Re: Servers as appliances

[Tonnesen Steve <tonnesen@cmsd.bc.ca>]

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On Sat, 22 May 1999, Rob Bellville wrote:

> >directories, etc.  Not to mention security auditing, status monitoring,
> >data backups and all that other important but oh-so-boring stuff.
> 
> Ideally on a CD-ROM with a boot disk and LOTS of documentation (in HTML, of
> course) that the installing person can print out off the CD-ROM.

This would be nice.  I've been contacted by somebody from Oracle who are
thinking of producing a CD of this sort throuth their "Oracle Promise"
program (http://www.oracle.com/html/promise1.html).  That kind of
instigated my call for comments.


> >Is this feasible?  Is it possible to come up with a single server setup
> >(or even a limited number of configurations, like elementary/secondary)
> >that could satisfy the needs of the teachers in all schools? 
> 
> I think that there are some basic core needs that nearly all schools have.
> Offering a flexible install configuration (via Web-based forms) would allow
> a school to set up only what they need. A simple "re-installer" for adding
> additional components later would also be needed.

The k12admin package is being packaged in deb and rpm format.  I think I'd
like to see options on the web interface for doing things like enabling
the samba server, and basic configuration, like setting the domain name,
and maybe even editing the login script.



> There are probably a few more that we could think of too.

I'd like examples if you can think of any.  There can be some shares which
are "optional" and can be turned on or off on a server-by-server basis.
Actually all shares should be optional.  In our larger schools we'll have
one server just doing home directories for the whole school and then
another server for each lab serving applications for the lab.  This could
all be configurable from the web page.


> I thinks its important to remember that the majority of the clients
> accessing this server will be Win/Mac machines. It would be nice to have

This is the case here.  Each server can be configured to serve netatalk or
samba shares or both.


> I'm not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination but I would be
> willing to help with testing and documentation. I think the documentation
> is EXTREMELY important in a project like this since we would be dealing
> mainly with novice Linux users. A two-fold approach to documentation should
> be considered: 1) Quick setup with basic info for non-tech types who need
> to get the thing up and running and 2) More in depth info for those who
> want to tinker. Make it easy for both types of people to use and you
> increase the usefulness of the product.

Have you had a look at the k12admin packages yet?  The download site is
http://k12admin.cmsd.bc.ca/ .  I have absolutely _zero_ documentation, so
this is a welcome offer, to say the least.  I need both comprehensive
manual-type documentation as well as context-sensitive online help
documenation.

Steve.

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