Linux for a small office server.

[Slavik]

Right, lets make this quick, because its a long story otherwise.

I was hired by a company to plan a server and network for the office, including 6 PC's, 6 VOIP phones, several network attached devices.

Anyways, I have now been informed they have spent, a rather large amount of money on a project management peice of software, the problem is, it requires a linux setup, as does the PBX software they have purchased. (both these were made without my consultation)

So rather than lose out, they have requested I set up the server to be linux run. The downside is, I have not done a linux based network before. I have informed them, however they would prefer me to do the work, and are giving me a large headroom for the learning curve.

Quick looks over the software they have purchased, ubuntu is the distro of choice, but am open to any suggestions and / or help you can provide in doing the set up.

A quick google search pulled up this site, http://www.zentyal.org/

Any comments you have are VERY welcome.

Vertical learning curve, here we come

 

[a legacy reborn]

Linux = Simple ...to me it is like using Mac, good luck .

 

[User]

Slavik, I'd walk away from that job and eat Ramen for a while if that's what it takes. If your client makes such fundamental decisions without you then you need to fire your client. Obviously there's someone there who thinks they know more about it than you do, otherwise they wouldn't have gone and done what they did. That person will always be a huge thorn in your side. It's not even about the learning curve, it's about that they went behind your back and now expect you to deploy it and later they will expect you to support if when the **** inevitably hits the fan. Just walk away.

 

[User]

Also, **** is a clean four letter word, can't believe it's censored here, hilarious and lame at the same time.

 

[Slavik]

Slavik, I'd walk away from that job and eat Ramen for a while if that's what it takes. If your client makes such fundamental decisions without you then you need to fire your client. Obviously there's someone there who thinks they know more about it than you do, otherwise they wouldn't have gone and done what they did. That person will always be a huge thorn in your side. It's not even about the learning curve, it's about that they went behind your back and now expect you to deploy it and later they will expect you to support if when the **** inevitably hits the fan. Just walk away.

I did cut it down maybe a little too much,

They had made these purchases before I got involved with the company, (hense, without my consultation) and they were both purchases made by an ex-employee. I have made it clear to them I will be putting it into contract that they understand my expertise in this feild is limited, and I make no guarantees. To which they have already said they will sign.

They wanted me to do it as they found out I had just ended a contract with another client that I have been involved with for 8 or so years, that contract was the FIRST windows server network I ever deployed, and nothing went wrong even once in 8 years, from what they told me they trust I can get the job done because of the outstanding references I got.

Also, they are paying VERY well

 

[User]

Ahh, yes, I though that they did it behind your back. Alright, so Linux isn't all that complicated, the question then becomes what they want to "server" to do. There's some benefit in buying a turn-key solution like Zentyal (didn't know them till you linked them) since there's someone you can call if stuff doesn't work right.

On the other hand, most of the stuff in Zentyal are probably features they don't actually need. So then the question becomes what functionality do they need.

You may also want to look into virtualization using VMware ESXi or Xen Server. The benefit of that in your case would be that you can isolate functionality so that if let's say the machine that does the file shares goes down because of some configuration problem your PBX isn't affected. I only work with VMware products but I have heard good things about Xen as well.