Re: site servers

Larry Tague (ltague@physio1.utmem.edu)
Thu, 27 Mar 1997 15:35:46 -0600 (CST) 

On Thu, 27 Mar 1997, Bob Carlitz wrote:

> Many features of Local Area Networks are pretty much standard.  One area
> where there appears to be a wide range of implementation styles has
> to do with servers which provide e-mail access for students and
> teachers and Web space for everyone at a given school.
> 
> 	* What solutions have you found to work best in your
> 	  project and at sites with which you are familiar?

Bob, MECCA is capable of using a real mix when it comes to e-mail and web
space. However, we use mainly our UNIX server system which is being
upgraded to an Aspen System 475 Mhz machine with 256Meg of RAM and 8 gigs
of HD storage. For the Young Memphis Scholars program I have a Power
Computing platform with WebStar, at East they have a Linux machine, but
they are not using this for e-mail until we setup the new server. 

> 
> 	* What pitfalls are there to server implementation 
> 	  and maintenance?  What works and what doesn't work
> 	  in your experience?
> 
We have been lucky to have a Computer Engineering science student from the
Univ. of Penn. who has been a great help in this respect.  I have utilized
this person to help run down configuration and implimentation questions
and problems with our software, etc.

If you do not know UNIX yourself, you do not have assistance, or you just
dont have the time to work with the systems, then you should farm these
task out to ISPs. My style is very "hands-on" and I do not ask staff to
perform task that I do not already have a pretty good understanding of
myself. Remember, sooner or later the staff may not be there.

Using "public_html" areas on our servers have worked very well. With
students this must be monitored very closely.  In fact, we used a "link"
with the Young Memphis Scholars program to keep all the "public_html"
material in one place... under our control.

More later.

Larry

Larry Tague
Co-Director of MECCA*
Research Associate			Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics
Phone Bus.: 901-448-7152		U.T. Memphis
Phone FAX:  901-448-7126		894 Union Ave.
e-mail:ltague@physio1.utmem.edu or	Memphis, TN 38163
       ltague@mecca.mecca.org
*MECCA (Memphis Educational Computer Connectivity Alliance)
URL: http://www.mecca.org/