Zentyal Forum, Linux Small Business Server

News and Announcements => News and Announcements => Topic started by: nachico on August 24, 2009, 05:24:21 pm

Title: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: nachico on August 24, 2009, 05:24:21 pm
Hi dear eBox community members,

We are starting a series of polls regarding the use of eBox Platform in order to better know who uses eBox, for what, how to improve it, which features are the most useful, which ones are missing, etc.

We would really appreciate anyone spending some 30 seconds to answer the poll and help us gathering this information. Needless to say, the information gathered will be public for all those who voted. If you have suggestions for more polls please just leave a message below.

Thanks!  :)
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: arrioja on August 24, 2009, 05:28:59 pm
I was the first one on answering the poll LOL !!!; i use it at the office with several web applications; mail server, file server and print server. It Works great. Thanks a lot!.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Elliott on August 24, 2009, 05:30:42 pm
It's nearly there... I'm getting ready to test 1.3 to see how the master/slave stuff is working.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: thewordofaking on August 24, 2009, 05:35:23 pm
Using for File Server and Jabber at 12 person office.  Works like a champ!  Webmin doesn't even compare in ease of setup.  Thanks EBOX!
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: dmeireles on August 24, 2009, 06:02:46 pm
I used eBox mainly to replace AD small office infrastructures. So far, it has been great! I do not use it at home because I am trying to figure out for myself how to create an eBox-like setup, so I am doing it all by hand. Thank you to Warp and all the team that made this wonderfull framework what it is today, it really is some sort of swiss-knife of IT!

David, a happy eBox customer since 0.8 :)
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Josir on August 24, 2009, 06:04:21 pm
Another useful pool would be:

Which services do you use (with multiple-choice option):
- Samba
- DNS
- Email
- Groupware
...

With that you could direct future development.

I am an eBox fan and I am reviewing it to several Linux userlists in Brasil.
Keep your great work!

Thanks!
Josir
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: gregmac on August 24, 2009, 06:45:21 pm
Using as a GUI for a firewall in a datacenter (right now only used for a couple specific production servers, as a pilot, more or less) and as an openvpn server (again, for the GUI). Our organization is mostly windows-centric, so having the GUI so I don't have to either train other users or do routine operations myself is a necessity.

A side note, at least when I looked a year ago or so when I set this up, ebox is by far the simplest/nicest platform for certificate management, a key for openvpn. All the other web-based GUIs for PKI I've looked at are huge and extremely involved to get set up. When all you need is a single CA, this is nice, simple, and effective.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: jzimmerman on August 24, 2009, 06:46:47 pm
I voted "Other".

I was not able to deploy eBox outside of a testing environment.  It wasn't quite as flexible as I needed it to be regarding DNS, DHCP, and Window Shares.  There were a few other hiccups, but in the end it was easier to deploy the services on a non-ebox debian server.  This was 3 or 4 months ago.

I did use the latest packages from the eBox website as well.  It is something that would be really cool for some of our isolated labs, but just wasn't the right fit at this time.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: pixeldrift on August 24, 2009, 07:18:32 pm
I'm the "campus geek" for a small non-profit self supporting school. I've over to eBox as my main router and hope to be using it as my domain controller with network shares. I also have it handling content filtering, which is very important, and would like to have that integrate into a captive portal for wifi as well.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Blinkiz on August 24, 2009, 08:03:37 pm
Current usage

Future vision

Things I don't use

eBox is not user friendly

Features am missing
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: kingmilo on August 24, 2009, 08:29:26 pm
I was taken back by eBox when I first came across it, such a good idea and a lot of effort spent into making it look smart.
The install was straight forward and the setup relatively easy. But as soon as I moved the setup from a test to production the small problems started to surface and it would have taken too much time to troubleshoot all of them at the risk of losing a client.

