Network and System Integration for Dummies

The CD-ROM will provide invaluable networking tools for integrating Windows, Unix/Linux, and Netware systems, and is designed to get machines up and communicating with each other in just a few hours.

Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Conventions Used in This Book

Commands in the World According to Bill (Gates): Windows 2000 conventions

Typing commands outside the Windows world

Keystrokes with less hassle

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: The NOS Isn't Nitrous Oxide!

Part II: Building a Network From the Ground Up

Part III: System Administration Basics

Part IV: Administering Networked Communications and Files

Part V: E-mail and News

Part VI: Security and Troubleshooting

Part VII: The Part of Tens

Part VIII: Appendixes

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go From Here

Part I: The NOS Isn't Nitrous Oxide!

Chapter 1: Networked Operating Systems: What They Are and What You Need to Run Them

Understanding System Integration (and Its Pains)

Mixing Up Your Network

The Hands-Down Easiest Solution to System Integration

Slogging Through the Different Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows: The 800-pound gorilla

Unix/Linux: Less GUI, more filling

NetWare: Taking a licking but still ticking

Dealing with the Nitty-Gritty Stuff: OS Hardware Requirements

NetWare 4 or 5 hardware requirements

Unix (Solaris 8)

Linux

Windows 95

Windows 98

Windows NT

Windows 2000

Chapter 2: Selecting Operating Systems

What a Networked, Multiuser, Multitasking OS Can Do for You

Networked

Multiuser

Multitasking

Operating system

What an Operating System Is and Why You Need to Care

The Windows World: Comparing 2000 to NT 4.0 and 98

Windows 2000

2000 Professional versus Server

Windows NT 4.0

Windows 98 or 95

NetWare -- the Consummate NOS

Unix/Linux

The Advantages of Unix

The Organic Operating System of Linux

What exactly is free software?

Free versus Open Source

Your Evaluation Checklists

Checklist one: Existing network and servers

Checklist two: New network and servers

Chapter 3: Ground Zero -- Clearing the Way with a Plan

Choices and Decisions -- Not Necessarily Easy but Very Important

Dig out the clipboard and pencil for survey time

Standards? We have plenty of standards!

Laying Out and Testing a Sample Plan

Solving the disk-space issue

Stopping the outages

Standardizing the standards

Laying the cabling

Part II: Building a Network from the Ground Up

Chapter 4: Wiring -- Like Spaghetti but with Fewer Calories

The Down 'n' Dusty Guide to Your Network Cables

Getting Caught in the Ethernet: Basic Ethernet Concepts

Tens, hundreds, and gigas -- your Ethernet cable choices

Pick a card, any card

Bits and Pieces: Other Networking Hardware You Need to Know

Patch panel -- plugging the gaps

Hubs, switches, and repeaters -- the long haul

Bridges? No, they don't fall down

Route to the router

Now How Much Would You Pay? (But Don't Answer Yet!)

Home network of 2-3 computers

Small office of 16-24 computers

Medium or large office of 24-60 computers

Dos and Don'ts of Running Cable

Electrical sources

Fluorescent lights

Water (the wet stuff)

High-traffic areas

Cabling Industry Standards

The Specific Cable Standards

Chapter 5: Clients: Like People, They're All a Little Different

Do I Wine and Dine My Clients?

What about Tipping the Server?

Connecting Clients and Servers

Choosing clients

Choosing connection methods for clients and servers

Chapter 6: Saving the Work That You Do and Printing Those Documents Too . . .

Installing the NetWare Client on a Windows PC

The prerequisites and hardware requirements

The installation procedure

Setting Up User Accounts

NetWare Printing 101

Is NDPS right for you?

Configuring the printers

Dealing with printing issues

Adding local printers in Windows

Adding local printers in Linux

Adding local printers in Unix

Part III: System Administration Basics

Chapter 7: Booting Up the Big Boys

Captain's Log, Stardate Wednesday

Logging In to Unix

Logging In to Linux

Logging In to NetWare 5 ("Whoa! This One Is Different")

Starting the server

Understanding NDS and authentication

Keeping it going: NetWare stability

Understanding ABENDs

Logging In to Windows 2000

Your domain: Locally mastered

So How Does Mixed Networking Affect System Logins?

Logging Out of a Networked Operating System

Unix and Linux

Windows 2000

NetWare

Chapter 8: Taking Charge

Rules for Administrative Accounts

Tread lightly or not at all: Using your privileges

The Root of the Matter -- the Administration Account in Unix/Linux

Becoming the Super-User, Even if You're Sitting on a Crate of Kryptonite

The captain's login

Su: The new, better way to become root

Call the Supervisor: NetWare Admin Accounts

Built-in Power: The Windows Administrator Account

Chapter 9 Passwords: Pain or Pleasure?

