Linux in Small Business: A Practical User's Guide

by Lathrop, John P.

• ISBN13: 9781893115460
• ISBN10: 1893115461
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc

Summary

Employing A Practical, Hands-On approach, Linux in Small Business: A Practical User's Guide author John Lathrop guides the reader through a multitude of scenarios commonplace in a real-world corporate environment. Eschewing evangelism, Lathrop instead presents real Linux solutions that reduce software purchases, enhance stability, and lower the costs of maintenance and hardware upgrades. Precursory material includes instruction regarding the installation, configuration, and basic operation of Red Hat 7.2, the latest version of the leading Linux distribution. Readers are then guided through a series of practical lessons covering networking (particularly in a heterogeneous Linux/Windows environment), databases, the use of popular office products such as StarOffice, and basic system administration. Tackling many of these issues from the perspective of a native Windows user, newcomers to Linux will have no problem following the lessons.

Table of Contents

About the Author	xv
About the Technical Reviewer	xvi
Acknowledgments	xvii
Preface	xviii
Introduction	1	(10)
Who Should Read This Book	1	(1)
Navigating This Book	2	(1)
Presentation Plan	3	(1)
Linux Benefits	3	(2)
Open Source Software	5	(2)
The Greening of Linux	7	(2)
The State of Linux Today (and Tomorrow)	9	(2)
Installation	11	(24)
The Different Flavors of Linux and the Linux Desktop	11	(4)
Linux Distributions	11	(3)
Linux Desktops	14	(1)
Obtaining Linux Preinstalled	15	(2)
Dell	15	(1)
Compaq	16	(1)
QLI Tech Linux Computers	16	(1)
Lesson Review	16	(1)
Installing Linux Yourself	17	(17)
Which Section to Read First	17	(2)
Installing Red Hat 7.2 in Detail	19	(11)
Disk Partitioning Guide	30	(3)
Lesson Review	33	(1)
What's to Come	34	(1)
An Introduction to Linux and the Desktop	35	(26)
Logging In, Starting the Desktop, and Shutting Down	37	(3)
Initial Configuration with Setup at the Command Line	40	(2)
Accessing CDs and Floppies from the Desktop and from the Terminal	42	(2)
Mounting and Unmounting CDs and Floppies	42	(1)
Mounting and Unmounting CDs and Floppies from a Terminal	43	(1)
Mounting and Unmounting CDs and Floppies from GNOME	44	(1)
An Introduction to the Linux Desktop	44	(15)
The Main Menu Structure and Window Controls	44	(4)
The Panel, the Pager, and the Linux Desktop Paradigm	48	(3)
Customizing the Panel and Its Applets	51	(3)
Desktop and Panel Icons and Applications	54	(3)
Floppy Disks and CDs: A Simple Scenario	57	(2)
Lesson Review	59	(1)
What's to Come	59	(2)
Connecting to the Internet	61	(16)
Configuring New Networking Hardware	61	(2)
Configuring Dial-up Internet Access	63	(4)
Connecting to the Internet the Easy Way: Using the PPP Dialer	66	(1)
Configuring DSL and Cable Internet Access	67	(9)
Cable Setup	67	(1)
DSL Setup: An Introduction	68	(1)
Setting Up DSL: Bridged, Dynamic IP	69	(2)
Setting Up DSL: Bridged, Static IP	71	(2)
Setting Up DSL: PPPoE Dynamic IP	73	(2)
Setting Up DSL: PPPoE Static IP	75	(1)
Lesson Review	76	(1)
What's to Come	76	(1)
Laying the Foundations: Linux As a LAN Server	77	(40)
Presentation	78	(1)
The Scenario	78	(4)
Hardware and Addresses	82	(9)
Hardware Connections	82	(4)
Computer (IP) Addresses	86	(3)
The Scenario	89	(1)
Lesson 5-1 Review	90	(1)
Setting Up a Dynamic Server and Clients	91	(16)
Server Configuration	92	(11)
Linux Client Configuration	103	(1)
Windows 2000 Client Configuration	104	(2)
Windows 98 Client Configuration	106	(1)
Testing the Connection	106	(1)
Lesson 5-2 Review	107	(1)
Setting Up a Domain Name System Server for the LAN	107	(8)
What a DNS Server Does	107	(1)
Configuring a DNS Server for Development, Ltd.	108	(4)
Client Configuration	112	(2)
Starting DNS	114	(1)
Testing the Connection	114	(1)
Lesson 5-3 Review	114	(1)
What's to Come	115	(2)
Linux As an Internet, File/Print, E-mail, Web, and Application Server	117	(58)
Setting Up an Internet Server for the LAN	120	(5)
Server Configuration	120	(2)
Linux Client Setup	122	(1)
Windows 2000 Client Setup	123	(1)
Windows 98 Client Configuration	124	(1)
