[TriLUG] suggestions for content in open source book

Tue Aug 26 18:05:55 EDT 2003

On Friday 15 August 2003 11:1911am, Maria Winslow wrote:
> Hello all,
> I am working on a book called "Open for Business: Deploying Open
> Source in Mid-sized IT Organizations" (publish date Jan-04), and
> would like to ask for your insights into products that should be
> included. The book is for technical managers, and describes the
> business case for open source, along with resources for how to start
> using it. The technical detail is very light, but broad, and is meant
> to aid decision making (not a how-to). Suggestions should be
> appropriate for mid-sized organizations.
>
> Thanks in advance to everyone who responds to any of the questions!
> Please reply to me off-list, and let me know your name if you would
> like to be officially thanked. I will post a summary.
>
> 1. What are your favorite tools for general Linux administration?

ssh : remote secure access.

webmin through ssl : sysadmin through secure (ghttps) web browser 
interface

vi : it's your friend for editing files

find /path -type f -exec chmod 640 {} \;
find /path -type d -exec chmod 750 {} \;

mc (midnight commander) "GUI" for the command line

links: text-based web browser

apt-get: use it on Debian, RedHat or even Mandrake systems, for easy 
softwre insallations. This avoids "dependency hell"- Note: Mandrake 
ships "urpmi" by default, an apt-get like tool.

> 2. What is your opinion on MySQL vs. PostgreSQL?

MySQL: Simple ("MS-Access"-like usage) databases or web-drivern 
websites. Cool for intranet stuff. See 
http://www.ibiblio.org/sinner/AthenaPortal/ ... when the protest is 
over

PostgreSQL: for serious stuff, when transaction managment is needed. Use 
if you need SyBASE/Oracle/DB2... and you cannot afford the licensing 
costs.

> 3. When you recommend using RPMs, and when do you recommend compiling
> source?

I always recommend using rpm. If you need to use the source because, say 
(real case) your webmail system is slow and there's no update apckage 
around, follow those paths:

- Try rebuilding the source-rpm (foobar.src.rpm) from your distribution 
with diferennt compiling flags (like, compiling for P4 or Athlon , 
instead for i386)

or

- Get the latest stable (we are talking about a productin system) tar 
ball (foobar.tar.gz / foobar.tar.bz2) and then, build an rpm from here. 
Do not chicken away, it's easy:

tar xvzf foobar.tar.gz
cd foobar
less README
less INSTALL
./configure --help
./configure --with --your --own --options
make
su
checkinstall

See? it's just like the old compilation process.... escept that we have 
changed "make install" for "checkinstall". This utility will install 
the reuslting software AND will generate an RPM file with the compiled 
software. It's easier done that explained. (note: chekinstall comes by 
default with many distributions)

> 4. What are your favorite solutions for Internet infrastructure (DNS,
> firewall, proxies, etc)?

OpenBSD for firewalls / firewall+proxy
Linux + BIND for DNS
apache for webserver
php+mod_php+mysql  for interactive websites (like ".asp")
samba for file/print sharing
cups for printer server
Openssh for secure communications
rsync for backup 
postfix for email
mailman for list management
phpMyAmin for MySQL managements with a web front-end
...

> 5. What is your favorite app server on Linux (JBoss, Tomcat, etc)?

Mmmm. No need for one. Yet.

> 6. Do you have any document storage solutions to recommend?

Zope.

> 7. Do you have any software inventory packages to recommend?

rpm -qa | sort 

> 8. What you recommend to replace Access (GUI, too)?

MySQL + OpenOfffice + ODBC + mysqlcc + phpMyAdmin

> 9. Are you using any application/data conversion tools?

perl

> 10. Do you have any thoughts on terminal servers?

They are great. Easy user maangement. See my article:
http://ltsp.org/contrib/MDK90-LTSP.html

> 11. Can you recommend companies that offer commercial support for any
> of these products?

http://www.mysql.com/ There ws a recent article at Infoworld about how 
good (and low cost) was to get a "mysql license, suport and training".

http://store.pgsql.com/ See suport contracts

http://www.redhat.com , http://www.suse.com , 
http://www.mandrakestore.com , http://www.ibm.com ... , depending on 
what you want. HP-Compaq, for example, offer support conrtact for their 
machines adquired with Linux.

> Please let me know if you would like clarification, or would like to
> chat about the project. I can be reached at 919-968-7802. Again,
> please respond to me, not the list.

This is me:
Josep L. Guallar-Esteve
2916 Sussex St, #8, Greenville, NC

jlguallar at computer.org

Member of Computer Society - IEEE
Member of TriLUG
Member of Ecolnet (http://www.escomposlinux.org)
Member of BaDoPi (http://www.badopi.org )

IT professional since 1995

System and Network Administration at Eastern Radiologists, Inc. (Linux, 
Windows platgforms) http://www.easternrad.com

Former QA Engineer at RedHat (Linux Platform) http://www.redhat.com

Former Level2 Engineer at IBM, e-Commerce division (AIX, Windows, Linux, 
Solaris platforms) http://www.ibm.com

Former Project Manager at IMAS (Barcelona)  (Novell and Windows 
platforms) http://www.imasbcn.com/

Former System Administrator at IMAS (Barcelona)  (Novell and Windows 
platforms) http://www.imasbcn.com/

Former Analyst/Developer at IMAS (Barcelona)  (Novell and Windows 
platforms) http://www.imasbcn.com/

> Thanks,
> Maria

Regards,
Josep
-- 
Josep Lluis Guallar-Esteve  http://www.ibiblio.org/sinner/
Member of IEEE - Computer.org     Linux System Administrator