Les Mikesell lesmikesell@gmail.com wrote:
If you can describe it in a task oriented step-by-step approach you could just as easily script it so that no one would ever have to do those steps again.
Not always, with all the variables.
If you have a situation that fits the appliance-oriented approach (an office or home with one server and one internet connection) you might like the SME server from http://www.contribs.org. Administration is all through web forms and is task oriented.
I agree with you there for SOHOs/SMBs. Between IPCop and SME Server, you have 95% of your necessary functionality -- from an Internet security appliance that catches 95% of intrusions to a LAN server that serves 95% of your needs.
The next version will have Centos inside. I'd just rather see something with similar concepts that could be added on to a stock distribution like webmin instead of making something completely different. Unlike webmin, it maintains its own database to rebuild config files and in many cases it combines concepts for simplicity.
The problem is the "assumptions game." Great for SOHOs/SMBs, not so good for MBs to enterprises.
For example, if you create a 'group' you automatically get an email distribution group and a unix permission group at the same time.
Or why not a full LDAP entry for that matter, with all services referencing it? I think that's where Fedora Directory Server is headed in terms of integration, which RHEL (and CentOS) will then follow -- hopefully in RHEL 5.
Likewise, you add an 'information bay' or ibay and get a samba share, an ftp directory, and a web site all at the same time.
Again, such assumptions are great for SOHOs/SMBs, but not so good for MBs and enterprises.
Once again, I don't think the problem is the format of the book, it's the content -- too much all-in-one. It was fine for UNIX, when most users were also sysadmins. But today the Linux desktop is more than what UNIX users were, while not always a sysadmin either.