Advice welcome: Linux or Win2k server?

[WeakButHopeful]

Hi folks. My hard drive just went south on my Win2k server so I have to rebuild the machine anyway, I could go with Linux theoretically (it's basically just a file server and mySQL/PHP development test server) except for a few problems. Basically I'm asking all my friends at CF to challenge the following assumptions before I just reinstall Win2k. Last time I tried Linux was about 18 months ago under Red Hat so maybe things have changed.

#1- between my job and my wife's job some of our machines have to remain WinXP, so my file server just has to talk nice to the WinXP machines. Last time I tried using Samba under Red Hat the results were underwhelming (granted, probably Windows fault). I just need to be able to share *some* directories on the server with the Windows machines. Security is a consideration for some of the files (i.e., my financial records and private journals I would like to not be available to anyone on the network...my recollection is that I couldn't do that with Samba back in 2004).

#2- I've got an HP OfficeJet 5510xi All-in-one that has an auto doc feeder for scanning multiple pages. I'm not sure the auto doc feed would be supported under Linux (I suspect the printer and fax would be but auto scan is a tricky beast). I could theoretically hook it to my personal PC but that's never on when I'm away from home, so other's who wanted to auto scan would need to turn my PC on and logon.

#3- For unattended server use like I described, and for a relative newb to Linux like myself, what's a good distro (of course this question is academic if answers to #1 and #2 are "bad news").

As you can see I have no particular love of Win2k per se, but I do have to provide the functionality my family expects.

All advice welcome and thanks in advance for taking the time to reply.

 

[wiggsfly]

OVerall from experience I would stick to Windows for a "mission critical" server. You already know it, and you won't have the hardware issues Linux would cause. Not to mention the overwhelming fact that it has been doing the job just fine for some time.

If you must go Linux I would suggest Novell SUSE. After playing with a number of distros this one seems to have the best hardware support.

 

[WeakButHopeful]

Thanks for your response wiggsfly! Since last night I've restored Win2k but this time I just made it a workgroup, not a domain. This was both because my immediate need was just to take cautionary backups of the partitions that were still available, and because in the past recreating the domain caused all users to get new SIDs and hence new Registry/DocSettings on their client machines (a super big pain). I know, I know, in a real mission critical setting I'd have a Backup Domain Controller or else a really good Active Directory backup, but I didn't have the time, hardware and/or know how for that.

The one good thing that came out of this was while shopping at a big box store I saw a SanDisk 1 Gig USB drive for $50, so I'm now using that for my financial records and private journal, so the domain/NTFS privileges are no longer a big deal.

I'm going to file away your advice about Novell SUSE vis hardware support. But it looks like I'm going to be Windozed for a while. But if I win the Lottery watch out, I'll be like a kid in the candy store.

Thanks again for replying. Have a nice weekend!

 

[faithseeker]

Hi there.

What about having both OS on your hardrive so you could use windows untill you succeed in configuring everything you need under linux ?

For the printing issue, i dont find the specific model you mention on linuxprinting.org, so you will have to try and test ( i m not optimistic for the auto scan thingy).

http://linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-OfficeJet_5500

For the samba issue, with samba 3 you are suppose to be abel to be part of a domain, or a workgroup, but you will need to understand how the windows world works to set things up properly.

There are plenty of documentation on subject, but the more i read it, the less clear it appears.

For the distribution choice, i would suggest ubuntu because there is a new version every 6 month, its supported for a long period of time (so you are not compelled to upgrade every 6 month if you dont want to), dist-upgradable (so you dont have to reinstall everything in case you want to switch to the new version) and it s free (as in free speech and as in free beer).

 

[WeakButHopeful]

Thanks faithseeker. When I first posted this thread I was afraid people might say I was bending over backwards to stay with Windows. But I see now that because of my particular situation configuring the server with Linux would at least take some time for research and experimentation. And, alas, my long weekend is now over, so time is again in short supply.

Thanks very much for taking the time to share your thoughts, for the link to the printer info, and for the samba and ubuntu advice. What I do is file stuff like this in my FreeMind "mindmap" so later when I have a chance to play around I have reminders as to what to try.

God bless.

 

[csheppard91]

Unless you want to play around have fun, I wouldn't choose linux. It makes a nice little server if you KNOW what you're doing. Lots of compatibility issues to resolove, though. Stick with windows. Novell is nice if you have a small network, but is a pain in the butt and a terrible choice if it's a larger network. Most any Microsoft server software will out do any of competing software, including those that run on *nix.