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From NetworkFAQ
Network Administrators Frequently Asked Questions and Guide
Preface
In the real world network and system administrators are faced with a myriad of end user workstations, server operating systems, print servers, firewalls, routers, switches, and who knows what else. Every network administrator knows that just around the corner is another surprise technology or platform they are going to have wrangle into their network corral. Most technical guides tend to focus on a single vendor or platform (ie: Microsoft or Linux). This technical guide is for real world network and systems administrators put together by real network and system administrators who had to scratch and itch so to speak. The main theme of this guide is a low cost approach to solving everyday problems. While there are many open source and free software solutions in this guide there also commercial applications and hardware involved.
Introduction
This guide is a collection of network and systems administration tools that should meet the needs of any small or medium sized business (SMB) or educational facility Kindergarten through Highschool (K-12). This guide is intended to be used as a blueprint for building a network from the ground up or in parts to meet various needs of any organization. As with any Wiki this is a living document and I welcome your feedback and input to improving this guide.
Overview
The basic premise to this guide is to assemble a low cost network from the ground up using the latest technologies and best of breed software and hardware based on industry best practices. While Open Source software is often viewed as free, there is always a total cost of ownership involved in any software or hardware solution including Open Source. The key here is that traditionally the software or licensing component of any technical solution is always the most expensive part. With Open Source the software or licensing component is a zero cost line item. However as with any Open Source or commercial solution there is a total cost of ownership
While open source software and systems make up the majority of this guide, it's misleading for anyone to think the overall cost is free. There is always a total cost of ownership even with Open Source solutions. Whether the costs lie in the hardware, consulting, training, or otherwise. This guide will focus on using open source software combined with commercial and commodity hardware to significantly reduce the bottom line cost. This guide will achieve the desired features and functionality of most commercial off the shelf (COTS) applications or solutions but at a much lower cost. Most of these guides will be focused at an intermediate systems administrator with a basic knowledge of networking and both Windows and Linux desktop/server operating systems. Most sections of this guide . In many cases there will even be a downloadable VMware virtual machine that you can use as an example to try out or implement in your production network.
Building The Network Foundation
Starting From Scratch
Network Cabling
Routers And Switches
Hardware Purchasing
If you don't need the latest and greatest equipment on the market then don't buy hardware direct from the manufacturer. There is a ton of hardware on the grey market from companies who paid the big bucks for the latest and greatest and then they went out of business, liquidated their inventory for pennies on the dollar and reputable after market vendors resell the gear at a fraction of the original price with at least a two year warranty. You can buy servers, routers, switches, firewalls, IP phones, and more for a lot less money.
PICS Telecom
Network Liquidators
Network Hardware
How To Install Zimbra On CentOS
How To Install MailScanner On CentOS
MX Logic
Postini
Hosted Microsoft Exchange - AppRiver, Live Office, and Enom
Wireless
Integrating Cisco 1231G access points with Microsoft Active Directory authentication
http://www.cs.umd.edu/~mvanopst/8021x/howto/
Integrating Cisco 1231G access points with FreeRADIUS authentication
Linksys or Netgear SOHO wireless router firewalls, whats the difference between a router and an access point
Linux Versus Windows
Ubuntu Windows 2003 CentOS Red Hat Enterprise Linux SUSE
Linux can use webmin for a web based graphical user interface
Basic Server Setup
Basic Windows security measures - change admin passwd, turn off services, ip filtering or firewall
Basic Linux security measures - change root passwd, use sudo, disallow root ssh, iptables
Windows advanced hardening Linux advanced hardening
SNMP
How To Install Centralized Syslog Server - using SyslogNG and phpSyslog
BIND DNS managed by Webmin
Remote Desktop Protocol for remote management
Dameware
VNC
Webmin server management tool
Backups
RANCID - (stand alone or now integrated with OpenNMS)
AMANDA - Open source backup application capable of backing up Linux, Mac, and Windows clients to disk or tape.
AMANDA On Ubuntu - How to install AMANDA on Ubuntu server 10.x
Bacula - How to build Bacula
Firewall
Cisco PIX
Juniper Netscreen
Linux with IPTables
Cisco router with IOS firewall
Linksys or Netgear SOHO router firewalls
Virtualization
VMware Server Virtualization
Centralized User Management
Building A Windows Domain With Active Directory
Linux As A Windows Domain Controller
TACACS+ Authentication, Authorization, And Accounting
Content Filtering
Squid and Dans Guardian
https://wiki.torproject.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/SquidProxy
How To Join CentOS to Active Directory Domain using WinBind
Network Security
Network Troubleshooting Tools
Wireshark
Network Administration
How To Upgrade Cisco Catalyst 35XX Switch
How To Upgrade Cisco 1231G Wireless Access Point
Cisco Content Services Switches (aka: Load Balancers)
- How To Upgrade Cisco Content Services Switch 11501 IOS Software
- How To Monitor And Troubleshoot Cisco CSS Load Balancer
- How To Replicate The Primary CSS Switch Configuration To the Backup Switch
- How To Setup An SSL Certificate On A Cisco Content Services Switch (CSS) Load Balancer
Network Monitoring
How To Install OpenNMS On CentOS
How To Install OpenNMS On Ubuntu
Nagios
IP Plan
Zabbix
How To Setup a Newsgroup Server For System Log Archiving
Voice Over IP
How To Install Freeswitch - How to install and configure Freeswitch and the FreePBX v3 web based gui management tool
Trixbox
Internet Telephony Service Providers - Vitelity, VoicePulse, Bandwidth.com, Les.net
IP Phones - Cisco, Polycom, Aastra, Snom, Grandstream, Linksys, Netgear
How To Configure Digium TE410P Four Port PRI Card Using Asterisk
How To Configure A Sangoma T1 Card Using Asterisk
How To Troubleshoot A Voice T1 or PRI Card Using Asterisk
How To Upgrade Cisco 79XX From 6.3 To 8.X Firmware
How To Factory Reset A Cisco 79XX Phone
How To Configure Asterisk SNMP Monitoring
Virtual Private Networking (VPN)
PPTP client remote access with Windows server and Linux
IPSEC VPN client remote access and LAN-To-LAN tunnels
GRE VPN tunnels
L2TP VPN
SSL VPN
Site-to-Site or LAN-to-LAN
OpenVPN
FreeSWAN
Vyatta
SSL Explorer - http://sourceforge.net/projects/sslexplorer/
Hamachi
Astaro
Cisco router, firewall, or VPN appliance
Juniper
WatchGuard
SonicWall
Terminal Services
Linux Terminal Server Project
Desktop Management
UltraVNC using repeater
www.myipaddress.com
Windows Remote Installation Services (RIS)
Linux PXE boot and kickstart installation
Internet Web Hosting
Plesk
Webalyzer
AWStats
FireStats - http://firestats.cc/
Selecting An Internet ISP Carrier
Intranet
Alfresco
Forums
Help Desk Ticketing
PHPList - broadcast email
Mailman mailing list manager
IRC chat
Instant Messaging
ignite sparkfire chat - to provide an IM service internally but to keep security controls on it
pidgin or GAIM
Documentation
Photo Gallery - remote site wire closet photos
Wiki
Document Collaboration
Desktop Applications
Filezilla
WinSCP
Putty
NTRADPing
WinRAR
Notepad++
Avoid Real Player
Firefox
Thunderbird
Trillian
Pidgin
Infra Recorder - Windows based cd burning/recording application
Open Office
Nvu - HTML editor
PDF Creator - http://www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator
Equipment Vendors
RFP process
PICS Telecom
Network Liquidators
Network Hardware
