LinuxPlanet: Net Gains: A Linux Networking Overview

[ 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.”

Complete
Story