Linux Networks on the rise... I*TA in cooperation with Axon Solutions, Inc. provides a powerful small business Linux network. Consider the following design recently deployed for a law firm: IDE RAID 5 servers running RedHat 8.0 Linux. The IDE RAID 5 provides a fault tolerant high performance system using 3 drives (40, 60, 80 or 120 GB) for up to a total of 240 GB of usable storage. A fourth drive may be added as a hot spare of even more storage. Samba server provides Windows server emulation. It supports Windows workstations (up to XP!) under a Windows doamin environment. It includes roaming workstation profiles, printer queues, login security and most other Windows 2000 network features. Bynari Insight Server provides a complete E-Mail system supporting Outlook desktop clients and most of the features you can find in any high-end E-mail system. IMAP and POP3 services also support remote PDA mail clients like RIM E-Link devices. Windows XP workstations. Firewall appliance with VPN services. Complete backup software from BRU and RAV Anti-Virus for the mailand file servers. Apache WEB Server. Our strategic partner, Axon Systems, is also an authorized Lotus Notes reseller and apllication developer.

Novell Small Business System Rocks... Novell remains a strong network platform and the SBS is super buy. Consider the latest combination of features for supporting remote users provided with SBS. The Scenario: One of our elite clients was relying on pcAnywhere dedicated hosts to support remote staff access to the corporate consulting time tracking system. Four PCs where dedicated to this function. The primary network server is a new Novell SBS running BorderManager firewall and VPN services, GroupWise E-mail system, data and document storage, Faxing, anti-virus, tape backup and WEB services. All of this on a single processor Pentium III 800 server with RAID 5! The corporate accounting and time tracking system is on a Windows NT server. The Solution: The pcAnywhere clients are replaced with the following components and configuration. The Novell VPN client is installed on the remote workstations. The install is straightforward with little to configure. The client is configured to authenticate and estabalish a VPN tunnel (connection) only; not to log the user in to the Novell tree. The GroupWise client is also installed on the system. It is configured to run in online or caching mode under the VPN tunnel. (A second setup can also be made to run in remote mode, but the online or caching mode under the VPN tunnel is more robust.) A permanent mapping is made to the NT server. The time tracking software is than installed over the Internet and runs perfectly under the VPN connection. The Novell NetStorage WEB portal is than accessed under the VPN tunnel. It performs a client login under the WEB browser and gives the user complete access to their network file structure. They can download and upload files, dynamically view documents and more. Running it under the VPN tunnel is also more secure. Goodby pcAnyWhere Hosts; although one is kept around for emergency uses. Will talk about VNC connections another time! And don't forget to load the workstation firewall too!