[Gllug] Linux workstation admin simpler than OS X

[Tethys]

--------

Alan Marsh writes:

>Anyone else find OSX system administration clunky after living with Linux?

I've never used OS X in anger, so I can't comment. What I *can* say
is that sysadmin on Linux[1] is getting harder than it used to be. For
example, my latest annoyance is the latest version of Fedora, which
doesn't even let you configure a network on install. It seems you're
supposed to use the NetworkManager applet when you log in for the first
time instead. I'm sure that works well if you're using the machine as a
single user workstation with the default settings. But apparently the
concept that people might do other things with it doesn't seem to have
occurred to anyone. Conform! It's just like being on Windows...

FWIW, I don't run a GNOME desktop so I don't have a NetworkManager
applet, and even if I did, my home directory is NFS mounted and I
authenticate with NIS, so I can't even log in until the network is
up. When I reported this, the result was CLOSED NOTABUG :-( Linux
>From Scratch is looking more and more tempting every day.

Yes, I was able to edit /etc/sysconfig/network{,-scripts/ifcfg-eth0}
to get a working network to allow me to log in. But if anyone seriously
thinks that's easier than entering an IP address/mask and gateway at
install time, then their world view differs significantly from mine.

I'm not sure what anyone installing on a headless server is supposed
to do. And before anyone comments, yes I know Fedora isn't ideal on
a server, but the Fedora of today is the RHEL of tomorrow. Apparently
RHEL6 is due to be based on F11, and from what I've seen so far, that's
a scary thought and doesn't bode well for the future.

Tet

[1] Yes, this rant is mostly about Fedora. But I've encountered similar
    (albeit mostly less extreme) problems on Debian and Ubuntu.
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