What to do with extra machine to help network?

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gta95

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 26, 2005
Messages
490
I have an old Gateway 2000 machine laying around. What could I possibly do with it besides make it an ipcop/clark connect machine?

specs

Pentium 266mhz
128mb ram(i think)
2 nic's
2gigb hd
cdrom drive
 
Well, I don't know what I could do with it. I have a fileserver setup. Ive heard about WINS, Mail servers, domain controllers, and stuff, but would I need those for a small network like mine with only 6 computers?
 
gta95 said:
Well, I don't know what I could do with it. I have a fileserver setup. Ive heard about WINS, Mail servers, domain controllers, and stuff, but would I need those for a small network like mine with only 6 computers?
Click to expand...

Need it? No. Want it? Sure, use it a learning tool. Try everything with it. There's nothing like a sandbox machine.
 
hmmmm yeah that is a lightly tough one. it seems to me there must be something this machine can be doing for the good of the network (e.g. not just sitting there connected). on a network of six, is this at the home, or the office? given that, would give a better idea what functions might be useful, and even acceptable.
  • music server? probably a waste of time
  • sql server? could be mildly useful if this is at a company where you might want to separate the database for some main networked application (or upgrade to such).
  • exchange server? if for some reckless reason you want to host your own email, exchange is a hog, best to leave it to its own pen. on the other hand, you can use exchange to host the interoffice to-do list / calendar / schedule for outlook..
  • file server? already have one. wasteful.
  • deployment server for system updates? server update services could take all windows updates and deploy them at convenient times (though auto updates can do this too, you'd only dl once)
  • web server? might be cool if you want to set up some basic file sharing for private use, perhaps abroad or ability to use as a second resort while at client site. you can use apache + dyndns to make things easy and reasonably secure. easy to remember, easy to tell friends "hey here's the pictures of Adam wiping out skiing at gta95.dyndns.com"
  • sandbox for linux installation. sure you can use vmware, but why not just have a box dedicated to it?
  • bsd firewall? filter out garbage, monitor usage, and add one more point of failure between your users and their internet connection ;)
 
This is a home network for those wondering. Hmm, Squid sounds good. I ran linux on it before and it was givin me some trouble, but ill try it again. What does a mail server do? Could I run one on the machine I have? Also, any other ideas? Im probably gonna end up making it a sandbox machine.
 
gta95 said:
What does a mail server do? Could I run one on the machine I have?
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Er, it is used as an email server. If you have your own domain you could setup an email server to run your own email message store etc.. [email protected] Setup email for others outside of your network as well.
 
You could run snort intrusion detection on that box. It might be fun to watch what your network is doing and trying to get snort to work is always a fun project.
 
Hmm, I think I will make it a linux sandbox, unless anyone else has other ideas.
 
vote for squid and also for running etherpeg or whatever its called in linux...it shows you jpegs of what web traffic is going across your network.

vote also for VPN server so you can access network remotely.
 
Etherpeg is for Mac OSX only. Is there a linux or windows port I can use?
 
I Highly suggest Asterisk. if you want a no brainer install try Asterisk @ home

It's Voip.. Basicaly you can become your own telephone network. Some of the most sandbox computer fun I have had in a long time..
 
Its gonna become a sandbox till I can get some network monitor software or something.
 
I had a copy of Windows 98 sitting around, and I tried to install it on the sandbox machine, but the install wouldn't work.
 
Ok, I have knoppix and I want to install Cacti on it. How do I do that? Ive never really worked with linux before.
 
gta95 said:
Ok, I have knoppix and I want to install Cacti on it. How do I do that? Ive never really worked with linux before.
Click to expand...
Oh man, get ready to enter a world of pain and suffering. For every program you install you have to install like 5 other ones just for it to work. Nahm It's not "that" bad but it is a eral hassle. I am almost to the point of giving up on linux. But Good luck. Also I am looking for some good ideas for some dual P2's I have laying around if any of you guys have any good ideas.
 
Ibanez3434 said:
Oh man, get ready to enter a world of pain and suffering. For every program you install you have to install like 5 other ones just for it to work. Nahm It's not "that" bad but it is a eral hassle. I am almost to the point of giving up on linux. But Good luck. Also I am looking for some good ideas for some dual P2's I have laying around if any of you guys have any good ideas.
Click to expand...

apt-get is your friend. (or yum, installpkg, emerge)

seriously, most distros have something that makes it easier, and once you know what you're doing its easier than windows

(/ nix fan boyism)
 
Ohh, a FITES member :) .

Back on topic, how hard is it to install a program in linux? Takes hours? Requires massive commands?
 
gta95 said:
Ohh, a FITES member :) .

Back on topic, how hard is it to install a program in linux? Takes hours? Requires massive commands?
Click to expand...

how do you know about fites?

I personally think it's easy. for something from source

"./configure
(configs, if errors investigate, install missing packages, google is your friend)
make
make install"
makes the ap, installs it where it needs to go.
or just download your fav distros package (most bigger apps have packages for all popular distros,) after that you normally run a gui and hit "install" and point to the file.

remember, you didn't know windows at one point in life, it all takes learning...
 
Screw this. I just tried to install Cacti on my windows filesharing machine. It didn't have clear directions and I was sitting there for an hour screwing around for nothing. And I found out the damn hard drive on the P1 200mhz is dead. So theres nothing I can really do. I just sat there while looking at the cacti screenshots again and said "I gotta install Apache, PHP, Mysql,RPNtool, and SNMP just to see some graph of some packets?". Well, theres not much else I can do.
 
Well Linux is definitely a choice and not meant for everyone in the end. Cacti does take a bit of work to get running, but once you do it's vital for servers to keep an eye on anything out of wack like some script bringing the machine to its knees at odd hours and such. When users complain my cacti graphs are the first place I look. (Well maybe second after I check out top)
 
Well, I wouldn't really need Cacti unless im running more servers or was in a business situation.
 
gta95 said:
Well, I wouldn't really need Cacti unless im running more servers or was in a business situation.
Click to expand...

Ah, I thought that's what you were looking for. Ideas on things to learn how to do that you can use later on.
 
Im really sorry to bring this back up again. I got the HD working on the machine, and I think I will install Gentoo on it to mess around with, then if I find something I can do with this machine, ill do it.
 
Sorry for the really late bump, but the machine is just sitting there, and its making me sad :p

Are there any special linux distros that I can put on it like Clark Connect(Won't work because of a DMA issue)
 
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