Business Server: ClearOS vs Zentyal (maybe also Untangle)
Hi Skunks, Having a tough time deciding between ClearOS and Zentyal and I'm seeking advise from any GEEKY Skunk who has experience from both applications. One thing similar is they are an Open Source alternative to Microsoft Small Business Server. Question is which is better (installation, management, applications etc) and why? Got limited time to test run both. Online search not giving conclusive results. Any assistance is appreciated Thanks Kind Regards, [image: Ephraim Muchemi] [image: Chagua Amani, Zuia Noma][image: Freedom][image: Global Warming is real][image: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle] Social Profile: [image: Facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/emuchemi> [image: Twitter] <http://www.twitter.com/efi_m> [image: LinkedIn]<http://www.linkedin.com/in/emuchemi> [image: foursquare] <https://foursquare.com/e_muchemi> [image: WordPress]<http://littlehacker.wordpress.com> Contact me: [image: Google Talk] emuchemi [image: Y! messenger] emuchemi [image: Skype] flyefi [image: Twitter] <http://twitter.com/efi_m>Latest tweet: @wanyax haha...wewe endelea na matusi Follow @efi_m <http://twitter.com/efi_m> Reply <http://twitter.com/?status=@efi_m%20&in_reply_to_status_id=144685952223293440&in_reply_to=efi_m> Retweet <http://twitter.com/?status=RT%20%40efi_m%3A%20%40wanyax%20haha...wewe%20endelea%20na%20matusi> 10:53 Dec-08<http://twitter.com/efi_m/statuses/144685952223293440> Get this email app! <http://www.wisestamp.com/apps/twitter?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_term=twitter&utm_campaign=apps> “"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold... [<http://www.quotesdaddy.com/quote/1294498/george-carlin/the-most-unfair-thing-about-life-is-the-way-it-ends> more<http://www.quotesdaddy.com/quote/1294498/george-carlin/the-most-unfair-thing-about-life-is-the-way-it-ends> ]” Get this email app! <http://www.wisestamp.com/apps/quotes?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_term=quotes&utm_campaign=apps> [image: WWF - World Wide Fund For Nature] <http://bit.ly/wwf-site>Donate<http://bit.ly/wwf-site>| Share on Facebook <http://on.fb.me/kE6cbn> | Share on Twitter<http://bit.ly/Tweet-WWF>Add this to your emails<http://www.wisestamp.com/apps/causeWWF?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_term=causeWWF&utm_campaign=apps> Printing emails is SO 2009 Get a signature like this. <http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=19&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_19> CLICK HERE.<http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=19&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_19>
In such instances, go for the option that has more documentation, or a more active community. This guarantees you better support On 8 December 2011 17:26, Ephraim Muchemi <emuchemi@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Skunks,
Having a tough time deciding between ClearOS and Zentyal and I'm seeking advise from any GEEKY Skunk who has experience from both applications.
