Linx, LLC. has a new research and development group - LSDG. All systems in LSDG

Question

Linx, LLC. has a new research and development group - LSDG. All systems in LSDG will run the Linux operating system and will access resources, as well as share resources, with Linx, LLC.’s Microsoft Active Directory domain. The domain consists of several Windows Server 2012 R2 servers running various services (Microsoft Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, web services, printing and file services). Linx, LLC. also has around 500 client operating system desktops/laptops that run Windows 7 and Windows XP. There is a mix of desktop and laptop systems. Current Desktop/Laptop Configuration for Windows 7: Processor: Intel Core i3 Second Generation Memory: 4GB RAM Hard Drive: 350GB Network Card: 10/100/1000 Mbps USB Ports: 4 USB 2.0 Monitor: 20inch LCD Current Desktop/Laptop Configuration for Windows XP: Processor: Intel Core 2 Memory: 2GB RAM Hard Drive: 80GB Network Card: 10/100 Mbps USB Ports: 4 USB 2.0 Monitor: 15inch LCD Your boss wants you to come up with a proposal to replace all Windows XP systems with Linux. You will implement the Linux variant specified by your instructor. Requirements The final submission should contain at least 5 to 7 pages’ worth of text written by the student (not counting title page, images, diagrams, tables, or quotations that may be used), but may be longer, not to exceed approximately 7 pages’ worth of student-supplied text. It must be double-spaced, have 1-inch margins, and use 12-point Times New Roman or 10-point Arial/Helvetica font. A title page is required. You must turn this assignment to both the assignment area within our LEO classroom as well as to the TurnItIn website. Failure to do so may result in point deductions. Follow the TurnItIn instructions provided within the class. You must address the following in your proposal and may make any assumptions which are not specified: • Research and justify whether LSDG will use existing computer hardware that is being used with the Windows XP systems, or if new hardware will be required. • Plan for migration from Windows XP to Linux. • Determine the hardware to be used and the installation options. • How will users log onto the systems? Explain. • How will systems receive IP addresses? Explain. • How will DNS be accessed by the LSDG systems? Explain. • Explain how files on the network may be accessed by LSDG. • Explain how LSDG can securely share files within their group and other selected groups/users in the company. • How will printing be handled? Explain. • What, if any, data will be encrypted? Explain.

Explanation / Answer

Introduction:

Linx LLC has a new research and development group (LSDG). LSDG has 500 client operating system desktops/laptops that run Windows 7 and Windows XP. The company wants to replace all Windows XP with Linux operating system. This proposal describes the advantage of replacing Windows XP with Linux.

LSDG will replace their Windows XP Operating systems with a Linux Operating system because of its solid platform. Linux provides greater stability and reliability, lower cost, access to application source code, greater security, and conforms to open standards. Linux offers great support for hardware and works perfect with older and less-powerful hardware.

Currently the hardware specification for Windows XP computers in Linx LLC is given below:

Processor:        Intel Core 2.

Memory:          2GB RAM.

Hard Drive:     80GB.

Network Card: 10/100 Mbps

USB Ports:      4 USB 2.0.

Monitor:          15inch LCD.

Moreover, the minimum required specification for Linux is given below

Processor:        Intel Pentium 4

Memory:          1 GB RAM minimum

Hard Drive:     10 GB minimum

Network Card: 10/100 Mbps

USB Ports:      4 USB 2.0

Monitor:          15inch LCD

Comparing both configurations, LSDG computers exceed the requirements to replace its windows XP computers to Linux.

Planning your migration process is the most important step in a large-scale desktop migration. The first task to perform involving migration is to backup all information on the windows XP computers. Administrators of LSDG will backup all information on the current opersting system secure and protect company’s data. The administrators will perform clean installation of Linux. The administrators and technicians of LSDG can employ four basic steps in planning a migration. This includes choosing a Linux distribution, taking an application inventory, developing a migration strategy and identifying user groups.

Linux distribution comes in different array of choices that LSDG can employ including RedHat, SUSE, Debian and fedora to name a few all of which are general-purpose operating system from free software. The top best enterprise distribution are Red Hat, SUSE, and fedora. All these distribution are easy to install and have great hardware compatibility.

The recommended Distribution for LSDG will be fedora because it provides a stable host platform. Enhanced for running application containers, and brings a number of application software packaging and deployment benefits to users.

Since Linux distribution runs with low hardware specifications and the current computers meets the minimum requirement LSDG will use the old computer system for their migration. Administrators and technician will have to do unattended installation either over the network or from an NFS. To achieve this, Linx LLC will have to configure a network server and the computer systems must be PXE compliant, meaning they should be able to boot from their network adaptors. The following steps will be follow to configure a PXE server

Linux comes with a default root user and password. The administrators and the technicians will create a new username and password for users to logon to the system. The default password and username will be disabling to prevent users from upgrading their access to root users.

