Koozali SME Server 10
Mayank Sharma has a particular fondness for point-and-click server distributions that roll out in a jiffy and don’t eat into his leisure time.
Mayank Sharma has a fondness for pointand-click server distros that roll out in a jiffy and don’t eat into his leisure time.
Koozali SME Server exists in an interesting niche of distros that have successfully managed to abstract the process of deploying a featurerich gateway network server behind a point-and-click interface, significantly streamlining the cumbersome process.
You can use SME as an effective gateway server that manages your network’s connectivity to the internet. Not just for orchestrating the flow of network data to and from the computers inside your network, but also securing it in the process, minimising the risk of intrusions.
Its developers describe SME as a communications server that can be configured in one of three operational modes. The first is as a gateway server, which asks SME to take over firewall duties, and act as the external web and mail server. Second, SME can be used as a private gateway server, in which case it acts as a firewall but disables all incoming traffic, curbing the risk of intrusions. Finally, in the server-only mode, SME only looks after the computers inside the network, while gateway functions are performed by another server.
The latest release is based on CentOS 7, which will be supported by 30 June 2024, which gives enough time for SME to decide whether it wants to move on to CentOS Stream or to one of the other drop-in CentOS replacements, such as Rocky Linux and Alma Linux.
One of the highlights of the release is that it finally supports USB installs, which is surprising since USBs have long become the de facto means of lugging images for personal consumption. In any case, the installation is a fairly simple affair, especially since like most server distros, SME is designed to take over the entire disk.
Ugly duckling
Booting into a freshly minted installation will take users through an ncurses-based configuration screen. Besides setting up passwords, the main purpose of the configuration is to decide one of the three operational modes for the server, and to set up any associated relevant settings. When used as a gateway server, you’ll have to make sure the machine has two network interfaces, one to connect to the local network, and the other to the internet. Once you’ve configured the server, you can access its administration interface from any of the computers inside the network it is managing.
There isn’t much about the browser-based interface to write home about. It’s functional if unappealing, and works as it’s supposed to. All configurable elements are listed in the left sidebar under various categories such as Administration, Security and Configuration.
The distro also enables you to create backups and can restore a previous Koozali installation. In fact, on first boot, the distro prompts whether you wish to restore from a backup. Considering the fact that the latest SME release doesn’t allow for in-place upgrades, you can rely on the server’s ability to back itself up in a restorable format to shift to the latest release.
Once up and running, you can explore SME’s interface to configure its features, such as the central file-sharing ability called i-bays. This works with the quote management functionality of the server to define the disk space for each user inside your network.
All things considered, the main criteria for rating a distro such as SME Server is the finesse of its graphical environment. Unfortunately for SME, irrespective of its list of features, its unpolished interface is a major disappointment. In fact, considering how little the interface has changed through the years, it appears the distro caters more to the needs of its existing user base rather than trying to lure new users.