I agree with everything said. Also, if there are some people who can see this as a business opportunity (i.e. add some extra stash + support), that would be great! In fact, it might be beneficial as there would be people who had a commercial interest in helping out in the basic appliance development.
If we script everything, I see nothing stopping us from generating iso, amazon ami, and vmware virtual machine :-)
I'm not sure if we really at this point should aim at an administration web interface. That would probably be a stretch. Realistically, we should aim for a best-practice installation where a handful of scripts with command line options (and optional dialog) can be used for management. Putting a web interface on top of those scripts should then be easy. g-)
Mike Trest - Personal wrote:
To All,
I offer comments / suggestion from perspective of enterprise user - more precisely from perspective of the IT-folks who will be installing and operating on behalf of their own enterprise.
First, no matter what we select, we will not be able to satisfy those whose policy (or learning limitations) restrict them to a specific OS / DISTRO / VERSION / VENDOR. Just as there are myriads of enterprise with unique approaches to their particular industry, so also most have a very specific opinion about what works best for them.
Therefore, I suggest we boldly assert, that SER is to be promoted as an appliance where the interests of the harried IT-folks can be best served. Let this bundle be delivered as a as a stand alone CD/DVD that, once it is deployed on a "buy it anywhere" machine, the IT-folks will never need to go beyond the external web / administrator interface into the inner realms of OS dependencies.
<DREAM> This may be idealistic! However, broad scale enterprise acceptance can be achieved very quickly when we are able to achieve this goal.
Oh, by-the-way, this broad user base who love the basic appliance for it's simplicity will also love those whose talents can deliver upscale versions of the same fundamental appliance. As one with enough grey hair and grandchildren to have loved my 195x vintage black and white television, I absolutely love the HD flat-screens of 2007!
</DREAM>
IMHO we should focus on an Enterprise level DISTRO. I agree with the statement "... I think the ultimate goal should be something like an ISO that's ready to go on a server..." Furthermore, I think virtual machine distributions are just another in a long line of "Silver Bullets" that may appeal to the developer heart in all of us . . . but which will scare the crap out of the policy focused Enterprise IT-folks.
Therefore, I feel there is enough talent among us to create the first bundle in such a way to make it available to multiple Enterprise users so long as they understand it as an appliance!
I have stated my preference for the CentOS-RHEL-FCx environment because it has the broadest base of enterprise-quality custom applications which equire mission-critical long-term stability. On the other hand, I will be supportive of the bundled appliance concept even if someone produces a VM - CentOS or another variation on the same theme.
..mike..
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