Section 3.1. Hacks 2028: Introduction

3.1. Hacks 2028: Introduction

The term client/server has been used and abused for so long that it isn't all that exciting any moreunless, of course, you're one of many busy sysadmins who need to provide certain core capabilities to their zillion-user communities. In this case, the idea of setting up centralized servers to satisfy the requirements of many clients isn't just a buzzword; it's an efficient use of your time and system resources, and it simplifies administering those services in the future. This chapter provides hacks that discuss setting up centralized services for allocating IP addresses to new clients via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), integrating these newly assigned IP addresses with an existing Domain Name Service (DNS), synchronizing the clocks on all of your systems via the Network Time Protocol (NTP), and even sharing a consistent set of X Window System fonts throughout your organization so that all your users can do their status reports using the same version of Computer Modern Ransom Note Oblique.

Another focus of this chapter is on centralizing print services and systems throughout the organization for which you're responsible. The mechanisms used to print files on different types of systems have traditionally been specific to the operating systems that they use. This was okay when each user had a printer chained to his system with a parallel umbilical cord, or when organizations used only one operating system to get their work done. However, this type of tunnel vision is completely unworkable in today's networked, heterogeneous computing environments. Luckily, unified printing solutions are now available, thanks largely to Michael Sweet and the other folks at Easy Software Products. Their creation of the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS), which might better be described as the Completely Universal Printing System, provided a powerful, centralized printing system that works everywhere. CUPS can handle and manage print jobs from modern operating systems such as Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X to old-school Unix boxes. All you have to know is what to tweak where, why to tweak it, and how to do so. This chapter provides hacks that give you all that information and more.