Networking
MS LAN
I have extensive experience in an MS Windows Networking Environment and can provide solid advice on the administration of a business LAN, scaling it as required. I can also explain various infrastructural differences and topologies if needed.
The benefits of a properly thought out and configured LAN are often overlooked by small businesses. Security issues alone require that a properly organised network is required.
Other benefits would include:
- Common Anti-Virus measures
- Security Policy Enforcement
- Shared Devices
- Client Account Management
- Access Control Policy Enforcement
- Intranet Functionality
- Shared Internet Connection
Linux PDC
I am currently developing a Linux alternative to the MS Windows Networking Domain. This involves using a Linux box running Samba to act as a PDC for MS Windows client machines. By doing this users that are familiar with the Windows GUI would not notice many differences. There are many articles on the net specifically relating to this but I have found them to be a bit dated.
My current setup is:
- Intel P166 Machine running Smoothwall gpl 1.0 acting as a Firewall, Internet Gateway & DHCP Server
- AMD Duron900 Machine running Libranet 2.8.1 Linux acting as a File & Print Server to MS Windows XP (SP2) clients
The goal setup is:
- The Firewall as is
- The AMD Duron900 acting as a PDC, emulating MS Windows NT4/2000 Server
- Each client machine would have a trust account with the PDC, emulating MS trust paradigm
- Each user would have a domain account as opposed to a local account which should result in increased security and automatic scalability
All this is theoretically possible under Samba 2x but I am going to wait until I get my hands on Samba 3 until I give it a go!