On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 1:05 AM, muhammad panji <sumodirjo at gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 9:37 PM, Rudi Ahlers <rudiahlers at gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> I'm looking for a (preferably free) alternative to SME / Clark Connect. >> >> I basically need the following: >> - firewall >> - nat >> - VPN >> - bandwidth limiting / monitoring >> - email (SMTP / POP3 / IMAP) & groupware >> - file & printer sharing >> - RAID support >> - if possible fail-over / high availability support. >> >> I need to support about 15 - 30 (some part time) students, so I would >> like to keep the costs low. If it's free, so much better. SME works >> for most of the stuff, but it still runs on CentOS 4, and I'd prefer >> to use 5. > clarkconnect 5 is on beta 2 > http://distrowatch.com/5407 > > just wait a little while :) > > > > > -- > Muhammad Panji > http://sumodirjo.wordpress.com > _______________________________________________ Thanx guys, I see what I'm looking for doesn't really exist. SME does what I need, but still runs on CentOS 4.7, and it doesn't offer groupware email out of the box. The project will be for a bunch of students, so costs need to be kept low. In fact, the PC that will be used was donated by someone, and where I live PC components are much more expensive than in the USA (yes, there are people with internet & computers outside the borders of the USA). I only have 1 PIV with 1GB RAM to my disposal. The ADSL router that will be used had a stateful packet filter, NAT & intrusion detection, so I'm not really looking for a dedicated firewall, but rather an inhouse server, which will mainly serve as PDC with file & print server, email server, possible VPN, and bandwidth monitoring. I basically want the students to each have a domain login, with his own files storage on the server, and some will connect via wifi, so I would prefer to keep them on a VPN for security reasons. If possible, I'd like to limit & monitor how much bandwidth each user is using, for billing purposes. SME has an option for roaming profiles on Samba, which is nice if a user moves to another PC. The groupware email is also desirable, for this same reason, to allow a user to still get his email on any PC in the lab. so, I would like to keep all documents & email on the server, to make backing up easier. I won't really manage the network, there is someone with basic Linux knowledge to manage it all, hence my need for something simple & out of the box deployment. With SME & ClarkConnect I can tell the user over the phone (or email) how to re-install the server, restore the backups, and be up & running again in no time. ClarkConnect is much nicer than SME, but only offers 10 email accounts. And, since it's an NGO lab, there is no spare cache for a license, just to get 5 more email addresses. I hope this makes my needs clearer. I also use SME home, and at various clients, cause I can tell them over the phone how to fix it when it breaks. Even my mom can "fix the server" if need be. -- Kind Regards Rudi Ahlers