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Another new server, Days 1 and 2 February 16, 2011

Posted by jmcomputer in Linux, Projects.
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So I was recently contacted by a client to come in and install a server for them. Requirements:

  • Repurpose existing hardware (i.e. no new hardware purchasing)
  • File Server
  • Program Versioning System
  • Customer Relation Management

Gee, this is sounding familiar, and I wish I had checked here before starting the install, as I could have save myself some headaches from the perspective of Day 2. Since I am a day late in updating for this, I’ll recap Day 1 of this build.

After some consulting with the client, it was decided to use a net-top (micro-sized pc, Atom processor, limited memory and hard-drive) and an external 1TB hard drive. Only problem here, no internal or external CDROM drive, so took about an hour to figure how to put ubuntu-server on a jump drive for installation AND get the net-top to boot from USB. For the File Server, requirements were: a shared-folder/drive type setup, all employees have same access, so single-user account in Samba should do fine here. For the Program Versioning for their programming work, decided to use Subversion, and found a decent gui management tool for later. For the CRM, vtiger of course, since I’ve had previous experience with it. At the end of Day 1, here’s what I accomplished:

  • Installed Ubuntu Server 10.04.1 i386
  • Installed LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, Php), Samba, and OpenSSH
  • Updated all the packages
  • Fleshed out user requirements to plan on package installation
  • Started Server Documentation

And now for Day 2:

“The essence of stupidity is performing the same action repeatedly, and expecting different results.” – author unknown

That pretty much describes the end of Day 2, in a nutshell. What I got accomplished:

  • Installed the desktop packages for easy user performed administration
  • Configured SSH
  • Installed Webmin for easy administration
  • Configured basic User Accounts
  • Attempted both the binary and source installation for vtiger

The last bullet is the inspiration for the quote above, instead of referencing back to the previous posts of mine, I tried the same steps over again, expecting it to work nicely, and was met with the same problems just on the installation. Also side note: when I performed the earlier server install, I could have sworn I had seen an easy-to-use tool for administering and configuring Apache in Gnome; but for the life of me, I cannot remember the tool or location for it to try to use it again. Really made virtual hosts and apache2 configuring REALLY easy. Tried finding in Google searches and in Synaptic, but no such luck. Ah well, back to command line and Midnight Commander for me. Hmmm… wonder if Webmin is easy to configure Apache? Will see tomorrow.

New Server, Day 4 December 2, 2009

Posted by jmcomputer in Linux, Projects.
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So today I started off running late as it was, so I didn’t get to get much done today. What I did get done: I got the hostname changed from a generic one that I put in there for the installation, to the company’s website name; I also got the username put into vTiger, I can honestly say I wasn’t prepared for how full featured it was (more on this in a bit); I also figured out how to hook the Webmail and mail features tied into vTiger (again, more later). Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a hold of the networking company for the building, but I at least emailed the contact, so all I have to do is wait.

STILL TO DO: Email aliases, talking with Networking firm to get NAT working to our server, transition from GoDaddy hosting to local hosting, move the /home and /var/www directories to the RAID, and have them permanently mounted as such.

So going back to the user accounts, I was really surprised with the features in vTiger! For instance, for the email, each user can configure the email server each uses (if you want to use gmail instead of the local, while others use local, etc). Other things that have to be done: you can designate Roles for the users (i.e. CEO, Salesmanager, Saleman are the pre-configured); now I have to see what needs to be done to change it to our use of a small, three-owner company. Hmmm… also wondering if it has a user template that they can use to create new users easily with all those things “pre-configured” (i.e. mail settings, etc). It also seems to handle more of the HR side (to an extent at least, no payroll, benefits or the like), as it will handle “Reports to:”, Departments, Titles, etc. I guess for the more advanced things, such as business processes and such, I’m leaving that mess to the owners… they can sort that stuff out 🙂

So my next project (once this one is completed), to make an Asset Tracking database using a LAMP server (Ubuntu +XAMPP), using this book.

New Server, Day 3 November 18, 2009

Posted by jmcomputer in Linux, Projects.
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Okay, so after my success with the VirtualBox install of vTiger, I went to the office to try to install vTiger on the server again. This time I am following a couple walkthroughs that I found earlier here and here. The first link is how to do the initial install, and written very nicely on a forum. The second link is how to finish the installation using vTiger’s Installation Wizard (completely html/php based).

So, I completely removed the old database, deleted the entire directory of vTiger in /var, and re-extracted the files again (good thing I saved that .tar file). After getting apache2 setup, and working my way through, I got to the configuring of vTiger, and had access denied messages, seems I had forgotten I had altered the envvars for Apache on my last few attempts. At this point, everything seems to be flowing nicely. Now I take a moment and write down all the different users/passwords that are being used (mysql, vtiger, user accounts, etc)…

Well, that went off nicely, now we have an empty CRM that we can start using (as soon as I start adding users into it). I’ve also got a couple bandwidth monitoring things running (I think I’ll have to start using screen on this too). Got Dovecot, Postfix, and SSH configured.

TODO: Add users to the CRM, add the mail server to the CRM, get hostname configured properly (aside from localhost stuff), and finally contact the network provider to get NAT tables set up for this server.

WOW! Almost finished on this thing!