My primary use for eBox was as a mail server with spam/virus filtering so I was not making use of most of the modules, I had them disabled but just couldn't get a smooth email server with authentication and filtering to play nicely. Eventually I reverted back to my trusty Exim/Dovecot setup which was far simpler to manage/troubleshoot.

It's great having a pretty/functioning front-end like eBox but when something doesn't work properly we have to wait for a fix or hack the back-end which leaves eBox confused because the file was tampered without eBox having knowledge of it so you lose track of how your installation was configured and it all gets a bit messy there.

I am really grateful though for eBox and the people who take time out of their day to develop such dynamic software, so this is in no way a flame, just an honest opinion that will hopefully contribute to making eBox a better product in the future.

Kingmilo
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: pocetrus on August 24, 2009, 08:41:59 pm
I use it on different locations.
One feature I really miss is to show the servers name in big letters in the headline
or easy change the background or bar-color.
It will help prevent from changing settings on the wrong server when they are
all together open in several tabs in the browser.

Thanks
Karl
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Elliott on August 24, 2009, 08:55:07 pm
Check out: http://forum.ebox-platform.com/index.php?topic=1781.0

Another useful pool would be:

Which services do you use (with multiple-choice option):
- Samba
- DNS
- Email
- Groupware
...

With that you could direct future development.

Thanks!
Josir
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: VaineDragon on August 24, 2009, 09:02:35 pm
I have setup eBox 1.2 for a customer with 2 employees, and so far everything work except print server. I have posted this issue some 14 days ago and have had no reply's, also have tried to get help from the guys on IRC and still not luck.

All that aside this is a great box as far as ease of use and setup, Webmin does more put it's a pain to setup.


Good Job  ;D

Dragon
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: dexter1983 on August 24, 2009, 09:14:47 pm
 ;) I use ebox on a non-profite organization, production envoirement, since november 2008.
I replaced the windows 2003 server, it's working and doing his primary jobs: as PDC.

I like to have on ebox, more control of users rights.
Now I am looking how to implement a users-allow internet schema, combined with a wireless linux router pc.

Thank you for the wonderfull work!
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Saturn2888 on August 24, 2009, 09:51:44 pm
I said "Home Environment", but that includes my business's website and anything I need for my home business including the database and anything else we use. eBox itself is only managing the things at home behind the network, but it also manages apache's virtual hosts which is probably the most important thing.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: mustafa on August 24, 2009, 11:49:02 pm
Hi,
I am now using ebox 1.0 as a domain controller in our organization. The server hardware is a low-power single-core Intel Atom platform. Currently it serves 30 users on 22 client workstations and laptops running Windows XP and Vista and it does the job of replacing our Win2K Server perfectly!  :)

best,
mustafa
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Saturn2888 on August 25, 2009, 01:06:35 am
Hi,
I am now using ebox 1.0 as a domain controller in our organization. The server hardware is a low-power single-core Intel Atom platform. Currently it serves 30 users on 22 client workstations and laptops running Windows XP and Vista and it does the job of replacing our Win2K Server perfectly!  :)

best,
mustafa

How well is it working? I was wanting to possibly move parts of eBox (post the release of 1.3) onto Atom servers.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: schiggy on August 25, 2009, 08:58:43 am
Hej all,

eBox really made life much easier for me, when I set up a server for our university workgroup.
So now we are using it first of all as a fileserver. But also the eGroupware and Jabber server are established and are working like a charm.
Until now I havn't figured out how to send emails over ebox server for event notification in eBox and in eGroupware (I am pretty new to all that server stuff), but hopefully I will find time to learn that also.

My main future wish: better Documentation!
edit: just saw the new documentation under http://doc.ebox-platform.com - great job

Go on!

Schiggy

Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Saturn2888 on August 25, 2009, 09:36:18 am
Sheesh, lots of really high-stress production areas. This was a good poll!
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: SamK on August 25, 2009, 12:41:18 pm
eBox is presently used as a test environment as currently it does not offer some essential functionality.

