> > This is something you and I understand because we're up to *here* with > it. I suspect Dean and my other detractors here don't understand, or > are stuck in some geeky utopia, because they haven't "been there" and > haven't "done it."
Orly and Dido, i cannot help but agree. I hate be a "me, too!" on this but as a professional deploying linux solutions throughout these years, i have to say that providing simple, straightforward, stable and predictable solutions speed up deployment and definitely lessen the tech support headaches. Actually, the general rule of 'the less moving parts, the better" applies here - even to hardware - hence the fanless, disk-less linksys routers look so much more an attractive solution to me. Less moving parts means less mechanical stuff can break down. Just look at how low end cisco routers are built :) Less moving parts in software solutions usually mean, sticking to default known-stable (even if their showing their age) setups - basically publicly available packages coming from well known sources (i.e. postfix RPMs by mandrake, not compiled-from-scratch bleeding edge CVS snapshots for a new an up-coming MTA). Sticking to these kinds of solutions makes your client capable of using existing documentation, errata and updates provided by the original sources, with our without your help. And if you are lucky enough to still be the maintainer of the server after a few years, it would be a lot easier to bank on existing packages rather than have to remember what you did back then and try to provide an update. Scalability is defintely a problem. The more clients who use your solutions, the more people who will be knocking on your door when some failure comes along. On some instances, a single client will have a cluster of servers for you to deploy. At these times you will WISH you had standardized, immediately "roll-outable" solutions, which eliminate the repetetive gruntwork, and provide a field-proven stable setup. Your clients will appreciate this, and moreover, YOU (the consultant) will appreciate the added hours of sleep and recreation. _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
