[WBEL-users] Enterprise Managment Suggestions

[Jim Wildman]

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004, Tony wrote:

> This is where I'm coming from:
> 
> I have a setup that will be about 500 workstations, and a handfull of servers.
> About 500 or so users as well.
> 
> What we need is a way to *centrally* manage the PCs and users, not the 
> traditional Unix way of managing them on the workstation.. ( running them as
> dumb X terminals isn't the solution here, due to bandwidth ). That sort of
> 'management' just isn't practical at this level.
> 

A couple of suggestions that I am working on:

cfengine.  http://www.cfengine.org/
Cfengine, or the configuration engine is an autonomous agent and a
middle to high level policy language for building expert systems which
administrate and configure large computer networks. Cfengine uses the
idea of classes and a primitive intelligence to define and automate the
configuration and maintenance of system state, for small to huge
configurations. Cfengine is designed to be a part of a computer immune
system, and can be thought of as a gaming agent. It is ideal for cluster
management and has been adopted for use all over the world in small and
huge organizations alike.

GOSA: 
GOsa is a PHP-based administration tool for role-based managing of
accounts and systems in LDAP databases. Standard configurations can
manage generic, POSIX/shadow, postfix/cyrus/sieve, pureftpd, fax, and
samba 2/3 accounts in LDAP. It has plugins for DNS (BIND), DHCP (ISC
dhcpd), and system/terminal management. The look and feel can be easily
adapted to users' needs.

http://freshmeat.net/redir/gosa/31362/url_homepage/gosa


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Wildman, CISSP, RHCE       jim@rossberry.com http://www.rossberry.com
"Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best
state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
Thomas Paine