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[Jay w]

i have a little bit of technical knowledge here but really am looking for some advice here...

I have the following computer equipment at home

MiniMac 177Ghz, 160gb, 1gb ram
Laptop running vista
Fujitsu Desktop PC (177Ghz, XPsp2, approx 60GbHD,  512mb ram)
500gb external hard drive
HP deskjet printer
Konika/minolta laser printer
Linksys router/modem

I want to convert the Desktop to run as a server as i am strugglin with stuff like email and file sharing, i also would like a VPN and push email if poss so i can access stuff with the phone and laptop whilst i am away from the house (which is most of the time)

Here's the catch:

I dont know a lot about servers or VPN's so this will be a steep learning curve, i have tried to newtwork all the equipment i have using a linksys router and everytime i try and print something with the Konika it stuffs the network up and it freezes and has to be reset (even small 500kb word docs) plus the router constantly changes the IP address and the Mac ideally needs fixed IPs for file sharing (that is about the only downside to the mac)

I want to have all the machines sharing the same info, and being able to access my email and other info readily, i have been told that i don't need a server just have the lot set up correctly and it will share all the items i want

any advice here would be really helpful  

[cem_devecioglu]

You dont need a server for file sharing or mail..There are cheap or free mail server softwares that can be used on xp..

I also have network in home and I use simple file sharing, dont remember exactly but one option in folder properties open the file sharing and can be used effectively with mapping from other pcs..(You must turn the firewall option off in that PC)


http://www.argosoft.com/rootpages/MailServerNet/Default.aspx

I think also it will be preferable to use 8 port hub or switch for network connection..

You will then connect the router/modem to the hub/switch...And define the router IP as gateway in PCs ..

Also may be will be helpful using router/modem option with simple firewall  on it

Also static IP s on every pc will be easy to use...


Oops ..forgot to tell thats for XP professional edition...Not sure for home edition

[Paul M]

I also question the need for a VPN. What exactly do you want to do?

If you're going to be running a mail server on your network you absolutely must make sure it's secure, otherwise in no time it'll be detected by spammers and your server will be used to relay thousands of spams selling viagra, penny stocks and whatever else the current flavour of the month is.

I have a minimalist Debian box in my home network that I use as an SSH gateway to other machines on my LAN. Thus I can keep minimal services open externally through the hardware firewall, and just tunnel anything I need on other machines through SSH. It also means if any of the other machines are off I can wake them over the network -- this very is easy to do, usually just needing a few bios settings configured on modern PCs/Macs. This machine also acts as a Samba server (Windows SMB shares) so I can access my files from any machine on the network as Windows, Linux and Mac all support SMB.

I'm not saying the above solution is a good one for you, but without knowing exactly what you want to achieve it's hard to say. If you don't have any *nix experience (although OS X is based on BSD so if you've fiddled with the command line you probably do) then using a *nix box may not be the best solution. WinXP can do a reasonable job, but I find using workgroups to share files on a heterogenous network can be a little flaky, not too bad if stuff like master browser priority is set correctly, but not as good as a Samba or Windows Server (domain) setup.

Give us some more details about what you want to do, rather than what services you intend to install, and I'm sure plenty of people will give you a different potential solution

[Markjay]

Agree with the above...

VPN has several distinct advantages over other methods of remote access.

Firstly, it is encrypted, and you can limit the remote access so it is allowed only from PCs that have the VPN client configured with the correct 'password', so it is safer (not a major issue for a home network).

Secondly, when you connect over VPN you are virtually part of the local network that you logged into, this can have some advantages but only if you are good with setting-up networks etc (again, sot much use for most home users).

So in short, most home users will not need VPN, though there is no harm in setting it up if you are that way inclined....

[Jay w]

my primary use is file sharing and email.

Currently i have my laptop with me when i am away from the office (daily) the mac and windows machine are office based but i would like them to have the email as well and i have my phone that has pop3 facility, however as soon as the email is on the laptop it is puled off the pop3 server, hence the reason for considering a mail server.

Why VPN? because my belief was that it was the most effective way of bing able to 'dial in' remote access was not something i had considered.

My mac is also running XPsp2 via parallels.

Here's what i would like to do

Have the mac and widows desktops talking to each other, have both of the printers working without killing the network each time they are used.
Have the external hard drive on the network and being used as a seperate drive so i can put business things on it as a backup.
Have the laptop be able to access the network and pull of info from the external drive
have all the machines being able to access the same email accounts/calendars and have the same content on them
have the widows powered phone be able to get the same email/calendar as the rest of the machines

The desktop machines are hardwired to the router, the HP printer runs through the windows machine and the konica through the Mac (when it feels like it)


i may be asking a lot from this i don't know

[TheBoy]

All 'easily' possible.

The Linux route may be difficult to set up if you're not pretty familiar.

The Windows Server 2003 is easier to set up, but may cost more.  Also, its Microsoft, which seems to be a problem in itself if you listen to Linux fanboys.


I personally have a similar setup to what you are looking for using Windows 2003 Server (which also hosts this place via a Linux VM) and Exchange Server.  Not particularly cheap though.

