Post on 14-May-2015
Linux and Samba in 75 MinutesEverything you need to know (almost)
Presented by Mark Minasi
author, Linux for Windows Administrators
www.minasi.com / help@minasi.com
What this talk is all aboutAs an Windows networking professional, I’ve spent the past ten years doing most of my networking work with Microsoft OSes. But I heard more and more about the Linux phenomenon and by 1999 I was intrigued to learn more about it. But I didn’t want to have to wade through the large books on the shelf that assumed that I knew nothing about networking. I wanted a short overview of what Linux was and what it was good for, how it compared to NT and how it could work with NT – and that didn’t stop to re-explain to me what a file share was.
Well, that book didn’t exist, so I set out to find out more about Linux and write that book. Here’s what I learned.
Overview
Why would (or should) a Windows support professional care about Linux?
How the Linux world works What do people use Linux for as server? What can Linux do on the desktop? Linux and Windows together Linux versus Windows!
Why Care About Linux?
Linux can complement or replace some Microsoft OS functions
Linux is the #2 OS and growing Linux licenses are free, can save money You’ll probably eventually have to deal with
interoperability Demand for Linux admins is growing Linux business model is worth understanding
How the Linux World Works
The Linux Worldwhy it’s “linnix,” not “line-ix”
In the late 80’s a writer built a free micro-Unix for teaching called Minix (“minn-icks”)
Linus Torvalds decided to build a Minix But realized he wanted to do more So he re-named it “Linux” Original Linux very basic, no networking
even Released 5 October 1991
The Linux World it’s free, but it’s not public domain
Torvalds released the OS, source code and all, to the general world, using the GNU Public License
GPL says:– Use Linux and its source in your own products– You can even charge for your product– But you must, in turn, offer your source code– And you cannot restrict others in the use of your source
It’s called “open source”
The Linux WorldBenefits of a GNU approach
To paraphrase Linus, “no bug is hard to find when many eyeballs are looking for it”
Customers can fix the bugs themselves Customers could even prove/disprove the
validity of a vendor’s claims (“UTSL”) “White box” support This isn’t a new idea (MVS, VMS, Unix…)
The Linux Worldare they the only guys?
No, just the ones with a critical mass and no AT&T interference
A similar project, the “FreeBSD” folks, turned out another excellent Unix clone
But an AT&T lawsuit scared many away and lost them time
But it’s still around in Mac OS
The Linux Worldwhy would a vendor do this?
Open source recruits the customers to help find and fix bugs
Then the firm sells support, consulting, certification, training, and other items
You need not be open source to write Linux applications
The Linux Worldthe main point about open source
Open source is the single most compelling thing about Linux.
Period.
If Linux were to accomplish nothing more than forcing others to open their source, then it would be perhaps the most significant event in this industry in decades.
The Linux Worldso how do you make money doing this?
Good question In fact many Linux companies are asking that
question One approach: support for pay (RH, SuSE) Another one: use Linux to sell hardware Novell thinks they’ll make money putting
NetWare atop Linux
Linux as a Server
What Do We Use NT For?
Mail Server, with Exchange or perhaps Notes
Web Server, with IIS Directory service (AD
or NT 4 domains)
There are other uses (routers, firewall, dial-in, mainframe gateway, etc) but they’re not major uses
File Server Print Server Database, with Oracle
or SQL Server Name server (WINS or
DNS) IP infrastructure (DHCP)
What People Use Linux For (server-wise) Web server Mail server DNS server File server Print server Firewall Router
Database server (relatively new but amazingly fast-growing)
Appliance platform
What People Don’t Use Linux For
Nowadays… Almost nothing There is even work on Linux tools using
proprietary Microsoft protocols like MAPI
Linux as a Web Server: Apache
Created as a joint effort by many; result was “a patchy server”
Good for hosting multiple sites Robust Good CGI, programming platform Cannot host Active Server Pages off-the-shelf but
Halcyon and Chilisoft as well as PHP are replacements albeit without VB support
Most popular Web server program on the Net
Linux as a Mail Serversendmail, postfix, qmail
Basic, well-understood Unix mail program Supports SMTP Does not support MAPI Nightmarish to configure Fast and robust Used by countless Unix mail servers Simpler options: postfix and qmail – but still
no picnic
Linux as a mail servergetting the mail to the user
POP3 and IMAP4 tools ship standard Web-based mail available through
SquirrelMail (also free) There are a couple of Outlookalikes; most
significant is probably Ximian Evolution
Linux as a DNS Server: BIND
Again, the standard program in its category Bind is very light on the CPU usage, so you
can put up an enterprise-strength DNS server on a Pentium 100 with 32 MB of RAM
Edit a set of ASCII files called “zone files” to modify the DNS database, or Linuxconf helps
Works flawlessly as a dynamic DNS server for AD
Linux as a Firewallipchains and iptables
ipchains/iptables commands (Kernel 2.2/2.4) Can do NAT (“IP masquerading”) so it could share
a DSL connection throughout the house Like Internet Connection Sharing A bit obtuse setup-wise but just three lines will set it
up Can implement basic security Can support dial-in
Linux as a File/Print ServerIn Windows networks
Free tool called “Samba” But more on that in a minute…
Linux as a File/Print ServerIn Unix networks
Most Unix boxes share volumes using the Network File System, NFS
Linux can be either a client or server for NFS Windows boxes would need an NFS client Printing:
– lpr (client) and lpd (server) included (“tcp/ip printing”)
– NT family has client software to talk to lpd servers
Linux on the Desktop
Can it offer Windows with less pane?