Choosing the Right Password

Weak passwords

Strong passwords

Eight Ways to Keep Your Password Security Tight

Setting Up a Secure Unix/Linux Password System

Tales from the encrypt

Me and my shadow file

How to edit the passwords

Setting Up a Secure Windows Password System

Changing passwords

Resetting passwords

Protecting passwords by using Standby mode

Protecting passwords by using Hibernation mode

Utilities to Keep Your Passwords in Shape

Advanced Password Generator

SFLogin 32

Windows NT Password Security Filter

NetWare Password Management

Chapter 10: Utilities, Tools, Help Files -- Your Best Friends

Computer Cardio -- Schema, Daemons, NLMs

Schema, schmema -- what good is it?

Daemons -- only their rep is bad

NLMs . . . they melt in your computer, not in your hands . . .

The Super Combo Command in Unix and Linux

Process search

Pipes that even Drano can't clean

Groping with grep

ps, grep, and pipe -- they're better together

The Windows 2000 Registry

Calling in the editor . . .

Opening the Registry Editor

NetWare -- Using NLMs

NDS troubleshooting

Utilize DS Repair to maintain and repair NDS

Knowledge is Power . . . So Become Powerful

Reading it in the man pages

Windows help

The Novell support connections

Part IV: Administering Networked Communications and Files

Chapter 11: Tawk Amongst Yourselves: UDP, TCP, and IPX/SPX

A Standard, a Standard, My Kingdom for a Standard!

No Computer Is an Island: The Old Stand-Alone Model

The Future Is Here Now: The Client-Server Model

UDP: The Connectionless Protocol

Datagrams and streams

What a connectionless protocol is good for

TCP/IP: Welcome to the Virtual Circuit

How TCP improves network reliability

The protocol without a state to call its own

TCP/IP: A family photo album

The IPX/SPX Protocol: It's a NetWare Thang

IPX: The network layer

SPX: The transport layer

SAP: The service advertisement protocol

Installing and Updating Protocols

Chapter 12: Network Connectivity: Testing and Verifying the Roads

Using ping to Test TCP/IP Connections on Unix, Linux, and Windows

Linux/Unix testing

Windows testing

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping

Using ping to Test TCP/IP Connections on NetWare

Testing by Using the netstat Command in Linux, Unix, or Windows

Using the -a option

Using the -i and -e options

Looking at Other TCP/IP Commands and Utilities

Does IP protect data on the network?

How does TCP try to avoid network meltdown?

Looking at Other NetWare Utilities

DHCP: Headache or Godsend for the Network Administrator?

Chapter 13: Centralizing Control with Auditing Server Resources

Auditing: Knowing Each Nut, Bolt, and Hard Drive

Making the Quota with Windows 2000

Enabling the Disk Quota utility

Disabling the Disk Quota utility

Watching Resources in the Unix/Linux World

Here's one off the top

The GNOME System Monitor

NetWare Auditing with the AUDITCON Utility

Enabling AUDITCON

Container auditing

Volume auditing

Configuring auditing

Auditing based on selected events

Auditing based on selected users

Auditing users before authentication

Using AUDITCON as a defense mechanism

Chapter 14: File System Integration

Integrating Your Networked Hardware and Software

Connecting Unix/Linux to NetWare

Mapping a Windows network drive to a Unix/Linux server

Mapping Windows to NetWare

Connecting to a directory as the root of the drive

A Tricky Part . . . Accessing the NetWare File Server

Part V: E-Mail and News

Chapter 15: Message Transport Agents (MTAs) -- Superfast Delivery Without Stamps

The Dynamic Duo -- User Agents and Transport Agents

User agents

Transport agents

How Transport Agents Do Their Work

Guaranteeing Delivery -- Not Your Normal Postmaster, Indeed

Transport Agents That Work With Unix and Linux

Sendmail

Smail

Transport Agents with Windows 2000

Message Transport Agents with the GroupWise NetWare Utility

The MTA (Message Transfer Agent)

The POA (Post Office Agent)

Chapter 16: E-mail in a Mixed-Network Environment

Use the Force, Luke! Choose Your Mail System Carefully!

