network installation & system administration

the following services are offered by tapirdata to help you to setup new networks, extend your existent ones and to keep them running seamlessly...

planning

determination of your needs:

what are your requirements concerning used services, security, availability, performance, budgetability?
what will be needed fulfill your demands: machines (memory, drives...), network infrastructure (cabeling, hubs, switches, routers, printservers...) and software (as tapirdata tries to use open source implementations, there is rarely the case to pay for licences)
are there any spare resources, which can be reused? e.g. even an old i486 generation machine can act as a reliable firewall.

networks

some of the tasks, which can provided by one ore more GNU/Linux server(s), are:

a bastion host running netfilter and perhaps some proxies (e.g. Squid Web Proxy Cache for http & ftp) provides a precisely tunable firewall system, connecting your local to the internet in a safe manner.
file servers allow to share your files in a heterogeneous environment, using
- NFS to serve unix/linux clients.
- samba to serve Microsoft® Windows 9x/NT/2000 clients. (linux clients may use it, too)
- netatalk to serving MacOS® clients.
print servers allow to share your printers as an alternative to network capable printers and standalone printservers in a heterogeneous environment, using
- CUPS to serve unix/linux clients.
- samba to serve for Microsoft® Windows 9x/NT/2000 clients. (linux clients may use it, too)
- netatalk to serve MacOS® clients.
a mail server allows versatile mail management using the IMAP protocol. molstly Cyrus IMAP Server will be used for this purpose.
a http server makes webpages available locally (and globally on your demand) using the Apache HTTP Server. of course this includes dynamic generated pages performed by server side techniques as provided by the numerous available apache modules.
web caching may be performed alternatively by Squid Web Proxy Cache.
virtual private networks (VPN) allow to establish secure connections between branch offices and to remote workstation by authentcating & encrypting network traffic between them, using:
- SSL aware applications as Apache HTTP Server, Cyrus IMAP Server, .
- IPSec as implemented in FreeS/WAN.
- CIPE - Crypto IP Encapsulation.
- TCP over SSL as provided by Stunnel.

administration

tasks to keep your system running:

applying regular reliable backups.
auditing your security, by:
- checking log files
- running intrusion/abuse attempts
- instantly fixing arising security leaks
advising you and your coworkers on responsible usage of equipment & software
in the case of an emergency, getting your system usable again.

certifications:

migration

many annoyances, concerning services provided by servers, running proprietary operating systems as Microsoft® Windows NT/2000/XP, and Novel Netware® can be avoided by moving them onto linux servers:

lack of security:
- obfuscated concepts instead of approved techniques
- services running with too high permissions
- lazy support to fix known exploits
- unsafe default settings
unpredictable behaviour caused by:
- missing documentation due to proprietary systems & closed source.
- bratty version incompatibilities.
huge expense for support, extensing licences, upgrades (bug fixes).

...and if there are special needs, not covered well by any available application, tapirdata's software development department certainly can create a solution.