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Date:      Mon, 01 Jan 2001 01:28:24 -0500
From:      Bob Johnson <bobj@ufl.edu>
To:        bln@nc.prestige.net
Cc:        questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 19:05:09 -0500
Message-ID:  <3A502388.97C72410@ufl.edu>

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> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 19:05:09 -0500
> From: "Brandon L. Newport" <bln@nc.prestige.net>
> Subject: Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 19:05:09 -0500
> 
> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> 
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> 
> Ok here is the deal, I am setting up a new server for a company (just =
> happens to be my fathers).  He has heard many things about Linux and has =
> an NT server currently.  The problem he "knows Windows really good", so =
> about once a week he breaks things and calls me of course.  He heard =
> Linux was faster, better and of course cheaper than NT.  So he wanted to =
> go that route.  However because I am technical support for him I would =
> like to use FreeBSD instead.
> 
> I know Linux pretty well.  I work with Solaris and NT but I dont know =
> FreeBSD.  I am the the newbie stages of learning it.
> 
> Here is the big problem, He just brought the parts for the server I =
> spec'd out by yesterday.  I have configured it and actually have FreeBSD =
> installed.  However I cannot get a few things working and it has to up =
> and running by next Sunday 100%!!!!
> 
> So here is the machine:
> 
> Supermicro Motherboard P6DGU  (Dual Processor, onboard SCSI, USB)
> Duel PIII - 650MHz processors
> 256MB RAM
> 9G IBM SCSI
> 4G IBM SCSI
> 2G Seagate SCSI
> 18G IBM SCSI
> Matrox G450 32MB
> Hitachi 17" Monitor
> Yamaha CD-RW
> 

I think you will need to create a custom kernel to take advantage 
of the second processor.  See the FreeBSD web site for information 
about how to do that (probably in the handbook).

> 
> Here is what he wants: (These are the things that have to up and running =
> by next weekend or I will be force to use Linux or NT)


I think this is a pretty ambitious list to try to have working in 
one week, but if you have time to devote it can be done.  I can give 
you hints on a few of these, but someone else will have to come 
through on the rest.



> file and print shares ( I dont know samba real good.....yet)

You'll be learning Samba...

> dialout internet connectivity so that when other machines want to go to =
> internet it auto dials performs NAT and acts as the firewall (I know =
> this is not real secure but it will be a temporary fix)

Use ppp (i.e. user ppp, not kernel mode pppd).  The ppp man page 
is very thorough.  The really quick explanation is that if you 
look at /etc/ppp/ppp.conf it should be a really basic dialup 
script that will work for most ISPs if you simply edit in the 
right username and password.

To get it to autodial and do NAT, invoke it as 
   ppp -auto -nat papchap

If you change the section name from "papchap" in the config 
file (or add a new section), use that name in the command 
line.  If you are using FBSD 4.2, the command will be 
invoked automatically during boot if you edit /etc/rc.conf 
and add the correct options.  /etc/defaults/rc.conf is the 
default configuration, add the changes to /etc/rc.conf, and 
they will override the defaults.  Don't try to edit the 
defaults file.  This is true for most boot options, not 
just ppp invocation.  

ppp includes a simple firewall capability.

> somehow to fetch email from his ISP accounts for all employees and =
> download it locally to the server
> IMAP so he can check mail for any machine

Are you saying that you want to download mail from the 
ISP and re-serve it with IMAP from this server?  I'm not 
sure of the best way to do the download (fetchmail sounds 
like a possibility).  There are at least two IMAP servers 
in the ports collection.  Cyrus has some advantages 
that are mostly important if you will have a lot of people 
using the server (a lot means thousands).  I found it to 
be very difficult to configure because of poor documentation, 
although others have said they found it very easy to 
configure.

Another IMAP option is the University of Washington server, 
imap-uw.  I found it to be very easy to configure, and it 
performs adequately if you don't have thousands of users.  

> auto updates of OS

Not likely.

> auto backups using the CD-RW

What is it that you want to back up?  My point being 
that you will probably have to limit it pretty severely 
to fit on a single CD.  Even your IMAP email files will 
grow to fill a CD pretty quickly if your users are 
anything like mine.  The fact that email usually compresses 
well may help you.  In any case, you will probably have 
to write your own script, e.g. tar and compress the mail 
directories, then turn them into a CD image, then burn the 
CD.  The following tools may be helpful:

mkisofs : takes a directory tree (or trees) and turns it 
          into an ISO CD-ROM image.
burncd  : burn the ISO image to and ATAPI IDE CDR drive.
          If you have a SCSI drive, you will probably want 
          to use cdrecord, but I know little about it.

> 
> Eventually he would like faxes and voice mail to come and go from this =
> machine by using email (not quite sure what I am going to do about that =
> one)

Others use FreeBSD for faxes, so the information and 
tools should be available.  I don't know about voice mail.

> Apache Web Server

Works great on FreeBSD.  See /usr/ports/www where you will 
find various pre-configured versions (e.g. Apache with SSL).
I don't know if a version with PHP pre-configured is available 
or not, but if it is, you should probably start with that.

> PHP
> MySQL

Both are in the ports collection.  

If you haven't already done so, you will want to read the online 
handbook (http://www.freebsd.org/handbook) and learn how to 
install ports (in most cases, "make install" is all you need to 
know).  You will find a lot of other useful information there.

> phpNuke
> 
> Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated.  Please email me =
> directly for I dont a chance to check the news groups all the time.

I hope that provided at least a starting point.  Good luck.

- Bob

> 
> I will put together a website included on dads company page that =
> explains how the system is configured and who all assisted.
> 
> 
> 
> TIA,
> 
> - --=20
> Brandon L. Newport
> 
> ph 704.905.6024
>


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