Remote Administration - Please Recommend for Server

[sarnone]

Hello and thanks for reading my post.

I have a PowerPC running Suse10.1. I intend to upgrade to a newer version, but I am having graphics support issues. I am looking to use this as a file server and would like some suggestions on which products to install for file serving and for remote administration. Also, I would like to be able to install and add/update software remotely at the moment. The machine with support console mode, could I setup remote administration via the command line? I have a laptop running 11.1 KDE to administer. If I am able I would ultimately like to administer it using remote desktop.

Summary
What software packages for file serving and remote desktop?
How to, at server, setup via command line?

Thanks in advance!
Steve

[nomiraged]

samba - for file serving (windows network)
ssh - for remote administration

for a windows pc get putty and Xming

you can then pass x11 through ssh - you have to enable this feature in putty SSH-->X11-->enable X11 Forwarding

I mostly do everything from command line, but to install software I instance yast2.

It can be done for a mac as well, just make sure you enable x11 forwarding.

The choice of file server really depends on what kind of network you are running. If you have all apple computers I'm not certain I would recommend samba. That being said, ssh definitely works well for remote administration.

[nomiraged]

I have a laptop running 11.1 KDE to administer.

I missed that part when I first read the post. You can ssh from your laptop to the server. Just be sure that the ssh package is installed on both computers.

To install packages from the command line use the command "yast". It will open a nice text based menu system similar to the gui version found in KDE.

[sarnone]

Thanks. The Powerpc is actually a IBM RS/6000 dual processor workstation, circa 1999 weighs about a hundred pounds, that was running AIX. My other computers are the laptop, 11.1 and a XP desktop. I may do a dual boot on the desktop, XP and Suse, after further practice on the laptop.

If connect to the server and pass X11 through the shell it would be like if I actually had a working graphics card on that old beast, right? And I would be looking at, for example, at the KDE desktop, right?

Thanks
Steve

[nomiraged]

If connect to the server and pass X11 through the shell it would be like if I actually had a working graphics card on that old beast, right?

Yes, you can pass x11 through the shell and the x11 server on the client side would interpret the information.

And I would be looking at, for example, at the KDE desktop, right?

I've tried passing the KDE desktop through ssh and it never seems to work very well. A less bulky window manager like xfce works a lot better.

Usually I just load the individual programs. For instance, in the console I type "firefox" and since firefox is installed on my server, an x11 window opens with firefox. I do the same thing for "yast2". If you do decide to do it this way, I suggest you become familiar with the command line names of the programs you'll be using.

On Fri October 16 2009 11:16 am, nomiraged wrote:

>
> samba - for file serving (windows network)
> ssh - for remote administration
>
> for a windows pc get *putty* and *Xming*
>
> you can then pass x11 through ssh - you have to enable this feature in
> putty SSH-->X11-->enable X11 Forwarding
>
> I mostly do everything from command line, but to install software I
> instance yast2.
>
> It can be done for a mac as well, just make sure you enable x11
> forwarding.
>
> The choice of file server really depends on what kind of network you
> are running. If you have all apple computers I'm not certain I would
> recommend samba. That being said, ssh definitely works well for remote
> administration.
>
>
sarnone;

You might want to look at webmin. We've found it very helpful for remote
server administration.
--
P. V.
"We're all in this together, I'm pulling for you." Red Green