Users will enter their username and password at the welcome screen to be authenticated by the system. When their credentials match the set credential for them, they will be granted access to the system.

Configuring static IP address on the company’s network system will be complicated and may result in IP address conflict. To avoid that, computers in the network will receive IP address from a DHCP Server. A DHCP server maintains a list of IP addresses and other configuration parameters. When requested, a DHCP server provides configuration parameters to a client. The DHCP configuration can be viewed and edited through /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf. Technicians will use GUI interface to configure DHCP on the network. They can also use the command line interface to accomplish the same purpose. This command updates the /etc/network/interfaces file with eth0 interface to use DHCP

Next, the system is will be brought up with the following commands.

Before configuring the /etc/network/interface file, the network interface has to be stopped. When done, client’s computers can send DHCP request to the server requesting for an IP address. The DHCP server will respond to the client request with IP address, Subnet mask, Broadcast address, default gateway and DNS address. Client will now be able to communicate over the network with the provided IP information.

Name resolution services resolve easy to remember host and domain name into IP addresses. The Domain Name System DNS is used to resolve human-readable hostnames like www.linx.Com into machine-readable IP addresses like x.x.x.x. DNS also provides other information about domain names, such as mail services. Linx LLC will use DNS to resolve and service internal client’s address and external clients and customers.

Technicians and administrators of the company will use the following steps to access a DNS server.

/etc/hosts/: maps host names to their associated IP addresses and that if the mapping for the hostname is not found in this file then the request is sent to a DNS server for name resolution.

/etc/resolv.conf: provides the system with the address of a DNS.

/etc/nsswitch.conf: specify whether the computer’s hosts file or the DNS server takes the precedence.

/etc/hostname: specifies the host and domain names.

Host: find the IP address for a domain name.

Hostname: represents the name of the local host for the current session.

Linx LLC will use file shares hosted on servers to provide access to client. Technicians and admins will Use NFS (Network File System) to share files between Linux computers on a local network. NFS have to be installed on the client computer and the server to allow access to files. One major advantage that NFS provides is central management. Centrally managing servers reduces the workload for the administrator in terms of backups, adding software that will be shared and computer repair. NFS also allows a user to log into any server and have access to their files transparently. Since the company will now have a mixture of windows and Linux operating system, the company will install and configure network share using samba applets.

The following are the steps involves installing and configuring (Ubuntu Documentation, 2015):

Note that my network interface is eth0 for this whole guide. Change eth0 to match your network interface..

Step 1: STOP and START Networking service

Step 2: STOP and START Network-Manager

If you have some other network manager (i.e. wicd, then start stop that one).

Just for the kicks, following is what restart would do:

Step 3: Bring up network Interface

Now that we’ve restarted both networking and network-manager services, we can bring our interface eth0 up. For some it will already be up and useless at this point. But we are going to fix that in next few steps.

The next command shows the status of the interface. as you can see, it doesn’t have any IP address assigned to it now.

Setup DHCP or static IP address from command Line in Linux - blackMORE Ops - 6

Step 4 : Setting up IP address – DHCP or Static?

Now we have two options. We can setup DHCP or static IP address from command Line in Linux. If you decide to use DHCP address, ensure your Router is capable to serving DHCP.

Again, if you’re using static IP address, you might want to identify what range is supported in the network you are connecting to. (i.e. some networks uses 10.0.0.0/8, some uses 172.16.0.0/8 etc. ranges). For some readers, this might be trial and error method, but it always works.

Step 4.1 – Setup DHCP from command Line in Linux

The next command brings up the interface.

With DHCP, you get IP address, subnet mask, broadcast address, Gateway IP and DNS ip addresses. Go to step xxx to test your internet connection.

Step 4.2 – Setup static IP, subnet mask, broadcast address in Linux

Use the following command to setup IP, subnet mask, broadcast address in Linux. Note that I’ve highlighted the IP addresses in red. You will be able to find these details from another device connected to the network or directly from the router or gateways status page. (i.e. some networks uses 10.0.0.0/8, some uses 172.16.0.0/8 etc. ranges.

Next command shows the IP address and details that we’ve set manually.

Because we are doing everything manually, we also need to setup the Gateway address for the interface. Use the following command to add default Gateway route to eth0.

We can confirm it using the following command:

Step 4.3 – Alternative way of setting Static IP in a DHCP network

If you’re connected to a network where you have DHCP enabled but want to assign a static IP to your interface, you can use the following command to assign Static IP in a DHCP network, netmask and Gateway.

At this point if your network interface is not up already, you can bring it up.

Step 4.4 – Fix missing default Gateway

Try to ping http://google.com/ (cause if www.google.com is down, Internet is broken!):

Step 5: Setting up nameserver / DNS

For most users step 4.4 would be the last step. But in case you get a DNS error you want to assign DNS servers manually, then use the following command:

This will add Google Public DNS servers to your resolv.conf file. Now you should be able to ping or browse to any website.

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