Want tutorial on setting up a Linux Server to run Windows and linux clients
 

I am retired and have been away from tech support for a while. What I want to do is replace my Microsoft server with a Linux server. I have a mix of Windows 10 and Linux mint computers on my home network. I want to do data backups for my Windows and Linux clients and be able to interchange data between all machines. Basically I want my home network to have the same transparent functionality with a Linux server as I have with Microsoft server. I am not currently running any of my Linux machines on the network.

I have used SUSE before but any free server distribution would be a consideration. I could continue using Microsoft but frankly I am tired of Microsoft. I only use it now because I have several applications that will only run in Windows and I have too much stuff to convert my Windows machines. I have several Terabyte of data on the Windows machines that I will want to backup to the server so I want auto backup capability on the Windows machines. The Windows server software is having issues and I just don't want to mess with it anymore. The server machine needs to come down and a new server box needs to be installed. I thought it would be a good time to dump Microsoft and switch to Linux server.

Bottom line is I need some suggestions on distributions and links to tutorials/checklists on what steps need to be taken to complete the transition as painlessly as possible. I don't really want to get back into being a tech. I just want to get the job done quickly and painlessly. A good Step 1, Step 2, Step... Checklist would be great.

Thanks in advance.

These links look like a good place to start.

http://www.linuceum.com/Server/srvDefault.php
https://www.linux.com/blog/how-set-w...ux-computer%20
http://www.havetheknowhow.com/
https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/...inimal-server/
http://www.itzgeek.com/how-tos/linux...fedora-22.html
http://www.aboutdebian.com/

CentOS, Ubuntu Server, Open Suse and Scientific Linux are good distributions for servers.

https://www.centos.org/download/
https://www.ubuntu.com/download/server
https://www.scientificlinux.org/
https://software.opensuse.org/


A lot of our members here are on servers and can advise you. I'm not on a server so I won't be much help there.
Hope the links help.

Best of luck to you.

I would check DISTROWATCH for a current enterprise distribution suitable for a small business. They tend to combine several applications (including SAMBA for the drive shares) with a WEBMIN interface for management, which is very nice. You do NOT have all of the power and features of a Windows Active Directory controller farm, but close enough.

As for backups, I recommend running a BURP server. IT runs on Linux, and can back up both Windows and Linux clients, encrypted, with compression and deduplication, using little network (the rsync protocol). Very nice and far easier than something like Backula.

Does BURP run on the Linux Server or do I need a different server? I have a couple of 5T portable USB drives that I want to use for backups.

"I want to do data backups for my Windows and Linux clients and be able to interchange data between all machines. Basically I want my home network to have the same transparent functionality with a Linux server as I have with Microsoft server."

Almost every major disto can do all that. The BSD's are good at all this too.

"data backups" I assume you backup to some dedicated storage on this windows server. You can continue to use shared folders or iscsi or whatever to backup. If you are using a product like Acronis or using Windows built in backup you can mount a network drive.

"interchange data between all machines" Along this same line is the mechanism to provide resources over tcp/ip. Your tasks are very simple. Most of what you know already can be used with one very big exception. If you are running an Active Directory then you will have some more to do. Look to 2X.com for ideas if you need to run terminal server stuff.

Thanks jefro. I am running active directory on the Windows server but the plan is to do away with the Windows server totally after the Linux server is operational. I am only keeping Microsoft Windows 10 clients because I have some speciality software that willonly run in Windows.

BURP is expressed as a client-server pairing. The BURP server runs on Linux, the client will run on the Windows or Linux client machines.

I once set up a BURP server with 5T disk to back up a 3T development linux server. A first day backup was nearly 500 Meg. A week worth of backup was just over 500 Meg total. It is VERY conservative when it comes to disk space.

BURP is available via some repositories, but also via GIT and some other sites. I would start with http://burp.grke.org/ as the origin site and most secure source of information.

Get some!

Thanks for the link. That is a great find.

I think I have narrowed it down to two distributions. Debian Linux and Ubuntu Linux. I think both are similar in function but I don't know. Does anyone have any thoughts on which would be better? Any pros or cons would be appreciated. Per what I read Debian is universal and Ubuntu is based on Debian so why would I chose one over the the other? I guess if Debian is the standard that would be an advantage. I am using Mint on a couple of my laptops but I don't think that would matter between the two server choices. Words of wisdom would be appreciated.

Mint tends to be geared toward desktop users who wish to have access to things like video and audio tasks. I wouldn't consider it for a server

Ubuntu has some commercial background. I think they still have a dedicated server distro but really it can all be added in or not usually. Currently I like Ubuntu over Debian but I have used Debian for a very very long time.

Basically your choices have only minor differences in my mind.

I'd have gone with Centos7 or OpenSuse or considered a nas distro.

I only mentioned Mint to clarify what operating systems I was using on my desktops. Sorry if I caused any confusing. I did used OpenSuse briefly several years ago and I liked it. I might take another look at it. Does anyone have any comments on OpenSuse?

CentOS, or an Ubuntu LTS, or Debian Stable.
Stable is stable. If "the latest software" is one of the concerns. stay away from Stable?
CentOS can be picky, but it's no big deal.
If you just want it to work (for the most part), I suggest Ubuntu, it's everywhere. LTS!

Documentation aplenty for Ubuntu, a la
https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/serverguide/

Get some!

I did OpenSUSE 11.x on my desktop, (worked great)
IDK how it acts as a server. c-li is c-li is c-li, I reckon.

I've been running Open Suse for about 6 months now and have not had any problems. It's incredibly stable and Yast2 is easy to use.

It is really up to your choosing. Any of the distro's mentioned above are good. Will they work on your system??? We can't say. It wasn't tested at factory for any of those.

Try a few in a vm or on a spare machine to see how you like it and if it seems to be usable. Each one has unique ways to do tasks.

You could build a system at SuseStudio and run it from there.

I have been using Ubuntu for the last 10 years and Debian before that, and the only reason I use Ubuntu instead of Debian is that Debian tend to be slightly more conservative on hardware drivers and some other packages.
Ubuntu on the other hand, has a more commercial approach at things, but there isn't that much difference.

There is quite a lot of differences between Suse and Debian/Ubuntu, but most of them boils down to the command line, such as different package systems, etc. So it really boils down to what you feel comfortable with.

You can get all of your stuff done on either platform, it's just preference.

Regarding AD, you might be able to create a Linux AD (Samba v4 can partially do that). But you might have to create the whole thing from scratch in Linux, and it might require some work depending on the complexity in your current AD and your needs.