[wplug] Linux Client Image Advice

[James O'Kane]

On Wed, 26 May 2004, Ritchie, Lauren wrote:

> Hi, i am an intern this summer at a company  in Huntingdon Pa, and i am
> working with linux. I have to work with old pc's, that are still usuable
> just old, so we are putting linux on them, most likely redhat enterprise ES.

I'm curious why RHEL ES was chosen? The list below sounds like these
machines will be desktops, and ES can get expensive for that.

> My job is to find the best:
>
> email client (one like outlook, only for linux)

'like outlook' can mean a few things. You probably mean look and feel in
which case, I think Evolution is the answer you'll most likely hear.

> be configured to accept network IPs, gateways, etc

Do you mean configured to access a network? Or some kind of gui that
allows these setting to be changed?

> access to local shared drives

Judging from the outlook reference above, I'm guessing you mean Windows
shares? Look into samba.

> have a browser to be able to run browser based applications (i.e. 11i)

What is 11i? A quick search turns up HP-UX 11i and Oracle 11i. I'm
guessing that you mean Oracle as I've seen several browser add-ons for IE
that deal with Oracle. This I'm not sure what to suggest. If they are in
reality java, then you might be able to get mozilla to play nice. If they
are ActiveX or some other IE specific interface, you might be out of luck
unless you can get IE to run under Wine or CrossOver Office
(http://www.codeweavers.com).

> have backup process for data files and

This is a large question that can't be answered without more detail.
Backing up to a locally connected tape drive is different than trying to
integrate these machines into an existing backup setup, for example. tar
that you mention below might be part of the solution, but it might not.

> automated process to install image onto an old PC

Look into Red Hat's automated installed called kickstart.


Since it sounds like you're just starting out as a systems administrator,
I'd suggest investing in books. Almost anything from O'Reilly is good.

Here are a few that are relevant to the above. I've read and own all but
the last one (which was only published last month).

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/esa3/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linag2/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/unixbr/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxnut4/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnredhatentlnx/


-james