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Linux as server

I am exploring using Linux instead of NT as a server for the small business that I work in. Will it work well as a file server and are there also any database server applications that work well? What distribution is best for someone new to Linux but with copious computing/networking experience with Windows/DOS/Novell?

marcelofr

It will work great... with NFS (not designed for performance) VERY fine tuned, I could read a BIG file at 700Kb/sec. You can use samba and find the linux box as an NT, to serve filesystm and printers, even for user authentication... Yesterday I received a pre-release of oracle 8 for Linux, I'm downloading a "free" copy of sybase 11.0.3.3 and I'll download informix as soon as I get more disk space... Everything for evaluation porpouses (yet). Anyway linux distributions bring some free databases, not so full featured, but they're there...

And about distribution, Debian is not for the newbie I think, RedHat is very popular and easy to install, so is S.u.S.E. (and has some more demos/commercial products with licences) I wouldn't recommend Caldera unless you need Netware for Linux...

But the best of Linux is SUPPORT... You will be able to mail the author of every piece of code and you will get an answer and it will be free...

jconde

Well, I was going to answer this, but marcelofr told you everything you need to know about it!!!

Good answer by the way. The Databases marcelofr mentioned are very good, but I also suggest you check you MySQL at www.tcx.se It's obviously no Oracle nor Informix, but it's pretty good indeed!

good luck!

jorge

marcelofr

And there also a soon-to-be-released IBM's DB2 for Linux ...

feenix

I would suggest you check out Postgresql (http://www.postgresql.org/). It's a transaction-based free database server for Linux. I use it for my projects and it's great. It has JDBC and ODBC drivers, too, so you can use it easily from e.g. Windows applications.

For your first Linux system I would recommend RedHat. It is easy to install and the packaging system helps a lot. Debian is another great distribution, though it seems to be more or less targeted to the more experienced Linux administrator.

We have Linux servers handling all our server needs: mail, news, web-hosting, file and printing server, development platform, database servers etc etc etc. You can save a lot of money with Linux: the operating system is free and the machine doesn't have to state-of-the-art to run Linux. NT requires a lot more money and power.

Just go for Linux! =)

jeffa072897

My favorite is still Slackware.
After many years of PC/Windows/Novell it was the easiest to make sense of.
I've read ans still read of too many issues with RedHat installs not working. Usually
it because redhat dosen't always have the latest files and Slackware is usually more
current.

marcelofr

LinuxPro's sales speech is exactly the opposite of jeffa's opinion: they say they don't include a package they hadn't tested enough... so they're the least current... You can have what you want...

I don't know if this is good news or bad news but other OS's vendors say that Linux is the OS were each user has its own OS version ...

jeffa072897

For not tested enough I have the most problems with RedHat and the least with Slackware.

marcelofr

Try to answer the question... don't talk to me.

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ekarjala

ASKER

I'll accept this, although marcelofr's comments were very useful as well

dosangst101098

Linux is the most stable of all the NOS'es available today and most builds of it are free to almost free. There is a lot more to linux though than just knowing how to get through <click-me-screens>. So brush up

Mark