[linux] I will be setting up 2 linux servers

[Doug McLean]

I have to agree.  I think Debian has its merits, but for work-related
production systems, you cannot afford to use a distro like Debian.  Debian
lacks certain critical software (for example, there's no Kerberos software
at all), and has no vendor support.  My biggest argument against using
Debian, though, is that it is not a industry standard Linux distro.
RedHat works very closely with Dell, which works closely with UW.  So, you
are more likely to get good hardware support if you have Dell servers from
RedHat.

Before I upgraded our workstations from RH9 to RHE, I briefly looked at
other distros hoping to find a good, free, alternative.  Debian definitely
wasn't it.  Our software didn't port well, and other configurations had to
be radically redone.

On the other hand, SuSE, for all it's faults, is a good alternative if
RedHat isn't an option, or an undesirable option, and we've used that also
for production systems with good results.

Debian also is significantly more difficult to install/configure for new
Linux users.  For Linux-heads (like most of us here), Debian is a fun
alternative to use, but if you are new to Linux, and you need to install a
server or two, you can't spend time trying to figure out that 'bf24'
installs the 2.4 kernel on the Woody distribution.

So, I definitely very strongly discourage the use of Debian in production
environments, unless it would be used as a niche workstation of some sort.
For servers, SuSE or RedHat is a much better alternative.

Doug McLean
CSS Systems Administrator
University of Washington, Bothell
http://staff.washington.edu/dougmc/pgp.html

Meanwhile, in Gotham, Phillip Garland wrote:

> If the system is connected to the internet, you probably don't want to
> run "Testing" (Sarge). Testing is the slowest to receive security
> updates (Packages don't move from Unstable to Testing unless they've
> had no Release Critical bug reports for a 10 day period, IIRC).
>
> Unfortunately, Stable (Woody) is so old (you get to choose between
> Linux 2.2.20 or 2.4.18, IIRC) that it doesn't support some recent
> hardware. Of course, you'd always have the choice of upgrading the
> kernel and XFree86, either by pulling packages from a 3rd party
> repository, or by rolling your own.
>
> I love Debian, but be aware of the tradeoffs imposed by its release
> cycle when using it on a production system.
>
> ~Phillip
>
> On Wed, 7 Jul 2004, K. David Prince wrote:
>
> >Question is: What do you want to run on your servers?  If it's all
> >off-the-shelf applications, you might want to consider Debian.  The
> >package management system alone is well worth the effort of installing
> >Debian.  The "new" testing repository installed a complete system via th=
e
> >net as smooth as glass on one of our HP machines.
> >
> >Go to <http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/> for a look.
> >
> >Dave
> >
> >On Wed, 7 Jul 2004, Jairo O. Pi=F1eros wrote:
> >
> >> Hello
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I need some help.  I am building 2 linux servers for the Graduate Medi=
cal
> >> Education.  We have to purchase 2 copies of RedHat Enterprise Linux AS
> >> Version 3.  The servers will be HP.
> >>
> >> . How do I go about this?
> >>
> >> . Does campus have a license?
> >>
> >> . Does it include support? Or
> >>
> >> . Where do we support from?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> . Does any recommend a particular HP servers?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Thank you.
> >>
> >> PS. FYI - I will NOT be in the office July 8th and 9th.
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >>
> >> --Jairo O. Pi=F1eros, UW Medicine, IT Services
> >>
> >> VM 206.685.2884
> >>
> >> PG 206.991.8848
> >>
> >> Work Hours: 6:00 am to 2:30 pm Mon-Fri
> >>
> >> Alpha pinerosj-pager at mcis.washington.edu
> >>
> >> Alpha 2069918848 at page.metrocall.com
> >>
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> >>
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edule>
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> >>
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