Need a dish of Savvy
While Red Hat Linux fits the bill on the price and configurability front, First Comm found out the hard way that administering Linux was difficult without having a Linux guru at its disposal. Even doing simple tasks like adding new users, creating new directories and managing e-mail issues can be challenging without Unix expertise. Compared with NT, IIS and Microsoft Exchange, Linux is no GUI-lover's picnic.
Although First Comm outsourced the hosting of its gear, if your server is hosted on your own premises, you'll also want to set up a proxy to prevent hackers from getting onto your LAN, especially if you're going to share files using FTP, NFS or Samba. Unless you know exactly what you're doing, you're probably turning off those services on a Linux server.
Additionally, you'll want to configure Linux's native IPchains firewall service to minimize the risk of someone breaking into your system. And, if you are going to administer the server yourself via a remote connection, you should seriously consider secure shell services like OpenSSH.
Turn Up The Heat
To add to First Comm's Linux configuration and security woes, setting up domain hosting for e-mail also required major knowledge of both Sendmail and Apache configuration filesââ,¬"which to the uninitiated can be much like trying to decipher the Rosetta stone. None of that is extremely difficult, but it did require that someone become a Linux expert.
First Comm found partial relief to its Apache and Sendmail woes, and most of Linux's configuration snafus, in WebMin (www.webmin.com), an open-source, free software module that plugs into virtually every Linux distribution. WebMin allows Linux servers to be managed via a browser interface. While its support of Linux services and configuration options are comprehensive (Webmin supports no fewer than three dozen Linux/Unix subsystems built into the program, including Apache, DNS, FTP, NFS and Samba), it's no Cobalt RaQ for ease of use, and it does require an expert administrator.
