UNIX operating systems have been, for years now, the most popular server operating systems worldwide. The open source philosophy, the easy-made extensibility and the high security standards make these operating systems successful not only in university areas or in private use. They are interesting for SMB-sized companies as well as for global players like IBM.
Exemplarily we would like to present two outstanding applications which demonstrate the competence, efficiency and quality of Linux and open source in the server area: Apache, the most common webserver worldwide – and Samba, a file server, which easily brings together all systems of your network.
Apache has originally been a project of the NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications)
at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and was applied successfully already in 1994.
After the project was cut down by the university, a small group of users decided to combine all
their development efforts. In 1995 the Apache Project was founded.
From then on the development was driven by a worldwide community
of users and developers, and the products are allocated for free.
By now Apache Server Version 2.0.48 and Version 1.3.29 of the HTTP-server are available.
The Apache server is a standard compliant HTTP/1.1 server, accordant to RFC 2616. It is adaptable not just for Linux but for other operating systems as well (MS Windows e.g.) and provides a broad spectrum of functions:
- DBA – data based authentication
- individualized error correction and report
- multiple directory commands for fixing how and which directory should be opened (on demand).
- unlimited, flexible URL manipulation and aliasing
- client-sensitive choice of content helps the asking application to deliver the optimized content version.
- virtual hosts make it easy to create and organize/administrate multiple/diverse web servers on a single computer processor.
- configurable, secure channel logging allows you to create your favored protocols, to process them over application channels and react correspondingly.
Unlike Apache, Samba, from its technical base, is a commercial product which has been implemented for the Linux-platform.
Samba is a CIFS- or SMB-server and has been relabeled because of a name conflict.
The technical fundamentals have been developed by IBM and Microsoft
in order to combine DOS/Windows computers in one network.
Samba servers comport like conventional DOS/Windows file servers and therefore facilitate the cooperation of the operation systems Linux and Windows. Correspondingly the basic and optional functions turn out to be the following:
- file and printer sharing
- authentication and authorization, whether in group- or in single-user-mode.
- name resolution
- service-indexing/-subscription: provision, supply of schedules about services and computers in the local network.
Samba is being deployed in various companies and developed continuously by an independent community of programmers. At present Samba Version 3.0 is available. The relevance and importance of this project is shown best in the fact, that Microsoft put Samba on its so called "Halloween Document", which lists all potentially dangerous competitors of the Microsoft company. Additionally large and well-known companies like Silicon Graphics, distribute Samba with their products.
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