need help in configuring a small windows/linux network

[estesflyer]

hello everyone. I have recently decided, to set up a small network using 2 windows machines (95 OS2, 98 SE), and a linux machine, running mandrake 8.0

I am very interested in sharing an internet connection, but do not wish to spend 40-50 bucks a month on internet access.

So now my question can be summed up into a few more questions.

1. what type of connection should i use? isdn is an option, but what is the difference between that and multi-linked?

2. How can I get windows and linux networked, so that I can share printers, bandwidth, hardisk space, and even a mail server for two?

3. I'm a linux novice, but will try and use the linux command line anyways. How hard is it to setup all this? And is it possible to choose how much bandwidth goes to which machine? Like, say I only want 1/3 the bandwidth going to one of the windows machines, and 2/3 going to the other one. But of course, it would all go through the linux box first.

4. How fast should my linux box be? I have a socket 7 500 mhz amd k6-2 chip, w/ 256 megs of memory just lyin around, would that be fast enough?

well, thats about it I guess. Thanks for everything!

TIA

- Rusty

 

[maxit]

Everything you asked about is fairly simple but will take time to setup.
Even a small network will need a proper setup to be stable where your
not cussing at it everyday. So here goes.....

On what type of connection you may not want to even consider ISDN for
there are faster and cheaper connection types available. I'd suggest to
see if cable modem is available in your area or even DSL. Nothing wrong
with ISDN except its expensive in most places. Cable modem you can do
all the same things as ISDN pretty much and have much larger bandwidth
available to you. Which then also covers your question #3. You won't need
to regulate the bandwidth to certain box's. Actually doing that in first place
would degrade the entire small network for speed.

The question #4 you asked if the 500mhx cpu and 256meg memory would be
good for a server. Your darn right it would be fast enough and do a small
network just fine.

Now as for your Question #2... well ... it takes time to set something up like
this even for admin's that have done it many times. As for doing it...yes you
should not have to much trouble accomplishing the task. Getting the network
and each box configured correctly will rely mainly on the planning stage to
accomplish this task. And knowing at first off ISDN, cable modem, DSL will
also determine what and how you will configure things. You have alot of
decisions to make on the network first.

 

[ianf]

Hi estesflyer,

I agree with maxit on the whole ADSL/Cable modem vs ISDN thing. If you really want to bring it on bandwidth wise it's the only way to go. But most Lini support ISDN now, so there shouldn't be a problem going that route (even though in my experience it is much more expensive than cable).

I assume that you want to go the linux server route (low if not no expense !) seeing as you're here.

On the set-up side, here's a few things to bear in mind;
If you do have always on internet you need a firewall, no ifs, no buts. Don't worry ipchains is perfectly up to the job and is free for linux. It's not too complicated to tune by hand but I'd recommend a GUI tool called fbuilder by innertek (

http://www.innertek.com),

again free for home/single/demo use ($30 or something like if you want to buy it). The only thing to remember about firewalls is they are only as strong as their weakest point.

Squid is the free package you need (it should come bundled with Mandrake 8, if not, its out and about) to act as an internet proxy for your M$ machines. I've never actually set up a squid proxy, but I'm sure someone else can comment on that. There are other proxy servers out there, but as you have it already, why bother ?

Samba is the next thing to look at to allow your M$ machines to look at you linux disks as if they were on a windows box. If you do the full install of Samba fron the Mandrake CD then you should also have SWAT (Samba Web Admin Tool), a browser based Samba config tool. Again CLI config isn't tricky, only one file in fact, smb.conf, if you want to do it that way.

Mail,.....well, sendmail is free and included on Mandrake if I remember right, but it can be a git to set up right, and unless you go for the always on net access there really isn't much point.

Anyway, my dinners ready, sorry.

Hope this helps some.



Ian

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

 

[estesflyer]

yes, im going for the always online deal. See, isdn wouldnt be that expensive, since my friend is lending me his connection, and he gets it free.
SO all i have to pay, is 10 bucks a month, for the line. muwhahahahahahhahahahaa. Sorry...

anyways, sounds good. what is w/ this SWAT thing again? I didnt fully understand that. But so far, I need ipchains, fbuilder, squid proxy(more info on that as well plz), and samba.

anything else you have in mind?

what if I do not wish for one windows machine to be able to access files on the linux box, (the 95 machine), and I only want the other machine to be able to do that. I guess it could be the admin comp.

And what if I wanted to have the admin comp run mandrake 8.0, and kde2, or something like that.

Oh yeh, any suggestions on gui's would be very helpful.


TIA

- Rusty

 

[slok]

basically SAMBA allows u to share directories on the Linux
box to win users with a certain username and password.
so, that should help u 'restrict' access ..

 

[ianf]

Hey estes,

On the install of mandrake you should have the option of exactly which packages to install if you go for the custom option. Just have a good old look throught the list and you should see all the packages mentioned in my post, except fbuilder that is my own personal addition (I'm lazy when it comes to firewall config).

Also on the install you have the option of starting X windows on boot, mandrake gives you the choice of a number of windows managers under X, as I remember (not very well) KDE, enlightenment, etc, etc. They all offer access to the same apps its really just a look 'n feel thing. KDE does offer some extra admin apps, but you can run those under any of the windows managers if you really want to.

The SWAT thing is this; if you don't really want to walk all the way over to the linux box but you need to give access to a particular filesystem to an argumentative user, you can do it through your browser from wherever you are at the time. That's all it is. You can do everything that SWAT does by editing your smb.conf file, it's just a front end.

"Fun" addition with SAMBA you can get it to act as a password validation server for all your network, but that's bells & whistles.

Enjoy Ian

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