All items in each list are shown in no order of priority.  The lists are in no way to be interpreted as deriding the effort already input to eBox but are given in the spirit of helping the project.  Many of the points have been raised previously in the forum - I will provide links if wanted.


MISSING ESSENTIALS

Guaranteed upgrade compatibility (without re-installation) between:

Integrated control/management of Domain Controller and Domain Member Servers and (Win/Lin Domain Workstation Clients including roaming profiles)

Single point authentication and authorization of all users/machines/apps on LAN

A Domain-wide account, reachable from any machine on the LAN.  It will confer the highest level of administrative privileges from a single point of authentication, irrespective of whichever machine is the source of the log-in request (workstation or server).

Backup of individual storage units to a destination remote from the local machine. This will include the ability to obtain a secure (encrypted) copy of the backup from the destination machine, for off-site storage/archive.

An integrated ability to manage changes in demand for storage space with minimum impact on users.


HIGH DESIRE

Improved printing functions

Development of eBox-Desktop clients

Disaster recovery and resilience

Resilience against failed/incomplete minor version upgrades


DESIRE
Simplified means of using an external email/webmail provider with clients such as Thunderbird etc.

The ability for users to restore their own individual/multiple files from backups, using the web interface.

Package/Application cache for Ubuntu/Windows machines (e.g. Apt-Cacher-NG, Opsi etc)

A single, unified set of docs/manual - constantly reviewed and updated.

Image server/repository (Clonezilla, FOG etc)
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: vstryer on August 25, 2009, 03:08:25 pm
I have no poll to suggest, but I cannot use ebox though I still really would like to, because it will not work on my vserver (http://forum.ebox-platform.com/index.php?topic=752 (http://forum.ebox-platform.com/index.php?topic=752)); apparently I need a real physical server on a local network, no?
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: MikeAllen on August 25, 2009, 05:41:43 pm
eBox is an excellent piece of software!  It has simplified my life enormously!

As for improvements (and I may be a little out-of-date here, so apologies if you've already done any of these), I'd be grateful if you could consider:

Keep up the good work!
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: isaac on August 25, 2009, 05:57:36 pm
Hi Mike!

The LDAP base name is configurable starting with Karmic. The ebox client for the desktop is also in the works. We'll keep working on it and everything else.

Thanks for your message :)
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Saturn2888 on August 25, 2009, 09:03:43 pm
I have no poll to suggest, but I cannot use ebox though I still really would like to, because it will not work on my vserver (http://forum.ebox-platform.com/index.php?topic=752 (http://forum.ebox-platform.com/index.php?topic=752)); apparently I need a real physical server on a local network, no?

Actually, I know some people in the IRC channel that have run it just fine in a vbox.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: sinclair on August 26, 2009, 10:11:39 am
We are using it in 2 offices as a PDC, replacing Windows2003 servers. It works well with windows clients but I have headaches with Linux clients.

We have a number of Kubuntu 8.04 clients and am looking for a way to use the Ebox mainly as backup/mirror of users HOME directories. Due to Samba weaknesses (I have been told, can not confirm) neither rsync or rdiff-backup works as I would expect. I get problems when users have several "levels" of subdirectories.

I understand that NFS likely would work better than Samba for network file directories for linux users so I suggest you look into that and when one sets up a client/user one separates windows clients from linux clients.

Further - I am still waiting for an easy backup of all users/groups shares from server to backupmedia
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: SamK on August 26, 2009, 10:37:13 am
Due to Samba weaknesses (I have been told, can not confirm) neither rsync or rdiff-backup works as I would expect. I get problems when users have several "levels" of subdirectories.

