[ale] The rest of Redhat - FREE HAT!!! FREE HAT!!!

[Jonathan Rickman]

On Wed, 12 Feb 2003, Chris Ricker wrote:

> On a more serious note, I do have a real question. I've run most distros,
> but the only Linux I've ever had to manage across hundreds of machines
> was either Red Hat or MSC.Linux. I know Robert has a big flock of Debian
> machines, and you're a Slackware fan. What do you guys use for installation
> of lots of machines and management afterwards?

Depends on what "lots" is. For a true enterprise class server farm, one
would be hard pressed to beat RH Advanced Server...but that's not all that
cheap. As much as it pains me to say it, Slackware is not the best choice
for many datacenter tasks. Some, it does well and is manageable,
others...well let's just stop there. RH is the best all around for the
corporate world, for any number of reasons. SuSE runs a close second. I'd
put Debian at number three, but only because it doesn't have the
widespread support of companies like IBM and Oracle. In the corporate
world, ideology is irrelevant. Things have to work...period. Could the
Slackware team release a separate distro for business and blow the doors
off everyone else? I firmly believe they could. Are they interested in
doing so? Apparently not. Slackware users are very loyal, and they're
counting on that loyalty continuing to keep them alive. That's my
take on it at least. The short answer is, never bet against Big Blue. IBM
is throwing its considerable weight behind SuSE, so in the long run it
might be the big winner. IBM could also change directions on a dime. You
pays yo money and you takes yo pick. One thing's for sure though, Linux
isn't free in the corporate datacenter.

On the management note, Sun's N1 is looking pretty sweet. I just have a
hard time buying into the whole "Network Computer" concept. I think they
could have picked a better title.

--
Jonathan Rickman
X Corps Security
http://www.xcorps.net

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