I've been dying to manage a Linux server in a production environment. I have a 900mhz P3 computer in the server rack at WFCorp which wasn't being used, so I spent most of the day yesterday (Sunday) installing Debain 3.1 (sarge) and ever since then I've been installing and configuring stuff on it. I've got apache, PHP, and MySQL running.
I decided to try installing a Wiki to use for documentation purposes. I already have a bunch of documentation that I've written, however it's all on my PC and not accessible to anyone else. Since I'll be starting a new job soon, having an easy place to point people to, and a place I can write and publish new documentation, will really come in handy. I first installed TWiki. I really didn't like the interface, or the navigation. After spending an hour or two configuring it and playing around with the different settings, I was almost ready to give up on the idea of using a Wiki. Then I tried MediaWiki, which is what runs Wikipedia, the awesome online encyclopedia. I love it. It's easy to use and configure and is perfect for what I'm doing.
I've also setup Squid, which is a web proxy. I've only done basic configuration on it however I foresee the proxy being forced on all PCs in the building so I can control access to the web more easily.
Future plans for the Linux server are as follows:
- Configure iptables to use the server as the main firewall and gateway for the Internet
- Further configure Squid and setup a Group Policy that forces the proxy to be used on all computers in the domain
- Configure the server to allow VPN access to the internal network, allowing easy access to domain resources
- Configure DHCP to replace the current DHCP running on the domain's Windows 2000 Server
- Setup monitoring software to monitor network traffic