[101590] in RedHat Linux List
Re: Planning to purchase a server for Linux: Compaq or IBM? (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jan Carlson)
Fri Nov 27 15:47:54 1998
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 15:42:23 -0500
From: Jan Carlson <janc@iname.com>
To: redhat-list@redhat.com
Resent-From: redhat-list@redhat.com
Reply-To: redhat-list@redhat.com
Rafi wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> We here at the Bioinformatics Centre, School of Biotechnology
> Madurai kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamilnadu, India wanted to purchase
> a server for our email/proxy services on RedHat Linux 5. Thanks to
> PCQuest for the RHL distribution on the May '98 CD. We have setup
That is now an obsolete version, for which there are a large number
of updates that provide bug fixes and security fixes. The current
version is now RedHat 5.2, which also has some updates available,
but not nearly so many. You should definitely use 5.2 on the new
machine - it is more secure, and more advanced.
>
> the linux for smtp/pop/proxy and other services but mainly for
> email and proxy.
>
> Currently, it is running on a P133MHZ, 16MB RAM, 2.1GB HDD.
> But we thought we should put more memory, more speed, more HDD space
> etc. to take over the traffic from all the places throughout the
> school. RHL setup here will be serving around more than 25 users from 25
> clients on our network which spans 3 different buildings. The number
> of users will go up as we add more computers to the network.
>
> We are considering the Compaq Prolinia 200 and IBM Netfinity 3000
> series for the RHL to live in. Now, these servers seem to have
> "management features" apart from PII 300 and above, 4GB SCSI HDD,
> 32MB RAM (we will definitely put another 64MB in) and other standard
> components.
We served 50 email users on a Pentium 120 with 64mb memory.
It's been running for two years without a crash.
1. Compaq computers are frequently more difficult to work with
because of non-standard features, a special disk partition that
the machine needs, etc. This is the impression I get from messages
on this list, and from our experiences at the Linux Installfest
here in Canada.
2. RedHat 5.2 and the newest kernel rpm automatically recognize
and use all the memory. Older versions required a trivial configuration
change to use more than 64MB memory.
3. A major concern of yours should be security if the server
will be accessible to the Internet.
A start is to install the latest RHL release (5.2 now) and *all* the updates
from ftp://updates.redhat.com (which is often swamped) or
a mirror site: See http://www.redhat.com/mirrors.html
Check http://www.redhat.com/errata at least weekly for
new updates and security fixes.
Read up on security. Take
precautions. Otherwise it is almost certain that crackers
somewhere will move in on your machine and cause
trouble, or at least they will use it as a game and chat server,
and ftp server for stolen software, filling your disks
and slowing performance.
I do not pretend to be a security expert. But initial
steps should be to modify /etc/hosts.deny and hosts.allow,
and /etc/inetd.conf to cut off all access that you do not
absolutely need users and outsiders to have.
Forgive me for saying things you already know,
but security is a problem unless you are aware of the need.
>
>
> We thought of getting Linux-India list's help in deciding
> which one to go for or to settle with a workstation product from
> Compaq or IBM like Compaq Deskpro and IBM PC 3xx series.
>
> We expect to share your views in this regard. I am sure
> there are lot of them out there who have moved into such situations.
> Hope to hear from you all soon.
>
> Regards,
> Gnana
> Bioinformatics Centre
> School of Biotechnology
> Madurai kamaraj University
> Madurai-625001
> TN, INDIA
>
> P.S: Should I upgrade to RHL 5.2?
Yes.
For security if nothing else.
The upgrade process is relatively smooth
using the boot diskette and CD for 5.2. After upgrading,
you must pick over the *.rpmsave files and compare them
to the actual conf files, etc., and correct a few things the
upgrade process may not figure out. If you have done
everything in plain standard ways, you won't have
to fix very much at all.
If the upgrade were difficult, I would say don't upgrade,
but in fact it's relatively easy.
It's also easier to get support on the latest version.
There is a human tendency to be less interested
in answering questions on older versions than
ones own.
--
Jan Carlson
janc@iname.com Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Mailed with Netscape 4.5 on Red Hat Linux 5.2
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