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Old 13th May 2008
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windependence windependence is offline
Real Name: Tim
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Posts: 116
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bigb89 View Post
I think that you may have picked one of the worst Linux distro to argue about not using GUI on servers. Ubuntu is considered to be one the most user friendly Linux distro out there because of the very reason of their GUI. So its like telling the PC-BSD community not to use GUI. That means that Ubuntu is mainly used for desktop computers. Now, if you want to talk about servers in the Linux community, you should look into CentOS (it received the award for best Linux server distro), Red Hat, and Debian just name a few.
Well I guess I didn't really explain my dilema too well, and I really wasn't asking a question anyway, just making an observation, but now that you guys replied maybe you can give me some feedback.

I work for a forune 100 company and run mostly AS/400s, but some other stuff as well, AIX, SUN, HP_UX and of course Windoze. I have been doing this for about 10 years now.

I also have a consulting buiness on the side that has grown to the point that I am seriously thinking of quitting my "real" job. I mostly do not work with any end users, and my main business is setting up and supporting web, e-mail, and database servers.

Recently, I have switched all my installations to virtualized servers because of the many advantages it provides. The problem is, that many of the mainstream vitualization vendors mostly support their software on Linux. I would much prefer to run it on BSD, but I need stability and I also need something mainstream so I can support it, so exotic software and hacks are out of the question, this stuff is mission critical.

Most of my installations are using CentOS, Ubuntu server, and SuSE as the host machines, and some form of *BSD as the guest production servers, mostly OpenBSD and FreeBSD. All have proved fairly stable but they seem to have a lot of extraneous garbage loaded that I have to remove to reduce the size of the install and cut down running services.

When Ubuntu came out with their server product, I waited a bit and after several releases I decided to try it as host OS. It seems to be a fine product and does not load too many extra services since it is built as a "server" OS. For those who don't know, it does not load a GUI of any kind with the default install which to me was perfect. The problem comes in when I get on the Ubuntu forums and go to their "server" section just to get a feel for the product and try to help people there trying to set up the OS. The first question out of their mouth is "How do I get to the GUI?". So some of us suggested you shouldn't be running a GUI on a a server hence the arguments that ensued. In some cases, when I try to help over there, my posts are just completely ignored as if they don't exist. I thought they migh be more appreciative of someone who actually had a bit of knowledge and could truly help users. Keep in mind I'm not being a snob or talking down to anyone, just making good logical suggestions. This is where I was just dissapointed in the whole attitude of the community.

Sorry this post is so long, and if anyone has any ideas as to a better environment than what I am using (Linux host, VMware, and BSD guest) please suggest it here in this thread. I should mention I am a VMware partner. I have played with the others but they seem less enterprise ready.

This community has helped me immensely in the past even though I didn't post much on bsdforums.org, but I WAS a regular reader. For that I thank you guys and I am grateful there is a place like this where you can get accurate information.

-Tim
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