Re: Migrating Windows to Linux Questions.

From: Byron A Jeff (byron_at_cc.gatech.edu)
Date: 11/07/04 

Date: 7 Nov 2004 08:24:39 -0500

In article <7f331a40.0411070116.2ee332e1@posting.google.com>,
Lukav <lukavia@gmail.com> wrote:
-Hi all,
-
-This is my first post to Google Groups, so I'm not sure this is the
-right place, but I hope to get better in Time.
-
-The Case:
-I'm System Administrator for a Company with about 30 computers. I have
-a Windows 2000 Advanced server, running as Mail, File, Proxy, Web
-Server and Router.
-(It was there when I got the job :( )

Not usual.

-
-I also have 2 ISP, but using Win2k AS it is impossible to use them at
-the same time or I haven't find a decent manual to do it.
-
-However to make my life easier I decided to migrate to Linux.

I know this is a bizarre question but it does need to be asked: Will migrating
make things easier/transparent for your clients and company?

-
-The think is, I cannot spare several days in the office for installing
-Linux. And stop everybody work while I do it.

Two points: 1. It won't take several days. 2. Is there any reason you can't
install/configure Linux on a spare machine, test, and finish the migration
at a off time, or off dat?

-So I figure out I can try to use software like VMWare for installing
-on the empty HDD, configure it and then remove Win2K AS HDD and let
-linux take over.
-
-So my question is:
-1. Is it possible?

Everyone else jumped in with a flat no. Why? Why do you think that a completely
configured system under VMWare cannot boot and run under native hardware?

The only problem I see is that VMWare by necessity virtualizes hardware. So
I'm unsure if a properly configured VMWare running system would use the same
drivers as if it were running on the native hardware.

-2. Have anyone done it?

I haven't. No one has chimed in as to trying it. It's probably worth an
experiment then on an offline machine.

-3. What linux distribution to use? (just recommend some and reasons
-why).

Not going there. There are more Linux distributions than ice cream flavors.
However I'd like to throw out a couple of properties that you'll want to look
for:

1. Strong community support. You probably don't want to use a distribution that
only 4 folks are using.

2. Well established package management. It really sucks when you need to
install something and find that you have 10 dependancies. I'm currently moving
away from Slackware to a Knoppix/Debian mix over the issue.

3. Security updates. Every distribution has holes. You want one that updates
holes on a regular basis.

I've picked Debian based on these three, along with the premise of completely
free packages. But others including Fedora and Suse also meet the criteria.

Hope this helps,

BAJ

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