vowe dot net :: Reviewing the BenHur 2-20, Part 3

Reviewing the BenHur 2-20, Part 3

by Volker Weber

[continued from part 2]

What you are seeing here is the admin interface to BenHur² in german. You can select the english version at login time or replace ".de" at the end of the url with ".en" any time. Since Ragnar asked me about updates, this is what it looks like. It's a three step process: You download the list of packages, download and then install them. Three clicks and you are done. If the kernel is updated, you need to reboot.

I mention this specifically because you hardly ever have to reboot the system. It has a very clever administration architecture. You can have a number of configurations, and you can choose to save each new configuration as a new named version. The software keeps track of your changes and they are not immediately effective. Once you have decided that you like your new configuration, you then activate it. The software lets you either only update your changes or the whole configuration. It then determines, which configuration files of the various software packages have to be changed, stops the corresponding processes, updates the files and then restarts the processes.

I have now also activated the AntiVir scanner for mails and web content. I believe that the latter will only start to work once I have enabled the Squid proxy. I used a license key from H+BEDV Datentechnik (which can be registered for personal noncommercial use on Linux with this form.

The device also contains exchange4linux 2.5, which has to be activated with a license key as well. A E4L license for 5 users is 299 EUR. If you send mail to n-h.com you can request a free license key. Next month the software will be updated to version 3.0 which will then be able to sync directly with devices like the Treo 650.

With exchange4linux (´ exchange for linux ´) you are able to share calenders, addressbooks, notes, tasks and more by using the Microsoft Outlook program on your desktop. All Outlook data is stored centrally on your exchange4linux server.

Since I don't use Outlook I don't have any use for this software. ;-) I am mentioning this since some of you may need a small Exchange server without paying extra CALs to Microsoft.

If you can supply the hardware, you can actually get quite an interesting system for zero funds. Everything I have talked so far is downloadable free of charge for noncommercial use with up to five users. Start here. And don't install this on your Windows machine. It will be gone for good. ;-)

[to be continued]

2005-03-21 :: email :: bookmark :: digg

Comments

And your Domino server?

Egor Margineanu, 2005-03-22 07:40

It is resting as explained in part 2. Once I have migrated everything else from this box, it will be reinstalled.

Volker Weber, 2005-03-22 09:47

A further inquiry concerning the updates: It sounds like the system is downloading the updated packages from the Pyramid site and then installing them. Am I right assuming that there is no way of installing critical updates for certain packages from other sources, e.g. updating the internal Cyrus server when patches are released before Pyramid provides a package?
I figure you can't say much about their responsiveness to critical patches in components of their distribution.

Ragnar Schierholz, 2005-03-22 11:55

You probably could — this is Linux — but I would not.

I can't say anything about how responsive Pyramid is. My impression so far is that they know what they are doing, at least they know a lot more than I do, and I give them the benefit of the doubt.

You can build this system from scratch if you want to. It all depends on how much of your time you want to invest.

Volker Weber, 2005-03-22 12:06

Thanks. That Screen looks exactly like my BenHur2 Installation on my P3-500. Btw.: Mb Mixed Tapes 6 is out now...

Henrik Heigl, 2005-03-22 15:54