----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Ireland P.E." <pireland@pireland.com>
To: <plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 2:33 PM
Subject: not even a newbie


> Hello all,
>
> This is my first venture out of my self imposed microsoft cage so please
be
> gentle.

Welcome to the Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) world.  Be warned - there
is no going back!  ;-)  I have been thrilled to death about how much I've
learned in the last 7-8 years with Linux.  My Microsoft and Novell expertise
has been significantly increased because of what I've learned from *nix.

> I am an outside technical consultant for several Microsoft-only business
> clients in Tucson.  The light-bulb finally turned on and I would like to
> begin to offer a different server OS option to my business clients.  Some
of
> my clients are still in the 10-30 user peer to peer network environment
> running Win9X, 2000 or XP workstations.  What I would like to offer them
is
> the ability to centralize file services, backup, and perhaps other
> centralized features on a dedicated NON Microsoft server.

Sounds like Samba to the rescue.

> One business is asking for suggestions "as we speak" and I am thinking of
> suggesting a server class box ( Dell/IBM/sever) with Red Hat + Samba as an
> alternative to the $1,400 cd-rom (Microsoft small business server).

You are on the right track.

> The key
> factors for the client are easy centralized backups and central word/excel
> document storage for approx 25 users.  One last factor is that they also
run
> SPSS so I will have to talk to tech support about file record locking etc
> unless someone here knows about SPSS file sharing.

I am not familiar with SPSS, but I will say this:  Test, test, test, and
then test some more.  Test under a full load of users.  Try things that they
promise would never happen in the real world, 'cause it will.  I had a
client using a dental software package with some funky runtime database
engine on the desktops accessing data stored on a server.  It ran fine
initially, but as more and more users accessed the data, weird behavior
became more common.  After the migration we wound up having to move to
Windows 2000 because RH + Samba simply did not handle locking the way this
database expected.  It was a *very* painful experience and the customer did
not call me back.

However, I just replaced a Novell server with a Linux+Samba server for a
client here in Austin who uses a similar setup (Foxpro desktop database
engines accessing shared data on the server).  It went smooth as a baby's
butt.  The customer is *very* happy, and so am I.
--
Thomas Cameron, RHCE, CNE, MCSE, MCT
Cameron Technical Services, Inc.
(512) 454-3200 Main
http://www.camerontech.com