[kwlug-disc] given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow?

[john at netdirect.ca]

kwlug-disc-bounces at kwlug.org wrote on 01/12/2010 11:08:34 AM:
> From: Joe Wennechuk <youcanreachmehere at hotmail.com>
> 
> I was thinking of all of the manpower, hardware and such (Everything
> end to end); Especially, if some super user who is the only guy who 
> really knows what's going on decides to leave.
> 
> Running a complete linux solution in a big company with no active 
> directory. This seems it could get expensive, and cumbersome.

Like Richard Weait said, that's a business problem. The technology isn't 
the problem there.

If the root password on Linux can be easily changed if it is forgotten.

There are many directory servers available for Linux: OpenLDAP, Fedora 
Directory, NIS, Novell eDirectory. The first three are open source. These 
all allow for one directory of users, one password, etc. Using Samba in 
conjunction with OpenLDAP creates a Windows domain that Windows 
workstations can join giving centralized users and passwords for Windows 
PCs.

I hold Linux certifications as well as an MSCE certification and have been 
working with both for almost 20 years.

My experience says that Linux is easier to install, but Windows is easier 
to set up a domain controller. When Windows breaks it is much harder to 
fix. Patches and software updates on Windows is often a white knuckle 
event on production servers where Linux tends to be more stable in that 
regard. Windows requires more 3rd party software from backup software to 
anti-virus software and each of these comes with licensing and 
administration burden.

Net Direct installs and cares for lots of Linux business servers that in 
some cases are the only server in the organization. They handle email, 
firewall, file sharing domain control, spam filtering, VPN, web 
applications, centralized antivirus, proxy, backup, system recovery, DHCP, 
DNS, etc, etc. I've always said that a Windows technician could work on 
the PCs in any of our customers and not know the server was running Linux.

We moved to Linux because we saw it was cheaper for our customers in the 
long run.

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