[TriLUG] Server vs. workstation setup?

[Sinner from the Prairy]

Avui, Dijous 02 Maig 2002 09:08, no tenieu res mes que fer i me vareu enviar 
aquest e-mail
> I've heard some of you talk about having a server setup and a workstation
> setup. Is there a major difference? Or is it like running different
> software at different times? Can one machine be both or does that depend on
> the machine?

> Thanks as always :)
> Lisa B.


The major difference is the software being used and the configuration. 

A Linux Workstation can (and usualy has) server software installed, although 
most of the time it is not running... so you can use the CPU and RAM for 
"workstation stuff", like playing multimedia files, using productivity 
software (office suites, image manipulation, coding/debugging tools...) and, 
of course, eye-candy.

A Linux Server can (and, probably has) workstation software installed, 
although most of the time is not being used... so you can use the CPU and RAM 
for "server stuff", like serving files (apache, nfs, samba), offering IPs 
(DHCP server), remote access (Open-ssh), mail services (smtp / pop / imap), 
news services, firewall, ... you name it.

Most of home Linux boxes, AFAIK, do both: they act as the primary desktop and 
act as a fileserver and webserver and mail server and fierwall and.... all at 
the same time.

For Linux newcomers, if you have the disk space, installing everything and 
play with it. Then, decide what you want to keep and use.

And, yes, Red Hat Advanced Server, for example, can be nicely used as a 
Desktop with plenty of eye-candy. And Mandrake Powerdesktop (or whatever is 
the name this week) can be effectively used as a powerful server.


Salut,
Sinner
-- 
RedHat QA Test Engineer  --  Running RedHat 7.3beta on i386smp
http://www.ibiblio.org/sinner/