Hi Jerry,

Please don't apologize for the dissertation-length reply, that is exactly whta I was looking for... information! Also welcome aboard to the UT. I was very happy to see this forum, and now even happier to see that there are active people with your knowledge and talents. I hope you'll hang around a while because this is definitely an area I think will be expanding rapidly. This new project for me is exactly what I have been looking for because I wanted to begin working with Linux. It sounds like php and vfp will work great, which is very good news since that's what I suggested to the client. So now I get to prove it :).

Two other questions come to mind.

1. The client is running 5.x of Redhat, are there strong reasons to suggest to move to 6.2, especially with regard to the database issues.

2. Their last concern is performance. They want to see it work before we dive in completely, and see the performance of accessing VFP data via the Linux server, through PHP. Any issues with that I should be aware of?

Thanks again Jerry, don't hesitate to provide dissertations any time you are of a mind to!

John


>On 06/28/2000 at 23:53 John Gordon wrote:
>
>>What are the issues with running RedHat and Novell on the same network? I found the PHP programming language that supports ODBC and is cross platform *Linux/Win*. I need to access a VFP database from a Linux server running Apache web server for an Intranet. The web site must be able to locate, view, add, delete, and update records. PHP looks like a good language for the Linux side, but I'm wondering about the connectivity between Linux and Novell. Does Linux *see* Novell, and what are the issues? The Novell server, where the VFP database will live, would also be accessed by in-house staff who would be working from a VFP front end. Any thoughts/ideas on this would be appreciated
>
>A Linux box can provide Novell netware services, just as it can provide a variety of other network services, including, as Jerry Kreps mentioned, web service (apache httpd), NT file and print services (samba smb), NFS file services for UNIX, and even appleshare file services (atalkd). In addition, a linux box can even serve as a remote applications server for 'Doze (oops sorry for my bias ;-) if you run VMWARE or WINE (VMWARE lets you run Windows as an application under linux and thus run any windows apps; Wine is a windows emulator - not quite ready for prime time, but getting better). Linux as a network services providing box is so much more stable than NT, much easier to manage and much more generally flexible than a Novell server, IMHO.
>
>The Novell file service available "out of the box" on a Red Hat Linux box is 3.11 (no NDS). Available from Caldera is netware for linux which does NDS, but not netware 5.1 yet. Novell has apparently now released their netware for linux package which does 5.1 (but licensing is the same pricing as their regular product).
>
>A linux box is thus so much more flexible than other servers and can be made to integrate into an existing server environment as if it were "one of the boys" and you clients wouldn't necessarily know.
>
>Concerning web programming in a UNIX/Linux environment:
>
>php, perl, apache (httpd) are all standards in the Unix/linux world. They are all open source, very strongly and actively supported and developed by the whole world. The largest number of ISP's are running Linux/FreeBSD (a Linux cousin) as are the greatest number of web hosting sites.
>
>Perl scripts is how much of the CGI programming has been done. Now, along comes php to do cgi stuff. Microsoft's solution is ASP. Php has been written to work in conjunction with apache and with various database packages Linux comes with postgresql and mysql for free and you can get oracle if you want to actually pay for something :-) There are all kinds of modules in php and in perl that support postgres and mysql. Perl is the older way to do things, but with "mod_perl" modules, you get better performance (perl scripts are interpreted). php was developed to give higher performance in conjunction with apache. The other wonderful news is that there are a large number of perl and php modules freely available out on the web. There are ODBC and JDBC modules for both. There are also a whole world full of people that are continuing to develop these open source packages. The advantage of working in the open source world is that email lists exist to support each other, too! Foxpro
>DB's can be hosted on a linux server (not just file service), or can be accessed from front ends running on one.
>
>In short: php and apache is a great way to go for dynamicly generated web pages with database interface. Performance is great and it's the standard of the "next dominant operating system". :-)
>
>Sorry for the dissertation-length reply, but Linux server integration is one of my "things"! This is my first post to this group, now that my wife Cindy subscribed me.
>
>Since very few on this list know me, one word concerning my background and qualifications: RHCE = "Red Hat Certified Engineer", Red Hat's top certification. I am also senior technical support staff at Duke University where I get to play with new toys. I'll be playing more with fox in a linux server environment because it sounds like fun.
>
>
>
>p.s.: Note: to Jerry Kreps: It's Linus Torvalds, not Linux Torvalds
>the father of Linux :-)