Folks:
Just picked up a RaQ3 off ebay, did a restore with the RaQ4 ISO and have it working fine. The question I have is this:

Is it possible to use the RaQ as a file server rather than a web server? I don't really have a need for it as a web server, but I could indeed have use as a general file server.

If so, how would you recommend I go about it?

Thanks,

..Joe

sure... an old version of samba is installed and you can use that to connect to windows servers. or you can install the Qube OS and then you'll have an easier time configuring it...

Thanks for the reply. If I may...

I'm not overly familiar with Linux boxes, so maybe I better try to explain more plainly. I have a Sun Ultra 10 Solaris box, a Silicon Graphics Octane running IRIX, and a PC using Windows XP Pro. I want to use the RaQ as the main server and store files on it.

Let's just use the PC for now- how would I go about connecting the Windows box to the RaQ so that they would talk to each other? Is it possible to tool around on the RaQ from the XP PC?

Thanks, and sorry for all the newbie questions...

..Joe

Thanks for the reply. If I may...

I'm not overly familiar with Linux boxes, so maybe I better try to explain more plainly. I have a Sun Ultra 10 Solaris box, a Silicon Graphics Octane running IRIX, and a PC using Windows XP Pro. I want to use the RaQ as the main server and store files on it.

Let's just use the PC for now- how would I go about connecting the Windows box to the RaQ so that they would talk to each other? Is it possible to tool around on the RaQ from the XP PC?

Thanks, and sorry for all the newbie questions...

..Joe

Yes, it's called Samba and odds are it's already installed on the RaQ. There is little configuration required. When done you should be able to (from Windows) go to Start/Run, and type in \\ip.of.your.server and it will bring up an "admin" and "home" folder after you connect with a username/password already set up on the RaQ. See http://us4.samba.org/samba/ for more info.

sure... an old version of samba is installed and you can use that to connect to windows servers. or you can install the Qube OS and then you'll have an easier time configuring it...

As Zeffie mention you may want to install the Qube 3 OS on your raq.

Qube3-EOL-4010WG-xxx.iso = Qube3 with Caching

You can download the .iso file from ftp://cobalt.sun.com/pub/iso/Qube3-EOL/ after you install the OS you can run the updates from inside the admin panel.

I did my updates this way:

Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-14935 Squid Security Update <----- first update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-16613 &quot;MySQL&quot; security update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-16602 &quot;BASH&quot; security update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.2-16623 Proftpd Security Update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-16504 Tcpdump Security Update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-16633 Slocate Security Update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-16662 &quot;BIND&quot; security update
Qube3-All-System-4.0.1-EOL EOL Update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-16648 Fileutils Security Update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-16674 &quot;GNUPG&quot; security update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-16675 Rsync Security Update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-16612 Pine Security Update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-1-16717 Proftpd Security Update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-1-16706 Mutt Security Update
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-17037
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-17084.pkg
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-17082.pkg
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-17081.pkg
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-2-16689
Qube3-Glibc-1.0-Built-by-Zeffie.com.pkg <------- last update

Thanks everyone for the replies. Taking it to work (I'm a network engineer for the State of Georgia) and slapping it on my test bench to try some updates.

..Joe

I guess I should make some updates and a iso for that one... as soon as I rebuild my 550 I'll be comming out with some new ones...

Gentlemen:
Thank you one and all. I now have a server.

Some things I was unable to do, however- I could not find these updates:
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-17037
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-17084.pkg
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-17082.pkg
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-17081.pkg
Qube3-All-Security-4.0.1-2-16689
anywhere on the Sun site, so I skipped them and went straight to the last one, Qube3-Glibc-1.0-Built-by-Zeffie.com.pkg

I can map drives to the server via Windows.

One additional question: is there some way that I can see the *entire* server from Windows? As of now, I can only map drives to places like Admin, Home, etc., and I can't see any of the server's directories. (var, usr, bin, etc.) Am I missing something, or is that a limitation of SAMBA and Windows? I'd like to be able to administer the server from Windows if possible, which is why I ask. (Unless there's an admin console somewhere in telnet, or some way to activate X windows- that would be awesome.)

