Server change
If there is something that I hate, it is changing servers. However the old one was starting the crumble under the pressure. When I installed it 4 years ago it was based on what I needed then using Slackware as the distro of choice.
The server then needed to perform quite some tasks like being the router for the pc's here, webserver and application server (apache 1 and tomcat), dns server, firewall, mail server and samba. 4 Years ago setting everything up was not fun but once done, I was pleased :). Maintaining it proved to be not too much fun either. As my interests changed I wanted to spend less time fiddling and more time just using. Slackware stopped being developed for some time and I found myself more and more hacking, debugging and configuring software.
4 Years ago an ADSL connection meant a modem with a connection for 1 pc, so the server really needed to work as gateway and router. Nowadays we have a Thomson ST780 router that does just about everything I need, it routes, it has a dhcp server, it's an AP and it has a firewall. It even has two VOIP ports. Basically the old Swallow was getting swamped with what I wanted and it was getting more and more trouble maintaining it. Enter the Hawk.
Kitten's desktop had to be replaced because she needed more CPU power and memory. So her old motherboard and memory came available. A nice AMD xp1800+ athlon and 1gig of memory. I also had a nice 80gig harddisk handy.
Nowadays I use Ubuntu on my desktop and laptop, all software well configured and using apt it practically maintains itself. Ubuntu is based on Debian, so I decided to use Debian for the hawk, installing was a breeze. Just about all the software went on it without any problems. The biggest problems I had was with the mail software and tomcat. It took me quite some reading and trying to get it setup the way I wanted, I am still not happy with it, but for now it works.
Tomcat was another story. The way the debian packagers have set that up defeats my understanding completely. So I decided to install the normal package from tomcat.apache.org.
Using the speedtouch's interface all external connections are routed to the Hawk and I don't have to do a thing.
Again I am pleased.
The server then needed to perform quite some tasks like being the router for the pc's here, webserver and application server (apache 1 and tomcat), dns server, firewall, mail server and samba. 4 Years ago setting everything up was not fun but once done, I was pleased :). Maintaining it proved to be not too much fun either. As my interests changed I wanted to spend less time fiddling and more time just using. Slackware stopped being developed for some time and I found myself more and more hacking, debugging and configuring software.
4 Years ago an ADSL connection meant a modem with a connection for 1 pc, so the server really needed to work as gateway and router. Nowadays we have a Thomson ST780 router that does just about everything I need, it routes, it has a dhcp server, it's an AP and it has a firewall. It even has two VOIP ports. Basically the old Swallow was getting swamped with what I wanted and it was getting more and more trouble maintaining it. Enter the Hawk.
Kitten's desktop had to be replaced because she needed more CPU power and memory. So her old motherboard and memory came available. A nice AMD xp1800+ athlon and 1gig of memory. I also had a nice 80gig harddisk handy.
Nowadays I use Ubuntu on my desktop and laptop, all software well configured and using apt it practically maintains itself. Ubuntu is based on Debian, so I decided to use Debian for the hawk, installing was a breeze. Just about all the software went on it without any problems. The biggest problems I had was with the mail software and tomcat. It took me quite some reading and trying to get it setup the way I wanted, I am still not happy with it, but for now it works.
Tomcat was another story. The way the debian packagers have set that up defeats my understanding completely. So I decided to install the normal package from tomcat.apache.org.
Using the speedtouch's interface all external connections are routed to the Hawk and I don't have to do a thing.
Again I am pleased.