Testing the Connection	125	(1)
Lesson 6-1 Review	125	(1)
Setting Up a File Server	125	(21)
The Design Stage	126	(2)
Users, Groups, and Permissions	128	(10)
Section Review	138	(1)
Connecting Linux Clients to the Server with NFS	139	(3)
Connecting Windows Clients to the Server with Samba	142	(4)
Using NETFS to Remount Shared Directories	146	(1)
Section Review	146	(1)
Setting Up a Print Server	146	(5)
A Linux Print Server	147	(2)
A Windows Print Server	149	(1)
The Scenario	150	(1)
Lesson 6-3 Review	151	(1)
Setting Up an Internal E-mail Server	151	(5)
Setting Up a Linux E-mail Server	151	(2)
Configuring Netscape Communicator 4.78 in Linux	153	(2)
Configuring Microsoft Outlook in Windows	155	(1)
Lesson 6-4 Review	156	(1)
Setting Up a Local Web and Database Server	156	(7)
The Apache Web Server	156	(7)
Lesson 6-5 Review	163	(1)
Adopting Postgres	163	(11)
How a Small Business Can Adopt Postgres	164	(1)
Installing and Using pgAdmin	165	(6)
PgAccess	171	(2)
phpPgAdmin	173	(1)
Lesson 6-6 Review	174	(1)
What's to Come	174	(1)
Serving a Web Site and Mail to the Internet	175	(10)
Self-Hosting or Contracting Out?	175	(2)
Type of Site and Expected Traffic	175	(1)
Security	176	(1)
Administrative and Technical Issues	177	(6)
A Static Address	177	(1)
Registering a Domain Name	178	(1)
Obtaining or Creating a Nameserver	179	(1)
E-mail Relaying	179	(1)
Security	180	(3)
Chapter Review	183	(1)
Conclusions on Self-Hosting a Web Site and E-mail	183	(1)
What's to Come	184	(1)
Linux As a Workstation Solution	185	(54)
Setting Up E-mail and the Web Browser	187	(6)
Configuring Netscape Communicator E-mail	188	(4)
Configuring Netscape Navigator	192	(1)
Installing and Setting Up Office Applications	193	(6)
Downloading and Installing StarOffice	195	(3)
Initial StarOffice Configuration	198	(1)
Setting Up a Linux Workstation Printer	199	(3)
Setting Up a Printer in StarOffice	201	(1)
Lesson Review	202	(1)
Word Processing in StarOffice Writer	202	(11)
Getting Help	204	(1)
Revising Documents	204	(1)
Inserting Graphics and Drawings	204	(2)
Address Books, Templates, and Mail Merge	206	(7)
Creating Spreadsheets in StarOffice Calc	213	(5)
Creating Scenarios and Using Goal Seek in StarOffice Calc	215	(3)
Creating Presentations in StarOffice Impress	218	(4)
Starting a New Presentation in StarOffice Impress	218	(4)
Sharing Data between Applications	222	(3)
Importing Spreadsheets and Graphs into StarOffice Writer and Impress	222	(3)
Sharing Data with Other Applications	225	(1)
Working with Microsoft Office Files	225	(6)
Lesson Review	230	(1)
Using Netscape 4.7 and Mozilla E-mail	231	(4)
Using Netscape Mail	232	(1)
Configuring and Using Mozilla	233	(2)
Calendaring	235	(2)
Lesson Review	236	(1)
What's to Come	237	(2)
System Management	239	(18)
Tracking Memory and CPU Usage	239	(7)
Free	239	(2)
Xosview	241	(1)
Ps	242	(1)
Top	243	(1)
GTop	244	(2)
Process Control	246	(2)
Kill	247	(1)
Killing Programs in Top and GTop	247	(1)
Techniques to Keep Track of System Health	248	(2)
Multiple Terminals	248	(1)
Log Files	248	(2)
Package Management	250	(4)
Ret Hat Package Management	250	(2)
The Red Hat Network	252	(2)
Recovering from X Window Failures and Shutting Down	254	(2)
Shutting the System Down	254	(1)
Lesson Review	255	(1)
What's to Come	256	(1)
Command-Line Operations	257	(20)
Linux Directories and Navigation	257	(8)
The Linux Directory Structure	258	(2)
Creating and Removing Directories	260	(1)
Navigation	261	(4)
Manipulating and Editing Files	265	(6)
The cp, mv, rm, and mtools Commands	266	(3)
Editing Files with Vi	269	(1)
Lesson Review	270	(1)
Mounting Partitions and Network Shares	271	(2)
Mounting Windows Partitions within Linux on a Dual-Boot Machine	271	(1)
Mounting a Windows Share on the LAN from within Linux	272	(1)
Command-Line Networking	273	(4)
FTP	273	(3)
Telnet	276	(1)
Lesson Review	276	(1)
Appendix A Making a Boot Disk	277	(2)
Appendix B Linux Configuration Files	279	(4)
Appendix C Dynamic Domain Name Service (DDNS)	283	(8)
Linux Server Configuration	284	(3)
Producing the Security Key	284	(1)
Configuring the Linux Server Files	285	(2)
Linux Workstation Configuration	287	(2)
Windows Workstation Configuration	289	(1)
Starting DDNS	289	(2)
Index	291