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

S. Saunders sms at sonic.net
Wed Dec 14 15:13:46 PST 2005


On Wed, December 14, 2005 14:20, irwin wrote:

> You can run Samba on a Linux server and allow all the MS work
> stations to network with the server as well as each other, as
> well as all the server functions.
> Samba can be configured using a GUI.

Sorry, I should've mentioned that I know "of" Samba, but have
never played with it.  I know that I'll have to do so -- Samba is
the core of Win-stuff on a Linux platform (unless I go VMware,
which is (AFAIK) no more-stable than Win itself, not to mention
$$$ and part of my goal is at least a bit of money-savings).


> Are there any strictly MS functions running on the server?

Define "strictly MS functions" please...  If you mean, "MS stuff
that Samba doesn't emulate" then I just don't know, as I'm not
yet clear on just where the limits of Samba lay...

Are there other packages that supplement Samba functionality,
and if so what MS functions do they perform that Samba doesn't?
Besides MS-app's themselves, of course...  ;-)


- Steve S.


>> 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.





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