LinuxPlanet: Net Gains: A Linux Networking Overview

May 10, 2000, 17:13 (1 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by William Wong)

[ Thanks to Kevin Reichard for this link. ]

"In addition to being a very robust client, Linux makes a great network server, and it's also a great platform for a small home or office network. Because networking is such an integral part of what Linux is and how it is used, we've come up with a series of articles explaining the basics of networking and how you can fully exploit Linux's networking capabilities in your small office/home office. The series will introduce the terminology and technology for those unfamiliar with networking. The articles in the series include:

• Home Networking Overview
• Network Adapters
• File Sharing With Samba
• Linking A Network To The Internet
• Dial-up Connections
• Security And The Internet
• File Sharing With NFS
• File Sharing With Netware"

"This first article presents an overview of things to come. It also presents an overview of networking features available with Linux. Linux can actually do more with networks than is covered in this series of articles. The topics where chosen as ones that would apply to most home and small- to medium-size offices. For example, File Sharing With Samba tends to be the most common way to share files among Windows-based workstations. It allows Linux to provide file-sharing services as well as access shared file services on Windows workstations and servers. Samba works equally well in a homogeneous Linux environment."

"We use Red Hat Linux as a basis for our examples and try to mention details regarding other Linux distributions when possible. Unfortunately, networking remains one of the more arcane aspects of Linux due to differences between Linux distributions. Most configuration files are similar between distributions but often they are found in different directories or have different filenames. Likewise, the Linux startup scripts, which are often distribution-specific, must be modified to enable certain networking features."

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