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Large Scale Management - Linux vs Solaris?
A not-so anonymous, Anonymous Coward asks: "I work for a college that offers undergraduate computer science classes, and the school would like to add a new lab with about a hundred computers for students to use, for various class projects. After some non-trivial effort, we convinced the school to set up a Unix lab rather than a Windows one. However, we can't decide whether to go for Solaris or Linux. Regardless of the cost of hardware, I couldn't get agreed with my colleagues about the amount of efforts required to manage a hundred of Linux PCs vs. a hundred Sparc boxes. I believe that there are many Slashdot readers are actual managers for labs like this if not in large scales. What are your experiences of managing Linux PCs versus traditional Solaris boxes?"
"My detailed questions are:
1. Compared between these two different systems, how easy to maintain the software for all these machines (including re-installation, patching, and updating)? What software do you use to make these management jobs easier?
2. Are there any fundamental differences between managing a large group of linux PCs and managing a large group of Solaris boxes?"
SCO owns all *nix (or so they say).
Pay them $699 per box before mid October.
But only if they can provide the best *nix with full technical support.
Before you sign do due diligence to verify that their lawyer to techie ratio is less than 30 to 1.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
"I couldn't get agreed with my colleagues"
You may work at a college, but did you actually bother to attend one?!
-psy
Ugh, I shudder to think of having to deal with that desktop for an entire semester! It's horrible, nothing is intuitive, and it's uglier than twm! Sun would probably like to think that they were the inspiration for Gnome and KDE, but if they were, it's only because the project creators were so disgusted by CDE.
--That's the point of being root, you can do anything you want, even if it's stupid.