linux web server in a "win environment " 2

[piti]

we have just ported our web site from iis to apache on a linux machine and would like to have a copy localy in our company
i need some help with linux machine the configuration
it is going to be only a local web server, nothing else - no mail server, ...
what services should i install on that machine, when i would like to have it visible in the network neighborhood, restrict access to some folders according to the user, but i don't want to create these users on the linux machine, the users should be somehow resolved from our domain controllrs (ms small business server(primary) and nt4.0(sec))
thanks

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

Firstly, are you aware you can get a win32 version of apache? If you just want a mirror copy and don't want to deal with Linux (surely can't be true !) then look at -->

http://httpd.apache.org/dist/httpd/binaries/win32/

.

If you do setup a Linux box with Apache and you want to 'see' it in network neighbourhood you've got two main choices :

(i) Install the samba rpms and configure that. Samba essentially provides an open source smb server (i.e. using microsoft Server Message Block protocol) such that it appears to the network as a NT server. It can even be PDC, etc. You can configure it thru a browser interface using the 'swat' tool. The latest versions (2.2.x) support trusts and so on. See

http://www.samba.org

.

(ii) Create exported 'shares' on the Linux box using NFS and install a NFS client on the winboxes. This is just using the Unix Network Filesystem Protocol rather than SMB/CIFS which uses Netbios over TCP.

The way these work, however, is that it is necessary to setup linux accounts for security permissions. You can setup guest access with Samba but, of course, that leaves it a bit open if they are r/w shares.

Let us know if you need more detail

Regards

 

[piti]

well i know about apache win32 version, but i still need the iis running for other purposes so i would like to have
a separate machine running linux
that "seeing" the server in network neighborhood is because i, and my colleagues probabbly too, would like to upload new script versions as easy as possible without the need of using some upload utility
do i understand it right, that i have to create linux accounts with both choices you suggest?
would it be possible to create two accounts, one with write permisions and other only for reading, and those somehow map to existing accounts on our pdc?
or is there some possibility how to restrict access according to computers ip?

 

[marsd]

Samba can do everything you want including using an NT machine as a domain controller and password server.
You will need user accounts for access
to shared resources: the security model is
standard, which means that you can have share or user based auth. In your config, with
using an nt server as a pw server and pdc
the config can be fairly sophisticated.

An extremely good book for this config is
Primatechs "Integrate linux solutions into your windows network."(Puryear) Which will walk you through the basics and up to the distributed info design you want. Strong
suggstion to check this out as it is right on topic.

You can base your acl's on the ms auth netbios->smb.cifs scheme or via filtration,
ip address, etc..You have many options available. Samba has support for host and
ip address based acls, and a linux PF can add
more safety.

Good Luck

 

[piti]

i'm on the way to look for that book
i think this will take some time to accomplish my job than i'm a linux newbie :-|

thanx

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

Actually, with samba 2.2.x there is a new daemon called 'winbindd' which, if I understand it correctly, is supposed to do away with the need to set-up the linux accounts by getting authentication from a NT server. I haven't tried it yet but might have a play later. As marsd implies, some samba config can be a bit esoteric but once it's working it's normally very solid.

For redhat 7.x you can get the samba 2.2.1 rpms from the new 'roswell' beta release (e.g.) :

http://www.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/beta/roswell/en/os/i386/RedHat/RPMS/

[page=7]

Regards

 

[piti]

thanx a lot

actually i'm planning to use mandrake 8, do u think redhat would be a better solution for a begginer?

 

[ianf]

Same kernel. Programs that say they will run on RH will run on Mandrake.

There is a more advanced solution, probably not applicable, but what the heck...
M$ do a product called Services for UNIX for NT4 which allows Windows domains to use NIS Servers for authentication. I believe that it's functionality is integrated ino W2K Advanced Server.
NIS can then be used for authentication across platforms, single password, NT & UNIX (LINUX). It took me a month or two for my M$ supplier to admit that this product existed, but it made sure that there was still some UNIX presence in the back-end in the face of the Management/M$ love affair.

Sorry I don't think I really answered your question did I ? Ian

"IF" is not a word it's a way of life

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

As hinted at by ianf, Mandrake is a distro based on redhat so you probably can readily used rpms packed for redhat. However, mandarke also have a beta with the new samba 2.2.1a rpms :

ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/sunsite.uio.no/pub/unix/Linux/Mandrake-devel/cooker/i586/Mandrake/RPMS/

Personally I mostly use redhat because I have since 5.2 and I'm used to it, etc. I've heard a lot of rave reviews of the Mandrake usability though and Mandrake also seem to be very on the ball about having things up to date. So I wouldn't really particularly recommend Redhat over Mandrake if you're just starting with Linux - having said that Redhat's latest installers are very good too.

Regards

 

[piti]

well guys, your posts helped me
now i'm on the way studying and installing, so when some problems occur, i'll be back here with some help shouts

thanx again