Using packages such as Sendmail and Washington University's POP and IMAP servers, Linux performs as a strong mail solution for our internal messaging system. For straight SMTP-based relaying, our Pentium-based Linux machines have forwarded millions of messages per month without breaking a sweat. However, Linux's features traditionally have fallen short next to those of the Big Three: Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise. While packages such as Netscape's Directory and Messaging server hope to bridge the gap, Linux's lack of a mail-store-based messaging solution takes it out of the running as the enterprise platform of choice. Then again, this is not where Linux's messaging abilities lie.

ISPs in particular have capitalized on Linux for standards-based messaging. In many scenarios, it is both more economical and efficient to deploy a dozen or so Intel-based IMAP/POP servers than it is to fork out $100,000 for one high-end Unix workstation. Other organizations have found they've been able to decrease load on their main mail servers by offloading mailing lists onto machines running Linux. With the use of packages like L-Soft International's LISTSERV, Linux really begins to shine.

For file and print sharing, both Red Hat Linux and Caldera OpenLinux ship with packages that let Linux servers emulate NetWare and NT services. Samba, a GNU protected package, provides Microsoft (SMB-based) networking functionality to Unix platforms. The most recent version of Samba (v2.0.3) provides the necessary services to transparently integrate Unix-based systems into NT domain-based environments. By using Samba, administrators can insert Linux machines into Microsoft networking environments to provide added functionality. Servers running Samba can also function as clients, capable of mounting remote NT file systems in the same fashion as NFS (Network File System). Anyone who has installed resource kits, option packs, third-party management utilities or dozens of GNU utility ports just to nudge NT's functionality a little higher might want to consider integrating Samba and Linux into the environment.

In our testing of Samba, we used a Pentium II-based HP NetServer LPr and pitted Microsoft NT Server Enterprise Edition against Red Hat Linux v5.2 running Samba 2.0.3. Unlike the controversial Microsoft-funded studies released by Mindcraft, we discovered only negligible performance differences between the two for average workloads. Our tests showed that, depending on the degree of tuning performed on each installation, either system could be made to surpass the other slightly in terms of file-sharing performance. But examining the cost difference between the two licenses brings this testing into an entirely new light.