> Why do you think we're designing OpenSolaris as a desktop first? OpenSolaris is designed as a destkop first because the GUI installer doesn't even let you assign a static IP address the way that Red Hat Enterprise Linux / Oracle Unbreakable Linux / CentOS installer does and it forces you to have a full on GNOME desktop installed on your server whether you want it to or not (compare this to a server OS like FreeBSD or Ubuntu Server which does not install x-windows and RHEL which lets you choose whether or not you want to install it).
For OpenSolaris to even be considered as a server O.S. in most shops, it needs three things: (1) Assign a static IP address during the installation process (it's ok if it has to be installed from a live CD, that's fine, but the installer needs to have a static IP option and not just default to using DHCP, which is a huge pain for me because I never, never, NEVER, NEVER use DHCP in any of the several data centers I work in). (2) There needs to be an option to install it as a "headless" server on x86 or on a SPARC Netra with no GNOME, no X-windows, no GUI installed. All that should be installed is a command line with SSH and virtual terminals and the "screen" utility to switch between different CLI's. Just put the server related packages like Postfix and Apache and BIND / DNS etc. etc. ready to go in the "/var/pkg/download" cache folder so that they can be installed quickly into zones right after the install without even needing to talk to the IPS repository. (3) After the installation process is done, only SSH and mail should be running. Everything else (this includes GNOME and multicast DNS / avahi and CUPS) should be turned off! When the OpenSolaris Indiana developers get serious about competing with FreeBSD and Red Hat Enterprise Linux in the server market and are willing to implement the three items that I have mentioned above, give us in the community a call and we will buy it. Until then, we will just be waiting quietly in the wings. I've been waiting patiently for over a year now for a real minimalized JeOS OpenSolaris server distro that prospective clients can install from a CD to come out, but so far no dice, the only OpenSolaris minimal headless server type operating systems that are available so far are Nexenta and SXCE. Just go to any real professional Linux, *BSD or Solaris sysadmin's blog and you'll see that they all unanimously want the same thing for their servers. Take Ben Rockwood for example who said in several different posts in his blog here: http://www.cuddletech.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=1065 that Nexenta and Solaris Express worked great on servers but that Indiana wasn't ready.... this is coming from a lead sysadmin from a company that is the largest OpenSolaris (SXCE) customer that Sun has ever had. -- This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
