[Charlug] Replacing Windows

[Jason Edgecombe]

Justin Moore wrote:
> Interested in getting some thoughts from you guys here...
>
> When I started my current job two years ago, our company was running 
> (7) Windows 2000 Server machines in various roles. I've been moving 
> services to new Linux machines when the time seems right and have been 
> super happy so far with the money we're saving on licensing 
> proprietary software to do rudimentary tasks. My next services to move 
> are backups and email.
>
> Backups: We're current using an extremely outdated version of Yosemite 
> TapeWare which came with a DDS drive purchased many years before my 
> arrival here (circa '98) to backup to a Sony DDS-4 tape drive. It 
> still works (most of the time), but to me it just seems to be getting 
> more and more flaky as time passes on and no patches have been 
> released for it since around the turn of the century. I really love 
> the ease-of-use, which is something I'm not so sure I'll find in a 
> Linux solution. Simply install it once on a server and then on each of 
> the clients you wish to backup, then walk through creating a backup 
> much like using windows explorer to pick and choose which files from 
> which machines to backup. My ideal solution would work in a similar 
> fashion - I've looked at bacula.org but it doesn't seem to fit the 
> bill. Having client software for Windows and Linux is a must. It 
> doesn't necessarily have to be free or Open Source (although that is 
> ideal), the main thing I want to avoid is annual licensing fees. 
> Suggestions?
>
> Email: Rght now, we're using Ipswitch Collaboration Suite (ICS) which 
> is a dream from an admin perspective. It's fairly light both in 
> performance and price when compared to Exchange, but even at 
> $1200/year it seems a bit ridiculous for a small company like ours 
> (~40 mailboxes). I've been a bit interested in the Scalix Community 
> Edition, but haven't had a spare machine to give it a test yet. Does 
> anyone have any experience with the Scalix product or anything 
> similar? I'm really *not* interested in trying to turn a white-box 
> Linux install into a mail server. If I was the only one admin'ing the 
> thing, that might be ok, but a few of my non-IT colleagues typically 
> manage user accounts and things when I'm away and without some sort of 
> user-friendly interface, they will be as lost as Chris Weinke in the 
> Carolina starting linup. *ducks*
>
> So - anyone care to offer some advice and suggestions?
>
> You guys are the closest LUG to me (I'm in Shelby) and I'd really like 
> to try to make it to a meeting sometime to put faces with some of the 
> names I've seen be so helpful on this list and just network with some 
> fellow Linux gurus.
>
> Thanks,
> Justin Moore
> aka wantmoore
> -----------------
> www.wantmoore.com
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You might try bru
http://www.tolisgroup.com/