One thing similar is they are an Open Source alternative to Microsoft Small Business Server. Question is which is better (installation, management, applications etc) and why? Got limited time to test run both. Online search not giving conclusive results. Any assistance is appreciated
Thanks
Kind Regards,
[image: Ephraim Muchemi]
[image: Chagua Amani, Zuia Noma][image: Freedom][image: Global Warming is real][image: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle]
Social Profile: [image: Facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/emuchemi> [image: Twitter] <http://www.twitter.com/efi_m> [image: LinkedIn]<http://www.linkedin.com/in/emuchemi> [image: foursquare] <https://foursquare.com/e_muchemi> [image: WordPress]<http://littlehacker.wordpress.com> Contact me: [image: Google Talk] emuchemi [image: Y! messenger] emuchemi [image: Skype] flyefi [image: Twitter] <http://twitter.com/efi_m> Latest tweet: @wanyax haha...wewe endelea na matusi Follow @efi_m <http://twitter.com/efi_m> Reply <http://twitter.com/?status=@efi_m%20&in_reply_to_status_id=144685952223293440&in_reply_to=efi_m> Retweet
<http://twitter.com/?status=RT%20%40efi_m%3A%20%40wanyax%20haha...wewe%20endelea%20na%20matusi> 10:53 Dec-08<http://twitter.com/efi_m/statuses/144685952223293440> Get this email app! <http://www.wisestamp.com/apps/twitter?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_term=twitter&utm_campaign=apps>
“"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold... [<http://www.quotesdaddy.com/quote/1294498/george-carlin/the-most-unfair-thing-about-life-is-the-way-it-ends> more<http://www.quotesdaddy.com/quote/1294498/george-carlin/the-most-unfair-thing-about-life-is-the-way-it-ends> ] ” Get this email app! <http://www.wisestamp.com/apps/quotes?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_term=quotes&utm_campaign=apps>
[image: WWF - World Wide Fund For Nature] <http://bit.ly/wwf-site> Donate<http://bit.ly/wwf-site>| Share on Facebook <http://on.fb.me/kE6cbn> | Share on Twitter<http://bit.ly/Tweet-WWF> Add this to your emails<http://www.wisestamp.com/apps/causeWWF?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_term=causeWWF&utm_campaign=apps> Printing emails is SO 2009 Get a signature like this. <http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=19&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_19> CLICK HERE.<http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=19&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_19>
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke ------------ List info, subscribe/unsubscribe http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------
Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
-- with Regards: blog.denniskioko.com <http://www.denniskioko.com/>
On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 17:26, Ephraim Muchemi <emuchemi@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Skunks,
Having a tough time deciding between ClearOS and Zentyal and I'm seeking advise from any GEEKY Skunk who has experience from both applications.
One thing similar is they are an Open Source alternative to Microsoft Small Business Server. Question is which is better (installation, management, applications etc) and why? Got limited time to test run both. Online search not giving conclusive results. Any assistance is appreciated
I'd say, two days would be enough for you to test run both from a VMWare Workstation environment. In the process, you should be looking at the features you see and check them out against with what you want (from your checklist). At the end of the two days, you look at the scores and decide which one to adopt. It basically boils down to two things: Features & Hidden Costs. Don't be deceived about the absence of any hidden costs. The opinion of a GEEKY Skunk who has experience from both systems doesn't count much towards your requirements. I can tell you for sure, that if your organization has less than 500 users, then it's pretty easy to migrate from one to another in a few hours while they (non-IT staff) are asleep. Just schedule a downtime, lose one night's sleep and voila! Migrating between Unix environments for such a small number is so painless. Cheer up, bite a few bullets between your teeth and start with either of them. I did look at Zentyal sometime back when it was discussed on this forum and I must say I did not see much besides the LDAP integration that supports SSO. For a single server, this is nothing. For a server farm, yes, it would help, but I doubt you are going into a distributed service environment, so I assume a single server (with REDUNDANT STORAGE - this is a MUST, sir). I like cobbling together a server if I need one, so take my advise with a pinch of salt - I am a little biased:-) -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler. Please consider the environment before printing this email.
Hi @Muchemi, I've not used both systems but as you may already know me from this list as pro-propreitary ( can be adobe , M$, MAC etc ). I'd like to offer you some advice, so that you may make the right decision. Here's my view : - In a production environment, you must ensure that you taken on the huge responsibility of learning in depth the free-code system that you are planning to implement. Anything short of this and you are going to head into big time trouble. Because production, small or medium enterprises have heavy demands on uptime, reliability and sustainability you are placed in a very difficult and stressful situation. And this will certainly happen, at some point as there are pitfalls you may not be aware of. - A simple example. You may not have brushed up your knowledge on mysql but if such is being used for retaining username/passwords/profile data, sometimes there will be problems as is common with databases. Maybe the user had put in special character combinations as a password, and this for some reason causes errors, you will now have to not only troubleshoot but also fix the system very quickly. - Unix-clones are really stable, just as other systems, but that is not where you will find the problems. It is the add-ons that create many issues. You must then also know the Unix-clone OS quite well to troubleshoot any issues e.g stopping services, flush or even re-start, creating cron-jobs etc - Another example is if you intend to use the system as a mail server, you must partiton your system hardware harddrives according to the number of users/email traffic/logfile traffic. - Data backups and images are the most critical part, you must know how the Unix-clone handles this. There's quite a lot to the production environment, I'm sure you are already aware. Whatever you do, don't do it just because its free-code, do it because you know how to sustain the services. HTH's and my view. Rgds.