Hi sinclair
I also see an integrated, reliable backup mechanism as a fundamental requirement.  Would you be willing to provide some additional information about the problems you have experienced and possibly any links to the advice you have received?
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Jupiter2 on August 26, 2009, 11:42:36 am
Thanks for ebox,
mostly used as a firewall at this time. Having a gui in front of very complicated server configurations, I think, is  a great idea. I know the purist might protest, but the simplification for someone trying to configure a server is a HUGE win.
Thanks for the distro guys, really good work so far, and looks like more goodness to come.
Some firewalls (IPCOP) offer the choice of 'external (red), internal (green), dmz (orange)' zones. whereas ebox just offers internal or external.
The above is a hardly a deal breaker though.
The new feature (1.3?) of master and server ebox installations looks really good: would encourage me to keep ebox on the firewall and put egroupware in the dmz or somewhere behind the firewall.
Related to this (wish list): if a variety of server applications were feeding off the ldap database where does single sign on (for example shibbeloth or cosign) fit in the picture? The idea here is not that ebox runs all the web server applications (like egroupware, plone, drupal etc) but is the verification server for all of the web server apps.
Also is it possible to slip nginx in to use as a reverse proxy server?
Keep up the good work
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: corvin.corvin on August 26, 2009, 06:48:27 pm
I am using Ebox as a home file server, firewall and router for my internet connection. I have setup MPD on the same machine and it works great!

What I realy miss, is  the recycle bin option for the shares inside of Ebox. Every time I change the samba setup, I have to add it manually to my smb.conf file.
It is very simple, but if you have 15-20 shares and want to configure it by share... it is a pain in the ass.

Is it posible that you add that support to ebox?

The other thing I miss is the samba shares language selection. (I am polish)

Besides Ebox is a great piece of software !!! Keep going !!!
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: tverdaat on August 26, 2009, 09:00:12 pm
Using Ebox on a multi-purpose home server.

Using Ebox for the gateway, firewall, fileserver, VPN (access to personal files at work :)) and webserver

Also using it as a Home Theatre system. For that i'm running Deluge bittorrent server, firefly DAAP server, and Moovida (on gnome)

Would like's for Ebox:

Oh and: Keep up the good work! This might just be what the industry needs to get GNU/Linux mainstream in business!
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: andrea.canesi on August 27, 2009, 04:13:46 pm
Hi. I'm using ebox on 2 of 3 server on my small network (40 clients, about 900 users).
Firewall/proxy for all the network, pdc/file server for students and teachers. Administrative network needs security policies that ebox 1.0 can't configure. I'm planning to switch to v1.2.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Mammut on August 28, 2009, 11:16:13 am
I am using ebox on a Mini-ITX-Board (Jetway) with nearly all components. Its the best server i have found.
What am i missing is:

What is for me the best:
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: JMan on August 28, 2009, 01:31:57 pm
All of the above comments resonated with my own experience, so I won't give a repeat of it. I've used a range of appliance routers (e.g., IPCop, Untangle) and I've had to tear down eBox a couple of times when I couldn't configure it to do what I needed. I'm getting ready to see if the current release will be a better fit.

- I'm no longer filtering email, as I'm routing through Postini (the rates are cheap enough).
- I would recommend some standard configurations for SOHO/SMB:
    - Easy LAN segmentation (DMZ, internal, external, wifi)
    - Default setups, which provide nearly everything to get started and clear areas for configuration.
    - VPN is becoming more common for mobile professionals, and it's always been frustrating to configure.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Saturn2888 on August 29, 2009, 01:09:45 pm
All of the above comments resonated with my own experience, so I won't give a repeat of it. I've used a range of appliance routers (e.g., IPCop, Untangle) and I've had to tear down eBox a couple of times when I couldn't configure it to do what I needed. I'm getting ready to see if the current release will be a better fit.

- I'm no longer filtering email, as I'm routing through Postini (the rates are cheap enough).
- I would recommend some standard configurations for SOHO/SMB:
    - Easy LAN segmentation (DMZ, internal, external, wifi)
    - Default setups, which provide nearly everything to get started and clear areas for configuration.
    - VPN is becoming more common for mobile professionals, and it's always been frustrating to configure.