Again, thanks for everyone's help. It's great to come into a forum as a newb and get such timely help.

..Joe

you would need to edit your /etc/smb.conf and change the paths as desired...

The updates are at the top of the page.

http://sunsolve.sun.com/show.do?target=cobalt/qube3.eng

NOTE* from Sun
Downloads MUST be applied from the bottom of the page to the top, as they must be applied in chronlogical order. Application of these patches in improper order will likely result in problems with the Sun Cobalt™ product.

you should be able to find the updates at ftp://ftp.cobalt.sun.com/pub/

I'm curious, is the Qube3 OS capable of handling a generic (Belkin) USB 2.0 I/O card, plugged into the RaQ 3i's PCI Slot? Objective, is hanging several external USB-to-ATA (or SATA) drives (size >200GB) to consolidate some of the data spread in more drives. (FAT, FAT-32, NTFS, EXT2, and EXT3).. I have an external drive rack (7 slots, SCSI I/O removed, strictly Power supply.) I want to connect, using the RaQ 3i as a file server, or is this a bad idea? (incompatible, outdated, etc.)

Stephen

I'm curious, is the Qube3 OS capable of handling a generic (Belkin) USB 2.0 I/O card, plugged into the RaQ 3i's PCI Slot? Objective, is hanging several external USB-to-ATA (or SATA) drives (size >200GB) to consolidate some of the data spread in more drives. (FAT, FAT-32, NTFS, EXT2, and EXT3).. I have an external drive rack (7 slots, SCSI I/O removed, strictly Power supply.) I want to connect, using the RaQ 3i as a file server, or is this a bad idea? (incompatible, outdated, etc.)

Stephen

To be honest, for what they cost used, it probably makes far more sense just to buy a dedicated file server for that. I got a Sun V60x (1 RU, Dual Xeon 3.06's, 2Gig of RAM, 2-36 Gig SCSI drives, RAID card) for $249.00 on eBay.

Almost every server comes with external SCSI ports and USB, so hanging additional storage is quite easy: I did it by hanging a Sun StorEdge S1 Storage Array off the external SCSI connector and loading SuSE Linux Enterprise Server on the server.

The RaQ will handle it, but you're still talking a lower powered processor- some Linuxes (Linii?? :-) ) are starting to want a little more power in the processor.

..Joe

I presently only have the stock Cobalt RaQ3 OS running on it so-far.. FTP works fine, but was wondering if it could be used to handle additional storage beyond the 120GB limit of the RaQ3 OS.

I know all too well, about the present-day flavors of Linux.. At the risk of Blaspheme, They're starting to follow in Micro$oft's footsteps of Bigger, bloated, sluggish.. I still try to thrive in the world where I ran Slackware on an old Compaq Deskpro 386DX-con-486SX (drop in processor)

The cost of the server, is the concern.. I bought the 3i about 2 years ago, for only $25.00 at a Goodwill store (kind of like Salvation Army's Thrift store.) What's left of an old web server is stored away on one of these drives I want to consolidate, in a tar-GZ archive. and the bare-metal server system is on the 3i now.

I already have the equipment, just a matter of implementing the OS to do the job.

Stephen

Well, you certainly can use the 3i for file and print server functions. I would upgrade it to the RaQ550 OS because there's lots of security holes in the older OS.

You're going to need the core RaQ OS of some sort because part of the kernel is in the ROM, so it has to have the RaQ (or BlueQuartz) OS to work properly. Even if the web server front end is there, you can still have samba shares and CUPS printing in the background for file services.

Re: "Bloat..."

One reason I used SLES is because there's very little bloat to the OS- Mine has no real graphic interface (Just FVWM to manage server functions) and no business applications native. It's a pretty bare system that does what it should- act as a server. This is the Novell product not basic SuSE, and they have just a little experience at server software... :D

..Joe