AiHua Information Technology Site

Over the course of the week I had an opportunity to have an information technology exchange with another organization in the area.  They showed us some great features of Microsoft Communication Server and I was quite impressed and knew I could do at least some features via open source software but wanted to know if it was possible to have a total replacement that is completely open source.  The short answer is “yes AND no.”  Yes you can replace it, but it takes a few open source components working together to do it.

The first question is “what does Microsoft Communication Server do?”  It’s essentially a version of MSN Instant Messenger on steroids, as it not only handles instant messages and collaboration within an organization, but handles phone calls and group conferencing.  As I looked around at the linux and unix offerings, I discovered Microsoft is actually late to the communications party.  Many of the projects discussed have existed for a long while and are quite mature and have been used extensively in business environments.

So to replicate an environment consisting of Exchange, Active Directory, and Communication Server an open source environment could use:

• OpenLDAP and Samba for PDC/AD type functionality and file sharing
• Asterisk (technically, a Microsoft setup *still* requires Asterisk or another telephony system so this is required either way)
• Zimbra for an Exchange like mail server (Zimbra has many technological advantages in it’s own right as well)
• Openfire which operates a Jabber (XMPP) server and integrates with Asterisk, SBS, and even SugarCMS to provide a robust contender to the MS Communication Server.

Not that there is anything wrong with choosing to go the Microsoft route, but we believe that people should be able to choose their solution, and this lineup of services offers another option for organizations.

There is no denying that it is highly beneficial to have centralized authentication and file services.  Over the years we have made a lot of strides in AiHua.  Our first server was an old box with Mepis on it that served as our file server during the spring of 2006.  Our next few systems were based on LTSP or DRBL which effectively both have centralized login’s and centralized file repositories.  It makes a huge difference when staff can login to their own desktop and files from any computer in the building.  It also allows for them to continue working at another station or with a computer/thin client that is in reserve.

When an entire company is comprised of linux/unix desktops and servers, it’s easy to set up LDAP services for authentication and NFS for centralized storage; however, windows computers are not so simple.  In the past it took some level of expertise in both unix/linux and windows machines to create an effective ldap/samba replacement for a domain controller, it isn’t overly daunting and there is a great deal of information on the internet; however, it’s still not for the faint of heart.

This is where a fantastic open source project called ebox comes in.  Ebox installs ontop of ubuntu (a free/open source linux) server editions and provides an out of the box domain controller!  It also features easy to use web interfaces to add users, groups, and computers.  It’s no one trick pony, as it also features a firewall/gateway, proxy/nat, DHCP, TFTP, jabber server, e-mail server, and VPN server out of the box.

We recommend you give it a try and replace the Windows servers around your office with this powerful solution.  If you need help setting it up or setting up a PDC on another linux distribution like openSuse, we are availible.  Follow the links to the right to contact us.