On the WiFi note, RNDIS compatibility is only in later versions of Ubuntu so I cannot test it with eBox myself, but that's one amazing solution I'd also love to see.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: poderoxo on August 29, 2009, 05:55:06 pm
Hi!

i use Ebox on "test environment", and my home server, hmmm.
i wanna multiple choice.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: javivazquez on August 31, 2009, 12:13:53 am
Would like's for Ebox:
  • Do easy traffic shaping. Only have one internet connection, but I would like to be able to prioritize traffic (e.g. http before ftp

Actually, we have a specific ebox-l7-protocols module for layer7 protocols traffic shaping. However, it needs a patched kernel and iptables, both included within the eBox installer though.

Therefore, if you want to enjoy traffic shaping for those protocols, you just have to deploy eBox using the installer and select ebox-l7-protocols (included in the gateway).

Hope it helps.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: J. A. Calvo on August 31, 2009, 01:21:12 am
Hi!

i use Ebox on "test environment", and my home server, hmmm.
i wanna multiple choice.

There is no multiple choice because the question asks for the most critical environment where you have deployed ebox. So I suppose that if your test environment is inside your company, that's more critical than in your home ;)

Regards,

J. A. Calvo
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: dragonslayr on September 02, 2009, 07:01:00 pm
samba pdc
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: Elliott on September 02, 2009, 07:04:59 pm
Just a reminder... there's another poll that get's a little more specific over in THIS THREAD (http://forum.ebox-platform.com/index.php?topic=1781.0)
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: whwi on September 17, 2009, 08:25:17 am
I had selected "others" in the vote (e-poll).
Due to the limitation of the vote (e-poll) selection,
actually I am testing as / I had installed in a Production Environment as :-
[1.] my Master Home Server,
[2.] my own/self company's future possible Solution as ICT Solution Provider,
[3.] my own/self company's future possible Solution as ICT Development Consultant/Provider.

I love E-Box.

As for requesting few (new) features :-
[1.] PDC-BDC (this is on experimental in 1.3, and hopefully as final in 1.4 by then),
[2.] SSO to secure logon to Samba-LDAP-VPN full integration (could be the same / similar to feature 1 as above),
[3.] HA (High Availability) & Clustering (Load-Balancing).

My ICT experience is 17-years of ICT Desktop's / Laptop's / Network's / Server's Hardware & Software Technician / Engineer / Administrator / Programmer / Analyst / (ITIL v3) Architect / Designer.

I am still in the "testing" phases (make notes of linking GUI-based configurations to CLI-based actual file updates) for all the major features of E-Box.
I had tested against "Webmin" in most major types of OSes, such as openSUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu (and other Debian), CentOS, Mandriva, openSolaris, and other UNIX-based / POSIX-based operating systems (such as families of BSD operating systems, e.g. FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, PC-BSD).

Due to my ICT work's tight schedules, I think it is better for me to read further on any of the documentation(s) available, to fully take advantages of the features and to take Centralised notes. Currently my notes are scattered around.

Cheers,
whwi,
Brunei Darussalam.
Title: Re: Usage of eBox Platform
Post by: nachico on October 15, 2009, 01:40:10 pm
Hi everyone,

thanks a lot for your votes and your comments. I think this poll was a great success as during the past six weeks more than 10% of the forum members casted their votes.

The poll depicts a community swarming with IT professionals who use eBox in pretty critical environments. I was particularly surprised by the fact that more than 10% use it to deliver services to their customers and around 50% deploy it in their own organizations.

The comments showed also a lot of interest in the master/slave feature already available at 1.3 and some demands on releasing new documentation, which was actually already released and available at http://doc.ebox-platform.com/ There were also some requests about improving usability and having a better backup, which we are currently working on. There seems to be a lot of interest in integrating single sign on in eBox, which is currently not in the roadmap. Anyway, we are taking good note of your suggestions.

I proceed then to close the poll and I will soon open a new one. Thanks again.