[NBLUG/talk] "Stealth'ing" *NIX into a MS-Win shop...?

[S. Saunders]

Hi, guys...

Looking for a pointer, if anyone knows where to point me...
<ahem>  No, not there.  Been there, done that, still trying to
wash the stench out.

Working in a MS-centric shop (W2K); some of their problems,
it seems to me, can profitably be addressed by a dose (or two)
of *NIX...  Among other problems currently seen

I know that various MS-Win services *can* be set up to run
under Linux (& other *NIX'es); what I'd like is resources on
that -- the smoothest way(s) to bring in (e.g.) Linux to act
in lieu of a problematic MS server.

Does anyone know of a nicely integrated package of "all
(or most) MS-centric products," and/or good GUI config-
tools for such products?

I'm new on the job, so I'm hardly going to take any dramatic
risks, BUT I'm also *the* geek in-house; previously they've
made do with the accumulated tech-skills of various office-
managers, administrators, a couple of geotechnical engineers,
etc... But, those folks have their OWN jobs to do (hence the
job-description that I'm now filling).  I'm also *way* more of
a computer-geek than the rest of the shop put together; I
have only met one person who knows what an IP address
is, and my entire interview-process yielded 0 persons who
had more than the vaguest awareness that "TCP/IP" is
"some kind of networking, I think."  Nevertheless, anything
I bring in-house *MUST* be usable by other folks in-house
(hence my desire for nice GUI tools).

It's not that I'm so desperate to evangelize Linux (or any
*NIX, for that matter) so much as (1) I know *NIX tends to
run much more stably & I'm in an info-centric firm:  having
reliable servers will be a Good Thing in-house; (2) I've got
a stronger *NIX background than MS, so if I can throw a
*NIX patch on a problem caused by a down W2K server,
I can easily maintain that while I figure out what the !*$%
is wrong with the W2K (other than "it's Microsoft").  A
backup domain controller, sync'ed backup fileserver, etc...


- Steve S.