Linux and GUIs
GUI exists but is (mostly) optional Several GUIs available; simplified:
– KDE more common– GNOME competes, newer, from the GNU folks
You shouldn’t have to put a GUI on but some Linuxes misguidedly mandate it
In general a Linux GUI app that works on KDE works on GNOME and vice versa
Do I have to use a GUI?windows icons mice & pull-down menus = WIMP interface
No, Linux has a long tradition of command line tools, very powerful ones
Called a “shell” program Linux uses “bash,” the Bourne Again SHell Great power lies in its script-ability Once more powerful than Windows scripting
but MSH and WSH change that
Are there apps for Linux?now that I’ve got the GUI up…
The good news: several application suites– Star Office– OpenOffice– Some great free ones, including a Pilot organizer
The bad news: they’re just not as good as the Windows offerings, lack the “fit and finish,” and the integration
Worse, most are spottily improved – no “corporate presence” to keep things going for years
Making It Work
What will I need to run it?
Making it WorkWhere do I get Linux?
Many, many Linux “distros” Two big players:
– RedHat: $180-2500/year/system– SuSE: $110/desktop, $800/server, $1250 for
“open exchange” server w/10 CALs– Many more at www.linux.org/dist/list.html
Making it WorkWill Linux Work On My Hardware?
Maybe; drivers are written by volunteers Really new stuff and expensive stuff may lack
drivers Video configuration can be a nightmare although
it’s gotten better PCMCIA NIC configuration fails on many systems Laptops offer more challenges than desktops Printer drivers can be hard to find
Making it WorkHmmm, then what about support?
Who’s going to support a free operating system? The idea is that you give away the software and
charge for support Again, all support people have source code access
in the Linux world, not just a few Linux firms offer answer-all-questions annual fees
that can be reasonable But it’s not like they’re going to write drivers for you And if you want a chuckle, pull down the HCL
What about free support?
There are a lot of “howto” documents at ldp.org, the Linux Documentation Project
Google Groups has often answered questions for me
What about asking questions on Linux newsgroups?
My advice: assume a female screen name and claim to be 22 years old
Interoperating with Microsoft
InteropCan Linux Co-exist With MS OSes?
It can read and write FAT and FAT32 Can read NTFS, writing’s dicey Most need a special “EXT3” partition and a
“Linux swap” partition Strongly recommend Partition Magic! Can dual-boot using LILO or GRUB Flexible and powerful but not always
implemented well
Interopcan I run Microsoft apps on it?
An old tool called dosemu will run many DOS apps For Windows apps, the news isn’t as good A tool called WINE looked pretty good in 1999 But in the middle of a revamping it sort of faded
away There are RDP clients for Linux; one answer Or there’s VMWare
Interopwhat about Samba?
Very significant tool that just keeps getting better
Started out as a project to support interop with Digital PathWorks
Basic goal is to implement file server and client tools using the Server Message Block (SMB) protocols and now CIF
Sambaclient-side
Linux boxes can do the equivalent of a NET USE to a Windows server
Tools: smbmount and smbclient SMB signing may be an issue but honestly
even Microsoft is having trouble with it and Samba 3.0 seems to have it licked
Sambawhat the server can do
Make a Linux box act as a– Workgroup server– NT 4 or AD domain member server– WINS server– NT 4 PDC
Support LM, NTLM, NTLMv2, Kerberos Usually significantly faster than Windows at
file sharing
Sambaconfiguring it
Controlled with a text configuration file /etc/samba/smb.conf
Or use a Web-based configuration tool called swat (“Samba Web administration tool”)
Sambathe hard part… integrating accounts
Once a Samba box is part of a domain then we can do the usual permissions and authentications
Relatively new tool Winbind makes this much simpler
Once installed, any domain member can sit down at a Linux box and log in using domain credentials, with no corresponding local account on the Linux box
Bottom Line:Windows vs Linux
let’s see, I put that asbestos suit somewhere…
Linux Pros
Faster SMB file server than NT Basic Internet infrastructure (Web, mail,
DNS, firewall, router) tools excellent Inexpensive, the perfect second DNS server Open source model may offer better quality
overall Uptime: you can often change a driver
without rebooting
More Linux Pros
Most tools that come out for various Unixes will run on Linux
Although there are many versions, they’re all compatible
It’s possible to refine a copy of Linux to do just one thing, and do it amazingly quickly – rip out the stuff you don’t need, crank the buffer sizes, and get knock-your-socks-off performance
Per-system license costs may be very low
Linux Cons
A real challenge to set up Drivers and apps are scarcer Often can’t support MS standards like MAPI
or Active Server Pages Not as good at multiprocessor as NT Retraining – ever recompiled a kernel? Less flexible permissions structure
More Linux Cons
GUI is less polished than Windows I believe that the Linux developer community
is, in general, not committed to the kind of hand-holding that Windows does as a matter of course
Recommendationsfirst steps
Get it and start playing with it! Get several distributions, although I
recommend SuSE at the moment Consider setting up a Samba server as a
domain member, or perhaps a DNS, Web or mail server
Thanks!
I hope you enjoyed this talk Questions? I’m at help@minasi.com I invite you to sign up for my free e-
newsletter at www.minasi.com Please consider buying The NT Expert’s
Guide to Linux when it’s finished www.minasi.com/linux for PPT
Linux and Security
Linux and Security
One point where Linux and Unix differ Uses permissions & user accounts, as in NT But you don’t make users admins; rather,
they all just share the “root” password You can only set permissions for one user
account and one group Then you set “world” permissions for anyone
who’s not that user or in that group
Interop Areas
Coexistence– Bind, Apache, Sendmail, ftp
Mimicry– Samba, LPR/LPD, RDP clients for Linux
Directory Sync– Some products, none shipping yet
Emulation– dosemu, wine