[kwlug-disc] What's the best desktop distribution?

[john at netdirect.ca]

kwlug-disc-bounces at kwlug.org wrote on 02/04/2010 10:48:23 AM:
> 
>> One might argue that there is separate software for that in Windows.
>> Windows SMS, or MOM (is it?) And there are 3rd party packages. Those, 
also
>> provide monitoring for patches and AV updates. The Linux package 
managers
>> don't monitor. 
> 
> They can be set to update automatically.
> 
> Just put this in cron.
> 
> aptitude update && aptitude -y safe-upgrade  
> 
> However, as you said, I like to see what changed and decide to update 
> when it is convenient for the client (and for me), not blindly go and 
update.
> 
> There is also apticron, which I use on all our servers and for client 
servers.
> It runs once a day overnight and reports back if there are any 
> updates pending,
> in an email.

Automating update attempts is easy enough. Knowing if they are successful 
is another thing. The email reports are easy to do, but it's hard to get a 
quick view of the current state, it would require sifting through 
potentially lots of email.

I'm playing a devil's advocate here and posing comments as MS-oriented 
admins might. And it doesn't really matter. There are proprietary tools 
that work with MS and Linux to monitor and update. Some of these tools are 
pretty slick in that they know which updates are needed for Windows. It's 
something that would require monitoring MS patches and writing custom 
Nagios configs for otherwise.


John Van Ostrand
Net Direct Inc.
 
CTO, co-CEO
564 Weber St. N. Unit 12
map
 
Waterloo, ON N2L 5C6
 
john at netdirect.ca
Ph: 866-883-1172
ext.5102
Linux Solutions / IBM Hardware
Fx: 519-883-8533