The Mandrakelinux configuration wizards are designed to configure servers located between a local network and the Internet. They give you the ability to make configurations quickly and efficiently for most common services in a local network, as well as Internet web and FTP services. In this chapter, we will suppose that your network is as shown in Figure 8.1, “An Example of an Internal Network”, and that Mandrakelinux is installed on the server. Configuring and bringing up the Internet connection is beyond the scope of this chapter (the section called “Network and Internet Connection Management”).
Wizards can help you configure the following:
A DHCP server (see the section called “DHCP Server Configuration”): your server will be able to dynamically assign IP addresses to machines on the network.
A DNS server (see the section called “DNS Server Configuration”): configuring name resolutions for machines inside and outside the private network.
An FTP server (see the section called “FTP Server Configuration”): configure where your FTP server should be reachable from.
A news server (see the section called “News Server Configuration”): you can make your server act as a local mirror of an external news server.
A mail server (see the section called “Configuring Mail with Postfix Server”): configure your mail domain for sending and receiving mail to and from the outside world.
A proxy server (see the section called “Proxy Server Configuration”): configure your server to act as a web proxy cache. This speeds up web browsing while limiting the bandwidth on the Internet.
A Samba server (see the section called “Samba Server Configuration”): if the server is to act as a file or print server for Windows® machines, this wizard will help you setup public shared files and printers, and announce their names to the Windows® network.
A time server (see the section called “Time Configuration”): your machine can also supply time to other machines using the NTP protocol (Network Time Protocol).
A web server (see the section called “Web Server Configuration”): we show you how to set up your GNU/Linux box as a web server, and how to make it reachable;
A groupware server: to be able to share contacts, calendar, appointments, etc.
A NIS server: to set up the Network Information System, for example to centralize users authentication.
An installation server: to be able to perform system installation on multiple machines at the same time.
The server configuration wizards are available through the Control Center. When the drakwizard package is installed, a new category appears in the Mandrakelinux Control Center (Figure 8.2, “Accessing the Wizards through the Control Center”).
You will be able to access the wizards individually by clicking on the corresponding button. In this chapter we describe wizards for the most common services in no particular order. Note that the required packages are installed by the wizard if they are not already available.