Setting up E-mail on an Integrated Network

A budget for stampless mailing

Buy none, get one free

Getting the Postman to Visit All Your Machines

POP3 goes the weasel

Lost? Get out the IMAP

Mail in Windows 2000

Mail in Unix/Linux

Mail in NetWare: Mercury and Mercury/32

Chapter 17: Configuring News Clients In a Sensible Manner

. . . And Now, the News

News in Windows 2000

NNTP News for Unix and Linux

Netscape: From the GUI Side of Doing Things in Unix and Linux

Getting News with the NetWareNews Server

Installing After the Fact

Part VI: Security and Troubleshooting

Chapter 18: File and Network Security -- Building Your Silicon Fort Knox

Real System Integrators Use . . . the Club!

Screen Locks -- A Way of Life

Locking the screen in Linux

Locking the screen in Unix

The Windows 2000 screen -- standing by

The Shadow File in Unix and Linux

Viewing the Security Log in Windows 2000

Security in NetWare

The NetWare Permission Checker

NetWare Authentication Services

NetWare Intrusion Detection

NetWare Auditing

Chapter 19: Crash and Burn? Not if You Prepare and Plan

Backup Options: CDs and Floppies and Tapes, Oh My!

The What and When of Saving

The quarterly backup

The monthly backup

The weekly backup

The daily backup

Backing Up in Unix and Linux

A sample tar operation

A sample restore operation

Backing Up in NetWare

The primary backup parts of SMS

Tidbits about the restore session

Backing Up in Windows 2000

Using the Windows 2000 Backup utility

Restoring files in Windows 2000

Chapter 20: Troubleshooting

General Troubleshooting Principles

Step 1: Assess the problem, not the symptom

Step 2: Consult documentation

Step 3: Triangulate the problem

Step 4: Remove the troublesome machine from the network

Step 5: Change one system or network variable at a time

Step 6: Document, document, document

A Final Warning: Always Suspect the Cable

Windows' Little Helpers: Troubleshooting from the Mind of Bill Gates

One for the money, two for the show. . .

Additional Windows tools

Working Around the NetWare File Server

Shooting Intruders in the NetWare World

Taking Pot Shots at Trouble in the Linux and Unix World

Part VII: The Part of Tens

Chapter 21: Ten Resources for Windows and NetWare Administration

Oh, .com All Ye Faithful . . .

The Microsoft Web Server

Searching for Licensing Information

FTP Resources -- Enormous, Anonymous, and FREE

The Mail's In the Check(box)

Usenet Newsgroups on Windows

Just the FAQs, Ma'am . . .

An NT Administration Tool Site

The Mother of All NetWare Sites

NUINet -- As Cool to Use as It's Funny to Pronounce

USENET Newsgroups on NetWare

Chapter 22: Ten Resources for Linux and Unix Administration

Your Linux Vendor Web Site

Newbie Administrator Guide

Slashdot Discussions

Linux Online

Cut! Print It!

Linux in the Public Eye

Unix Newsgroups

Sun Solaris Product Line

The Unix Guru Universe

Unix Tools and Tips

Chapter 23: Ten Truths (or Constants) about System Integration

The Three Most Important Words in System Integration: Planning, Planning, and Planning

You Can Never Have Too Much Documentation

You Can Never Have Too Much Information

You Can Never Have Too Many Spare Machines

File System Compatibility Is Paramount to Run Things Smoothly

You Must Obey All Other Standards

You Must Know What's Where and Why It's There

You Can't Always Be the Alpha Geek

Dual-Boot Systems Are Bad for Your Health

The Most Awful Truth of All. . .

Part VIII: Appendixes

Appendix A: Glossary

Appendix B: About the CD

System Requirements

How to use the CD with Microsoft Windows

How to use the CD with UNIX (Solaris 2.5, CDE Desktop)

Using the CD with the Linux GNOME Desktop on Red Hat Linux

What You'll Find

Linux Utilities

NetWare Utilities

Windows Utilities

If You've Got Problems (Of the CD Kind)

Appendix C: H-E-L-P and Where to Find It

Package Documentation

Online Documentation

Self-Documentation

Usenet Newsgroups

In Search of the Best Engine

Searching the News

How Do I . . .?

Windows and NetWare: To CompuServe and Protect

Where to Get Linux and Unix Software

For Those Who Prefer Wood Pulp and Ink to Silicon and Light Beams . . .

Appendix D: Creating and Using Boot/Rescue Disks

Creating a Linux Boot Disk

Creating a Linux Recovery Disk

Creating Boot Disks in Unix (Solaris)

Creating Boot Disks in NetWare

Creating a Windows NT 4.0 Boot Disk

Creating Windows 2000 Boot Disks

Creating and Using a Windows 2000 Emergency Repair Disk

Using Your ERD in System Repairs

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