Get thee a Server

[Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

"Peter Shea (USF)" 
 
> My organization is frustrated with the IS department at our large research
> university. They are particularly frustrated by the difficulties of
> getting things placed on the community server.

Gee, IT guys that are uncooperative...NO WAY! ;-)

Its called IT-itis.  It afflicts most IT guys. The symptoms are A) being a
total dick, B) thinking you are vastly superior to all other people, C)
cherishing equipment, D) failing to comprehend the glaringly simple concept
that computers are meant to be freely used to get work done.

Research is being done on mice, but its considered cruelty to animals to make
them explain the difference between NetBIOS and NetBEUI 212 times a day. 

> As the resident writer & web person, they have asked me about running an
> independent server for them. I am intrigued by the idea but I don't know
> whether I am really up to it, tech-wise. I am computer literate (programs,
> HTML, etc) but I always perceived servers as being the exclusive domain of
> people with MIS or computer science degrees.
> 
> Any thoughts?

Unless you enjoy pain and misery, don't even bother with FreeBSD or any of the
other esoteric OS's mentioned. 

Linux is a whole religion in and of itself. Its getting easier, however it
still requires A LOT of learning and fiddling. You'll spend way too much time
getting these systems up n' running. 

If you want a good, quick file/web server, get Windows 2000 Server. It maybe
more expensive and cause emotional problems, but it is many magnitudes easier
to install and manage. Information and training is also abundant. A $40.00
"dummy's guide" at Amazon will teach you the basics. And there is no reason you
couldn't get a Win2K system up and going in a day. 

As for security: 

<plug> 
BlackICE Defender from Network ICE (www.networkice.com). Its $40.00 and is far
superior technology to anything else on the market. Just don't block NetBIOS
file sharing. 

And the documentation for the product rocks! Of course, I (and another writer)
wrote it. 
</plug> 

Also if you open up any shares, password protect 'em. 

Price-wise, you could have a nice Win2K server up and going for about $2000.
$1500 for the system, $400 for the software (buy it on Ebay), $100 for some
books. I have 4 at the office and they are all named after my current and
former cats. (Gillian, Lexi, Samantha, and Natalie.)

Sheesh, I need a life.

Andrew Plato 

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