[theolodian]

For VPN use a dedicated box.  Be careful though, many don't support Vista for remote access.

[TheBoy]

For VPN use a dedicated box.  Be careful though, many don't support Vista for remote access.

Possible overkill for home network, but certainly more secure, esp if DMZ'd properly...

Some routers have a reasonable VPN server built in.

[cem_devecioglu]

All 'easily' possible.

The Linux route may be difficult to set up if you're not pretty familiar.

The Windows Server 2003 is easier to set up, but may cost more.  Also, its Microsoft, which seems to be a problem in itself if you listen to Linux fanboys.


I personally have a similar setup to what you are looking for using Windows 2003 Server (which also hosts this place via a Linux VM) and Exchange Server.  Not particularly cheap though.

Dont give much more info cause everybody will start building seperate omega sites!!   Will be hard to register

[TheBoy]

All 'easily' possible.

The Linux route may be difficult to set up if you're not pretty familiar.

The Windows Server 2003 is easier to set up, but may cost more.  Also, its Microsoft, which seems to be a problem in itself if you listen to Linux fanboys.


I personally have a similar setup to what you are looking for using Windows 2003 Server (which also hosts this place via a Linux VM) and Exchange Server.  Not particularly cheap though.

Dont give much more info cause everybody will start building seperate omega sites!!   Will be hard to register

For security reasons, I don't give away much info other than the basics

[Paul M]

my primary use is file sharing and email.

Currently i have my laptop with me when i am away from the office (daily) the mac and windows machine are office based but i would like them to have the email as well and i have my phone that has pop3 facility, however as soon as the email is on the laptop it is puled off the pop3 server, hence the reason for considering a mail server.

First off, have you considered IMAP? If your phone is recent I'd be surprised if it doesn't support it. IMAP effectively superceded POP3 a long time ago, quite why so many people still use POP is beyond me as IMAP is far superior. Basically it's designed to be accessed from multiple machines, so will automatically synchronise your mailboxes with the server every time you connect. I use this with my phone and several PCs, and it works a treat.

Why VPN? because my belief was that it was the most effective way of bing able to 'dial in' remote access was not something i had considered.

I get the feeling it's not necessary here. No harm in setting it up if you really want it, but I always aim for using a minimalist approach when it comes to externally accessible resources.

My mac is also running XPsp2 via parallels.

Here's what i would like to do

Have the mac and widows desktops talking to each other, have both of the printers working without killing the network each time they are used.
Have the external hard drive on the network and being used as a seperate drive so i can put business things on it as a backup.
Have the laptop be able to access the network and pull of info from the external drive

You should be able to do that lot by setting up SMB (aka Windows for Workgroups) shares. Mac can access SMB natively so no worries there (I have SMB shares automount on my Mac when I log in using the credentials from my keychain). Setting up SMB shares on Windows boxes is theoretically simple, but it's not unusual to encounter problems, sometimes due to the process of electing a master browser when various machines are switched on or off. If you have a machine that is always on (acting as a server, with the disks connected to it) then you can effectively force that to become the master browser with some registry hacking. I haven't done this for ages as I either use Samba servers on Linux boxes, or Windows domains, so I can't remember off hand. The MS knowledge base should provide all the info required.

have all the machines being able to access the same email accounts/calendars and have the same content on them
have the widows powered phone be able to get the same email/calendar as the rest of the machines

When you mention calendars, what type and where are they currently stored? If they're Outlook calendars and you want to bring them "in-house" then you're looking at installing an Exchange server (which requires Win Server AFAIK but don't quote me on this)... not cheap so be sure you really need it before going down this route.

The desktop machines are hardwired to the router, the HP printer runs through the windows machine and the konica through the Mac (when it feels like it)


i may be asking a lot from this i don't know

It should be possible to share the lot, as long as all the machines are on the same workgroup and are talking OK over SMB (no firewall issues etc). Just share each resource from the appropriate machine.

BTW I am not an SA so I don't have the depth of experience of some others on here (aka take it all with a pinch of salt ).

[Paul M]

Agree with the above...

VPN has several distinct advantages over other methods of remote access.

Firstly, it is encrypted, and you can limit the remote access so it is allowed only from PCs that have the VPN client configured with the correct 'password', so it is safer (not a major issue for a home network).

Secondly, when you connect over VPN you are virtually part of the local network that you logged into, this can have some advantages but only if you are good with setting-up networks etc (again, sot much use for most home users).

So in short, most home users will not need VPN, though there is no harm in setting it up if you are that way inclined....

If you

All true when compared to unencrypted links, but compared to SSH I wouldn't say it's more secure. You can restrict SSH logins to known hosts, force public key authentication so you require both the private key and the passphrase to unlock it, and you can restrict what the SSH daemon will allow (port forwarding etc). So you can do pretty much everything that VPN can do, but with a more fine-grained level of control. If you only need certain services, then allow only those ports to be forwarded.

One drawback to SSH on Windows is that there is no native OpenSSH server for Windows. It's not too difficult to install and configure sshd as an NT service via Cygwin, but again that depends on whether you have a little *nix knowledge. If you have a mostly Windows background VPN may be easier.