Alex, my administration experience is limited, and my UNIX knowledge is superficial, but because of that perhaps I can speak from the perspective of 'any moron (who) can maintain a system.'
In preparation for quitting as the only computer pseudo-geek in a small (10 person) company, I looked for a way to make the network as stable and easy to maintain as possible for the unfortunates I was leaving behind. If I weren't such a moron, I guess I would have done that while I was doing the maintenance myself. Anyway, having previously settled unreservedly on FreeBSD for past server needs, I researched options along that line and stumbled upon NetMAX (http://netmax.com) from CyberNet Systems Corp. It is a network appliance software package. Some points:
- Ported to both FreeBSD *and* RedHat Linux, so you have a choice. - Includes the usual open source server apps: SAMBA, Sendmail, Apache, Appletalk, packet filtering, etc. - Html/CGI web administration and documentation. - Costs $500. Compared to the manhours it would have taken me to build and configure an inferior solution from scratch, that was a good buy.
It has worked out very well. Operationally, it purrrrs, just like you come to expect from FreeBSD. The web interface is slow compared to command line operations. However, since I almost always have to check some FAQ or man page first anyway (moron, remember), it saves me time in the long run.
I asked for an opinion from Fred, the person to whom network administration has defaulted since I left seven months ago. He is a manager who would much rather spend his time doing his own job. He's only had to call me a handful of times for help on how to do something. Fred thinks the on-line documentation is only semi-useful. He says, "In general, (it's) a good system," and, "At least I haven't had to do any UNIX bullshit..."
My experience with the CyberNet support folks when I had a few foolish questions (moron, moron, moron) was good, too. They have a demo running on their website, if you want to see it yourself (address: http://livedemo.cybernet.com, username: demo, password: netmax). I also have a full function CD of the previous FreeBSD release that CyberNet was handing out as a demo at FreeBSDCon last summer. You can have it if you want (Just you, Alex. I only have *one* CD).
Bottom line, I have been very happy with NetMAX as a cost-effective means of providing a GUI for basic UNIX network administration to non-UNIX administrators.
Slashdot Mirror
Alex, my administration experience is limited, and my UNIX knowledge is superficial, but because of that perhaps I can speak from the perspective of 'any moron (who) can maintain a system.'
In preparation for quitting as the only computer pseudo-geek in a small (10 person) company, I looked for a way to make the network as stable and easy to maintain as possible for the unfortunates I was leaving behind. If I weren't such a moron, I guess I would have done that while I was doing the maintenance myself. Anyway, having previously settled unreservedly on FreeBSD for past server needs, I researched options along that line and stumbled upon NetMAX (http://netmax.com) from CyberNet Systems Corp. It is a network appliance software package. Some points:
- Ported to both FreeBSD *and* RedHat Linux, so you have a choice.
- Includes the usual open source server apps: SAMBA, Sendmail, Apache, Appletalk, packet filtering, etc.
- Html/CGI web administration and documentation.
- Costs $500. Compared to the manhours it would have taken me to build and configure an inferior solution from scratch, that was a good buy.
It has worked out very well. Operationally, it purrrrs, just like you come to expect from FreeBSD. The web interface is slow compared to command line operations. However, since I almost always have to check some FAQ or man page first anyway (moron, remember), it saves me time in the long run.
I asked for an opinion from Fred, the person to whom network administration has defaulted since I left seven months ago. He is a manager who would much rather spend his time doing his own job. He's only had to call me a handful of times for help on how to do something. Fred thinks the on-line documentation is only semi-useful. He says, "In general, (it's) a good system," and, "At least I haven't had to do any UNIX bullshit..."
My experience with the CyberNet support folks when I had a few foolish questions (moron, moron, moron) was good, too. They have a demo running on their website, if you want to see it yourself (address: http://livedemo.cybernet.com, username: demo, password: netmax). I also have a full function CD of the previous FreeBSD release that CyberNet was handing out as a demo at FreeBSDCon last summer. You can have it if you want (Just you, Alex. I only have *one* CD).
Bottom line, I have been very happy with NetMAX as a cost-effective means of providing a GUI for basic UNIX network administration to non-UNIX administrators.
Good luck in your search. Jeff.