New to the forum and very lost.

A

AllSpecpc

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I'm new to the forum and very lost,I look forward to your help and hope to be able to help someone else one day.I have NO previous experience with Linux,I was "thrown" into it....into a complete mess really,so much so,I don't even know what questions to ask...sounds bad doesn't it?
Linux server in a small office setting,combined with Server 2008 and a mixed bag of client computers,in a virtual network.
 


I'm new to the forum and very lost,I look forward to your help and hope to be able to help someone else one day.I have NO previous experience with Linux,I was "thrown" into it....into a complete mess really,so much so,I don't even know what questions to ask...sounds bad doesn't it?
Linux server in a small office setting,combined with Server 2008 and a mixed bag of client computers,in a virtual network.
Oh my. I don't even want to know how that happened. Your best bet is the Getting started section. ;)
 
You could always ask question here and we could answer the best to our knowledge. Any thing to help you out.

Also Welcome to the forum.
 
+1 Codypy1

I just meant the Getting Started section for guidance...
 
welcome to the forum! Careful, you're going to like Linux better than windows soon ;)
 
Dude! You're not lost, You're right here! Take a deep breath, and let us have the dirty details. With any luck, you should come out smelling like a rose. You said that you were thrown into a mess. Do you have any experience with other operating systems like windows, or any computer experience at all? How did the powers-that-be select you for this position? Can you give us a few more details on the network configuration? Oh, and welcome to the neighborhood!

Paul
 
Thanks all for the welcome,Paul aka VP9KS..I have lots of computer experience,just nothing Linux related.
The details are that this office is in shambles while they take their time renovating,most of its infrastructure is in place but nothing is organized.Some machines are labeled while others aren't,the cabling is about the same.
My grief is trying to troubleshoot why our network printer keeps dropping off the network and becomes unreachable from some,not all of the virtual machines.
Also,the ladies are having a hard time registering certain software and getting updates for other software,which at this point I will assume is because they do not have the required permissions to access this (firewall,security settings?) and if I could troubleshoot for certain,how would I make changes? What might be the commands?
This set up is for a security company,so there's a lot riding on what I do and how I approach these problems.The liability is high.
 
Okay. Lets talk details. First off, are all these computers Linux or is Windows thrown in there also? Second, have you been able to map the network? Third, how old is this network? Fourth, network hubs/switches? Fifth is the network printer by itself (wireless/network adapter) or is this printer connected to a printer?
 
Okay. Lets talk details. First off, are all these computers Linux or is Windows thrown in there also? Second, have you been able to map the network? Third, how old is this network? Fourth, network hubs/switches? Fifth is the network printer by itself (wireless/network adapter) or is this printer connected to a printer?

The computers are a mixed bag,some are XP machines while others are running Win 7.
As dumb as this may seem,what is "mapping"?
The network doesn't appear too outdated as I researched some of the components within. (UPS's and routers/switches)
The server boxes do not have any visible info...
The only access I have is as root admin through a Linux console,once in..I don't have a clue what to do.
The network printer is an Okidata machine..a beast at best and an S.O.B. to work with,it's not on a wireless network.
 
Network mapping is the study of the physical connectivity of networks.
IN your case all the devices connected to your network and how they are connected. Check out this thread on linux.com .
For the servers you need to check the OS. If it is Linux then what distribution they are. For the Windows PCs... you need Admin access for installing most software as well as updating. Same on Linux, but so much easier to manage. A system admins job is to manage the flow of information and who gets to do what. So you need to figure out who can update/upgrade software on your systems and how to limit their system access. This is where Linux is king (user groups).

The printer could be a network routing issue, a driver issue, cabling issue, etc. Perhaps figuring out the network setup first will help. No, it WILL help.
 
I'm beginning to think that if time were on my side,I'd build from the ground up and know my hardware and how it is set up.Taking over from one person to another in any trade always leaves one scratching his head.
I have no idea what the previous guy has done as he has not kept any records.I really am in the middle of a mess.Not that pictures will help,but it will give you guys a better understanding of the word "mess" when you see them.It truly is an IT guys nightmare.
I'll check on the driver situation tomorrow,hoping I don't have to add/change any permissions to do this.
Proxmox,Debian are a couple of items I have come across so far..
 
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How would I gain access to the server if the server is running a Windows platform and the Linux is perhaps just a security console? Does this even make sense to you guys?
 
You mean the server is actually running Windows and that the computer you access the server with is running Linux? Or that Linux is running INSIDE Windows? I assure you Linux cannot run inside Windows unless it is in a VM. Which does not make sense on a server.

Debian is definitely a server distro. Should be easy to work with. Never heard of the other, will have to research it.
 
Proxmox VE is a complete open source virtualization management solution for servers. It is based on KVM virtualization and container-based virtualization and manages virtual machines, storage, virtualized networks, and HA Clustering.

The enterprise-class features and the intuitive web interface are designed to help you increase the use of your existing resources and reduce hardware cost and administrating time - in business as well as home use. You can easily virtualize even the most demanding Linux and Windows application workloads.
http://www.proxmox.com/
So Linux running inside of Proxmox make a little sense. I will never understand running a server in a VM... just doesn't make sense to me.
 
You mean the server is actually running Windows and that the computer you access the server with is running Linux? Or that Linux is running INSIDE Windows? I assure you Linux cannot run inside Windows unless it is in a VM. Which does not make sense on a server.

Debian is definitely a server distro. Should be easy to work with. Never heard of the other, will have to research it.

I think the server is actually Windows...but it is somehow linked up to a Linux console.All I have there to work with is a keyboard,mouse and monitor..I log in thru the Linux console...
Most machines there are run in a virtual machine environment (client)..there are only 2 or 3 machines that are "stand alone"
Proxmox is something that runs a VE..management software of sorts.
 
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So, this is a new office, and the network is not completely set up? Do you have access to the previous It person? It would be very helpfull to pick his/her brains. It sounds like they did not have the time to do everything the best way possible. Probably had the powers-that-be breathing down their necks, and got sick and tired of it!
 
So, this is a new office, and the network is not completely set up? Do you have access to the previous It person? It would be very helpfull to pick his/her brains. It sounds like they did not have the time to do everything the best way possible. Probably had the powers-that-be breathing down their necks, and got sick and tired of it!

It's an old office under renovations(by the owners). The previous IT guy was right out of School,had something to prove I think.I am noticing a few redundancies for sure and way more security than is needed for such a small office.
He left it in such a way that only he can decipher it,in hopes that he would be called upon and they would be forced to pay his "rates".
There are things that need to be upgraded,but that's something that will have to wait until I get my head around what's there already.
 
ouch! Okay, so how many work stations are there, how many servers, printers, etc?
 
This is why running zenmap and finding out all the hardware on the network is a good idea. Do you have a list of passwords, users, VMs, network services, and the like?
 
ouch! Okay, so how many work stations are there, how many servers, printers, etc?

Here's what I have seen so far,2 machines set up for a U.S. based company as an "ad server" (nothing really to do with our company network)
2 UPS's
2 servers
1 network printer (http based Okidata)
6 client VM set ups
2 desktop stand alone machines and various laptops.
Some of these computers are still using Win XP (support ends April 8th 2014) the rest are Win 7.
 
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