Re: Web access and Email setup -- MIDRANGE-L

Jim,

Break the project up into bite-sized chunks. Have them build on each other:

Our company's methodology for this (in a somewhat cryptic form) is at:

http://www.sbsebusiness.com/methodology.shtml

Step one: Strategy ... come up with a plan. Determine what you will need & a budget before you get too deep into this.

Step two: Infrastructure ... this means the networking issues. It sounds like you are using Token Ring internally for a LAN, but are forced into an Ethernet Internet connection. That is a significant complication. It MIGHT be time to bite the bullet & go Ethernet with your internal LAN (Budget item). Token Ring, while technically superior to Ethernet, is DEAD in the marketplace!

More: Infrastructure ... put in a firewall & allow users to access the Internet by the LAN

Step three: Servers ... The OS/400 mail servers are relatively simple to set up, but for less than $100/year you can get a TON of eMailboxes hosted with your domain name. See http://www.POWWEB.com for an example ....

That should keep you busy for a few weeks ... contact me off list at jmyers@xxxxxxxxxx if I can help!

John Myers
IBM Certified Specialist - IBM iSeries Technical Solutions Design
IBM Certified Specialist - Advisor for e-Business
Strategic Business Systems, Inc.
17 S. Franklin Turnpike, Ramsey, NJ 07446  USA
E-mail: mailto:jmyers@xxxxxxxxxx   Phone: +1 (201) EASY 400   x131
Web:    http://www.sbsusa.com      Fax:   +1 (201) 327-6984

Free Sports League Management - Powered by AS/400
     http://www.ScoreBook.com

Get and route intelligence from your IBM AS/400 web site - WebSurvey/400
     http://www.WebSurvey400.com

Systems supporting the distribution operations of Motor Vehicle manufacturers
    http://www.VehicleSystem.com

At 01:13 PM 3/28/2003, you wrote:

Greetings!

I hope this is the right place to ask this, and am sure David will let me
know if I need to move to another list.

I have been given the task of researching, and most likely "quickly"
implementing, a internet connection with email to our network.  I know
that I have a proprietary DSL modem that our ISP will supply that has
ethernet connection on the network side.  I need to get to a token ring
network with fire wall, email server, spam filtering, and what ever else I
need to be secure, and stop attacks on our static IP addresses.

My problem is I am a lowly COBOL and CL programmer, and have had limited
network experience.  Just enough info to be dangerous.  I am looking for
ideas, suggestions and experiences in how to implement the solution.  I'm
thinking along the lines of an ethernet firewall appliance, with a router
of some sort to translate between ethernet and token ring.

For an email server, either the AS/400 native stuff (which I know nothing
about) or Lotus Domino server (which I know less about!) :^(  We have
access to Notes on all the client PCs.  Came with the Netvista and
Thinkpad machines.

We don't need a web presence, have no website to serve, just need email
and to allow some employees to surf the web as needed for business
purposes.

What info or suggestions do you have for me?  Please post to the list,
email me directly, or call me with suggestions.  I need to have something
for the boss in less than a week on costs and time to implement.

Thanks for your help!

Jim Essinger
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Student Loan Fund of Idaho
208-452-4058