this is what i have and what i'd like to accomplish

[IveBeenBad]

right now my current setup is cox cable internet, a linksys wrt54g running dd_wrt, a dell 24 port switch, 6 wired clients and one wireless client. some spare hardware i have is a plethora of pentium 2 and 3s and the related hardware to build more systems.

what i'd like to accomplish is the ability for any user to sign on from any computer, access the files they need, and block the websites/services i dont want using my bandwidth. i have the parts to build 2 lower end servers and need some suggestions on OS/software that can handle these tasks. i'll be distriuting music and pictures mostly, but would also like the ability to store email from my isp's servers on a local server in the case of a client failure so i dont have to back up the email on the machines themselves.

 

[hokatichenci]

right now my current setup is cox cable internet, a linksys wrt54g running dd_wrt, a dell 24 port switch, 6 wired clients and one wireless client. some spare hardware i have is a plethora of pentium 2 and 3s and the related hardware to build more systems.

what i'd like to accomplish is the ability for any user to sign on from any computer, access the files they need, and block the websites/services i dont want using my bandwidth. i have the parts to build 2 lower end servers and need some suggestions on OS/software that can handle these tasks. i'll be distriuting music and pictures mostly, but would also like the ability to store email from my isp's servers on a local server in the case of a client failure so i dont have to back up the email on the machines themselves.

Can you further define "access the files they need" and "block the websites/services I don't want" - are these local, or are they over the web? You want it user based, and not computer based? What operating systems are your clients? OSX? Windows? Linux/BSD? You want files shared over Samba? NFS? Central login system (ie domain, ldap/nfs etc)?

More details would help, I'm not sure how'd you would replicate e-mail but I'm sure theres something out there.

 

[IveBeenBad]

I only want them to be able to access the shared files that i want shared, the sites and services are things like aim, yahoo, myspace,etc...

I want it user based, most clients run windows xp but a few are game consoles. i'm not sure which type of file sharing would best suit my needs I'm a newb to this stuff.

i also want to be able to set permissions for users to be able to read and write to a server, deny access to certain sites and p2p programs, and for only certain users to be able to install programs on clients

 

[Jay_2]

ok I get it

For The Shares

if each user needs access to different shares but you don't want users to see all the shares then share all your folders ending with $

eg

Share$

This will hide the share on the network so it can not be browsed via my network places etc

now map a drive for the user who needs access to this share/ This will give that user access to the share via a drive letter in My computer, no other users will be able to see this share unless you map the drive for them as well.

For The Roaming Profiles

Well the only easy way to do this is by using AD in Windows 2000 / 2003 server. This will allow the desktops to be accessible from any computer

Blocking Websites

Using AD you can use a Group Policy to allow only trusted websites, then you put the list of websites in the trusted range of each users IE and use Group Policy to block any changes to this list. This means they will be blocked from trying to access any websites that you have not defined in the trusted list.