This documentation is slowly begin moved & re-organized under Element How To.

This section is a series of documents about using Free and Open Source (FOSS) in the small business enterprise. Edoceo specializes in introducing companies to Open Source and supporting the companies that are already using these technologies. The articles are written with skilled computer professionals (>=8yrs) and moderately skilled Linux users in mind (~3-5yrs).

All of this documentation is based on experiences with the Debian, Gentoo or Ubuntu/Kubuntu GNU/Linux distributions. These alternative to expensive distributions, like RedHat or Novell, will truly deliver the lower TCO promises made by Open Source. The information can be applied to any Linux distribution with slight changes to paths and such. For one the apt-get or emerge commands may not available so some other package manager must be used or manual installs must be performed. Those topics are not covered here.

Readers are encouraged to leave feedback and suggest corrections by using the contact page.

Table Of Contents

  1. GNU/Linux Basics
    1. Kernel Modules - Basically the hardware drivers
    2. The Bash Shell - Issuing commands in the default shell
    3. Using Logical Volume Manager (LVM) - Simplifiy storage volume management
    4. Gentoo Specifics
      1. Gentoo Base Install - Base Install Procedures
      2. Gentoo Live USB - Boot Gentoo from a USB drive
      3. Gentoo Portage Fundamentals - Gentoo's package management tools
      4. Portage Mirror with Custom Ebuilds - How to create a mirror that contains custom ebuilds too
      5. Portage Binhost - Create a BINHOST to reduce install times on other nodes in the domain
    5. Debian/Kubuntu/Xubuntu Specifics
      1. APT - The package manager tools
      2. Base Configuration - Get the base system up and running
      3. Ubuntu Live USB - Boot Ubuntu from a USB drive
  2. Base Systems Configuration
    1. System Hardening - A good start for hardening/securing the machine.
    2. System Firewall - Protect the exposed network interfaces.
    3. RAID1 using mdadm - Using mdadm to create a software level RAID1 for boot and root partitions
    4. KVM Virtualization - KVM is an excellent tool for virtualization
      1. KVM with QCOW2 Based Images - Tips and Tricks
      2. KVM with LVM Based Images - Tips and Tricks
    5. VirtualBox Installation and Usage
  3. Base System Services
    1. ClamAV - Enabling ClamAV Anti-Virus tools.
    2. SSH - Using OpenSSH, examples demonstrate key based automatic authentication.
    3. Monitoring with SNMP - Using net-snmp to monitor equipment
  4. Network Servers

    Basic network services typically found in business environments.

    1. AppleTalk - Communicate with Macintosh OSX systems - and TimeMachine!
    2. CUPS - Common UNIX Printing System
    3. DHCP - Using dnsmasq or dhcpd
    4. DNS Services with dnsmasq
    5. FTP Services with Pure-FTPd
    6. Hylafax - Hylafax Fax Server
      1. Hylafax Delivery to Samba Share - Suitable for small organisations.
    7. OpenLDAP w/TLS - Installation, Configuration and TLS Security
    8. rsync - Setting up rsync servers and protecting with stunnel.
    9. Samba Servers - Using Samba with OpenLDAP backend.
      1. Samba and Quickbooks - Requires some tweaking of Samba
  5. Database Servers

    Dedicated Database servers, ideally this is the servers single role.

    1. Database Server Basics - Some preliminaries.
    2. PostgreSQL - Edcoceo's choice for enterprise RDBMS.
      1. Custom Functions
      2. Benchmarking
      3. Performance
      4. Replication
  6. Communications Servers
    1. Postfix Email Server Installation and Configuration - Postifx+SASL2,Courier-IMAP and PostgreSQL enabled email server.
    2. Postfix with Cyrus-SASL and OpenLDAP
    3. Spam Filtering - Extends above configuration by hardening Postfix and enabling SpamAssassin.
    4. Postfix - SMTP
      1. Postfix Multiple Instances - Create a filtered inbound, and quick outbound system on one host
      2. Postfix Gateway - Use Postfix to protect your backend mail systems
    5. FreeSwitch PBX Installation and Configuration - Manual install of trunk on Gentoo
  7. Web Servers

    HTTP and HTTPS Server options. Ideally this is a servers single role.

    1. Apache with mod_php and SSL
    2. Apache Basic & Digest Authentication Configuration Examples
    3. Securing Apache Using SSL Certificates for Authentication
    4. lighttpd as a content distribution network server
  8. Application Servers

    Other network type applications, many times this server will host multiple applications.

    1. Trac - Using Edgewall Trac and integrating with Subversion
    2. Subversion - Choice
    3. Subversion - Crash Course - Quick How to Guide
  9. Desktop Environment

    Usage of XFCE and various other desktop basics

    1. Editing XFCE Menus
  10. Hardware Notes
    1. Marvell SATA - Needs to use their custom driver.
    2. EPIA-M 10000 - Linux on a Mini ITX - Story.