Need help moving to Linux from win2k

[Aaron Grewell]

Not asking much, eh? ;)  Your needs are complex enough that I would seriously 
consider an experienced consultant for the switchover.  Of course, I'm sure 
in this economy that could be tough.  It sounds like you're talking about 
replacing the whole enchilada.  On the server side that might not be too 
hard, but for the workstation it will depend greatly on whether or not the 
available software does what you need it to.  Are your admins skilled at 
Linux?  With this laundry list, they'll need to be.

The stuff I know about I've listed below:

On Wednesday 12 February 2003 01:08 pm, Mike Griffin wrote:
> I was given this E-mail from a fellow Linux user, he said you all might
> be able to help.  I apologize if this is inappropriate for this mailing.
> Can any on help me with finding the following list of needed solutions?
>
> We want the following solutions Centrally Managed:
>
> Virus Software
> Event Tracking/syslog monitoring/alerting software

I'm using ntsyslog to pipe NT logs to a Linux syslog.  That will help with a 
centralized solution if you need both NT and Linux servers long-term. 
http://ntsyslog.sourceforge.net/

LogSentry is my log-checker of choice.  This is because it reports on 
everything by default and only ignores what you tell it to.  That's 
especially important in a mixed environment, as Linux-specific checkers don't 
have a clue about NT log entries.  LogSentry can be configured to be as 
verbose or quiet as your admins prefer.
http://www.psionic.com/products/logsentry.html

Big Brother is a good system monitor that will page you when stuff dies.  It 
gives a nice web-based view and so on.
http://www.bb4.com

> OS/Application patching/deploying

Norton Ghost and Altiris Deployment Server support deploying Linux.  Red Hat 
also comes with built-in deployment support (known as KickStart).
http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/products/products.cfm?ProductID=3&EID=0
http://www.altiris.com/products/servermgmt/
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.3-Manual/custom-guide/ch-kickstart2.html#S1-KICKSTART2-WHATIS

RedHat's Up2date program handles patching, but there are lots of other 
programs to do this too.  I'm using a program called AutoUpdate.
http://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~gerald/ftp/autoupdate/
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/RHNetwork/ref-guide/up2date.html

> GPO type functionality, settings and security

Heirarchical/directory based system management hasn't taken over in the Linux 
world, so this might be a tough one.  Check out HP OpenView and the Tivoli 
range of products for Linux, I believe they provide some of this 
functionality.
http://www.openview.hp.com/solutions/categories/systemmgmt/index.asp
http://www-3.ibm.com/software/tivoli/

> User/Group management

For a network-wide system you're probably looking at either LDAP or NIS.  NIS 
is the old-school way, LDAP the newer way.  Check out OpenLDAP, Novell 
eDirectory, Sun Directory Server, and IBM SecureWay for different solutions.  
I've only worked with eDirectory, but I really liked it.  It is what 
Microsoft copied to create AD.
http://www.novell.com/products/edirectory/
http://www.openldap.org
http://wwws.sun.com/software/products/directory_srvr/home_directory.html
http://www-3.ibm.com/software/network/directory/

> IDS host/network based (snort)
> Uptime reporting similar to solarwinds
> Bandwith montoring (Routers)

MRTG does this for us.
http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~oetiker/webtools/mrtg/

> Firewall, host based

Every Linux I've ever used comes with built-in firewall capabilities.  These 
days the firewalling system is called iptables.  There are also lots of 
front-ends for this.  I generally do it manually, but fwbuilder has a good 
rep.
http://www.fwbuilder.org/

> E-relay/gateway - virus scanning/content filtering
>

postfix/amavisd works for me.
http://linux-sxs.org/spamfilter.html


>
> Other Applications needed:
>
> Drive to Drive imaging
Norton Ghost does this
http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/products/products.cfm?ProductID=3&EID=0

> Drive to image
Ghost also does this

> byte level syncronization software (mobiliti software)
> Full Exchange replacement

Bynari Insight and Samsung Contact both do this.  Contact is the more mature, 
it's originally an HP product and has been around forever.  Insight Server 
has gotten good reviews as well.
http://www.samsungcontact.com/en/
http://bynari.net/index.php?id=1169

> Fully compatible w/MS office 2k suite

Try OpenOffice, but make sure it does what your users need.  Sun StarOffice is 
based on OpenOffice, has more stuff (like a built-in database for your Access 
users, which OpenOffice currenly lacks) and you can get commercial support 
for it if you like.
http://www.openoffice.org
http://wwws.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/6.0/

> SQL, which is best, MySQL, PostGres or ???
> Content Management - PostNuke or??
> Fax Server Software
> Backup Solutions
I've used both Veritas BackupExec and NetBackup.  NetBackup is far more 
powerful than BackupExec, but at an amazing price tag.  Neither run on Linux, 
but both have Linux agents so they can backup Linux servers

> E-Mail client, compatible with above Exhcange replacement
>

Evolution is probably your best bet at this point.
http://www.ximian.com/products/evolution/

> Need specific Business apps replaced or adapted to Linux,
> Mortgage software (genesis 2000)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike Griffin
>
>
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