my hard disks are currently stored in.

My friend has suggested RedHat. I just downloaded and burned the CDs. What more will be needed? The system is a 400MHz Celeron with 128MB RAM, a 10GB HD for OS and a 160GB HD for files.

Redhat by itself will be able to do all the things you require
One thing you might have problems with is the booting without a keyboard make sure the bios supports it because linux wont care if do or dont.

To share files use : samba
For sharing the printer : lpp
vpn server: freeswan www.freeswan.org might have to download this one --check--
remote access i would recommend - ssh , vnc is also available
firewall-- iptables script customizable
redhat does not come with ntfs support right out because of legal issues, but you can go to http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/info/redhat.html and download the ntfs support from there

One thing i recommend before you start setting up anything do all the security updates patches from redhats home page including a kernel upgrade to the latest one they have etc.

Other than that you are set to go you can install most of the stuff remotely anyway so as long as you have it up with network support you are good to go.
And there are many tutorials available for all of these remember that.

Good luck


----zatriz----