Apologies in advance as this is not quite a technical issue, but I hoped to tap into your experiences… One of my clients is looking to upgrade their network shortly, and I have to recommend appropriate systems. It’s a legal firm, and they currently have a 50-user Novell Netware 3.12 server. The PCs are running a mix of Win98 and Win95. They also have an older SCO OpenServer 5 server that is running a unix-based cashroom system (I will probably leave this in-situ for now). Their main requirements are to have a new server that does the same as the existing Netware server (document storage etc), and they also want LAN-wide Internet/Email. One of the partners has used an Outlook diary system at a previous job, and has ‘sold’ them the benefits of this system. In the future, they will probably replace the cashroom system with a Windows-based system, and may look at document management/client database/time recording applications etc. Oh, and remote access to documents and email may also be required.
My dilemma is that I had originally thought about installing OpenUnix 8 (I’ve not had experience of this, although I’ve installed and maintain 3 OpenServer sites). I like the robustness of Unix, and I have experience of setting up fetchmail and trestlemail etc for LAN-wide Email, plus VisionFS for Windows client access. I would need a diary system that is at least equivalent to Outlook. I know that Volution Messaging Server is available, but I had heard that not all diary facilities are available. I also need to look at Lotus Notes/Domino etc to see if this could run on an OpenUnix system (I think there’s a Linux version available). Does anyone have experience of these or other systems?
And my main worry is that by going down a non-Microsoft route, my client ends up wanting an application or a solution that isn’t available for the Unix-based solution. Can you allay my fears? For example, I can imagine the time management systems requiring Outlook, and the Cashroom systems requiring SQL server. Also, are there any issues with Client access from new clients such as WindowsXP to VisionFS/Samba services? I have a couple of sites using Win NT4 server with Exchange Server, and I’m not that impressed by the complexity and unreliability of the latter.
Anyway, apologies again if this is off-topic, but I’d appreciate any thoughts.
David Nash
My dilemma is that I had originally thought about installing OpenUnix 8 (I’ve not had experience of this, although I’ve installed and maintain 3 OpenServer sites). I like the robustness of Unix, and I have experience of setting up fetchmail and trestlemail etc for LAN-wide Email, plus VisionFS for Windows client access. I would need a diary system that is at least equivalent to Outlook. I know that Volution Messaging Server is available, but I had heard that not all diary facilities are available. I also need to look at Lotus Notes/Domino etc to see if this could run on an OpenUnix system (I think there’s a Linux version available). Does anyone have experience of these or other systems?
And my main worry is that by going down a non-Microsoft route, my client ends up wanting an application or a solution that isn’t available for the Unix-based solution. Can you allay my fears? For example, I can imagine the time management systems requiring Outlook, and the Cashroom systems requiring SQL server. Also, are there any issues with Client access from new clients such as WindowsXP to VisionFS/Samba services? I have a couple of sites using Win NT4 server with Exchange Server, and I’m not that impressed by the complexity and unreliability of the latter.
Anyway, apologies again if this is off-topic, but I’d appreciate any thoughts.
David Nash