[K12OSN] Need advice on network setup for school

[Kari Matthews]

What Windows s/w are you running that will be difficult to replace in a
Windows environment?

~kari

On 7/23/06, kyle at caliberis.com <kyle at caliberis.com> wrote:
>
> This is my first post to this list.  I posted the below message on the
> FedoraForum.org message board and it was suggested that I pose the
> question in this forum to reach people with similar needs and experiences.
>
> I'm looking for opinions on the best way to set up new servers and the
> network in general at a school that I do volunteer work for. Last year
> following the untimely demise of the Windows 2000 Server computer that
> served as the DC and file/print server, we successfully configured a
> Fedora Core 4 box as a PDC to take its place.
>
> This year we're looking to begin a shift that will eventually lead to a
> network in which Windows clients are the exception. The reason we want
> Windows clients to be the exception is primarily out of lack of funding
> for software licenses. The reason for "eventually" is that it will take a
> while to find suitable alternatives for all of the software currently
> running on the Windows platform.
>
> The things that I would like to be able to handle in whatever setup I end
> up with are:
> (must haves)
> 1) Centralized authentication and authorization - This was the main
> benefit we received initially from moving away from computers that were
> connected in a "workgroup" mode and implementing a Windows domain and
> allows for much better control over the management of the workstations.
>
> 2) Controlled access to Internet resources. The organization is a school
> and the potential exists to be held liable for situations where children
> access inaproppriate content if it's determined that the school did not at
> least attempt to put adequate controls in place.
>
> 3) Secured files - There is a subset of the documents in the organization
> which must be protected.
>
> 4) Reasonably sensitive management - The administrator at the school is
> not an IT professional and should be able to manage the day-to-day
> operations of the network without advanced knowledge.
>
> (would be nice)
> 5) Terminal services - The school has a lot of older machines that could
> yield additional value to the school if they were able to be utilized as
> thin clients. Also, I suspect that replacing machines with LTSP Terminals
> (available on eBay for $50-$150) would have a lot less administrative
> overhead than supporting a standard PC.
>
> 6) Virtualization - The move of clients to Linux could go much quicker if
> an environment was available in which to run those Windows applications
> for which no alternatives have been found if they could be run in a
> virtual machine. I believe that I can achieve this using the free VMWare
> server as a host for Windows 98 and that the licensing of the Windows
> operating system allows for the machine code to execute on a single
> machine with no restrictions of the number of instances of code that can
> run on the single machine.
>
>
> The things that I have at my disposal to implement a solution:
> 1) A cable Internet connection
>
> 2) A DLink broadband router - I use this because I've never been able to
> successfully plug a Linux machine directly into a cable modem. This also
> acts as a firewall and I've defined no virtual servers.
>
> 3) Three identically configured Compaq 6400R servers. These servers have
> 4GB RAM, three 18GB drives, and 4 500Mhz PIII Xeon processors.
>
> 4) Two network attached printers that support PostScript
>
> 5) Approximately 50 client computers at varying stages of decay ranging
> from 450Mhz machines with 128MB RAM (more typical) to a 2.4Ghz machine
> with 1GB RAM (the outlyer)
>
> 6) No money (although when all other options have been exhausted some can
> be located at times)
>
>
> I believe that my final solution will involve the following software
> packages:
> - LTSP
> - VMWare Server
> - Samba
> - NIS
> - Squid Proxy
> - Dan's Guardian
>
> Any thoughts, suggestions, horror stories, or reference implementations
> would be much appreciated! I should also mention that while I "get by" as
> a home user of Fedora I'm not extremely skilled or knowledgeable in Linux.
>
>
>
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>



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