@Muchemi, I forgot to add the UPS portion. How will the UPS control the Unix-clone server for power shutdown when the batteries are almost drained, and re-boot when a certain threshold is reached. You may also want to look into this, whether you will need an expensive network version UPS or you could simply hookup a smaller smart ups via USB, then the Unix-clone becomes the network power messaging system. BTW, a question request to Unix-clone admins, how do you deal with the UPS and power outages to a network wide system control. I've never implemented this scenario on open systems but have done it on propretary and its a breeze, works extremely well. Rgds. :-)
Dennis, Washington and Aki... Thanks alot guys for the input... Very helpful & Washington's pinch of salt taken with tequila..lol.. So far these are what I have gotten - Documentation - Hidden Costs (addons) - OS Clone support from developer & to users - Dissect both systems (will spare the long weekend to play with them) Dennis: Documentation and Active community (totally noted) Washington: both systems cover our requirements but I havent tinkered with them well enough. Will spare time Aki: Power aint a problem where we are. Have UPS & building power generator as reliable backups but will consider your advise if setting it up elsewhere. It is easy to overlook UPS requirements Will update u on my final decision. Advise can still flow in.. Thanks Skunks Kind Regards, [image: Ephraim Muchemi] [image: Chagua Amani, Zuia Noma][image: Freedom][image: Global Warming is real][image: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle] Social Profile: [image: Facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/emuchemi> [image: Twitter] <http://www.twitter.com/efi_m> [image: LinkedIn]<http://www.linkedin.com/in/emuchemi> [image: foursquare] <https://foursquare.com/e_muchemi> [image: WordPress]<http://littlehacker.wordpress.com> Contact me: [image: Google Talk] emuchemi [image: Y! messenger] emuchemi [image: Skype] flyefi [image: WWF - World Wide Fund For Nature] <http://bit.ly/wwf-site>Donate<http://bit.ly/wwf-site>| Share on Facebook <http://on.fb.me/kE6cbn> | Share on Twitter<http://bit.ly/Tweet-WWF>Add this to your emails<http://www.wisestamp.com/apps/causeWWF?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_term=causeWWF&utm_campaign=apps> Printing emails is SO 2009 Get a signature like this. <http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=19&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_19> CLICK HERE.<http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=19&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_19> On 8 December 2011 19:45, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
@Muchemi, I forgot to add the UPS portion. How will the UPS control the Unix-clone server for power shutdown when the batteries are almost drained, and re-boot when a certain threshold is reached. You may also want to look into this, whether you will need an expensive network version UPS or you could simply hookup a smaller smart ups via USB, then the Unix-clone becomes the network power messaging system.
BTW, a question request to Unix-clone admins, how do you deal with the UPS and power outages to a network wide system control. I've never implemented this scenario on open systems but have done it on propretary and its a breeze, works extremely well.
Rgds. :-)
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke ------------ List info, subscribe/unsubscribe http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------
Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
@Muchemi, just adding to the power outages scenario. The No1 killer of all software systems is power outages, even if you are in a building that has UPS and generators keep in mind that these generators do not run 24hours cycle on a power outage. All generators that are not water-cooled have a certain cool down cycle time. Therefore, between 9pm and 8am, the generators will be off as there is no need to keep the power supplied to the building except external lighting and elevators ( landlord view, passing on all fuel costs to tenants for any additional power requirements ). You must implement a software power-down of server upon exhausted UPS batteries, which will release all the system resources ( whether read/write ). The worst part now is the Database system, if this is shut down without stopping all the processes, you are looking at a worse case scenario. The hard-disk integrity is also affected, so the following morning you can have a system that will not boot or might need serious recovery. And finally to add, ensure that your juniors in the dept know the Unix-clone as well as you. Otherwise, you are going to have to baby-sit the system because no one else knows, so kiss any vacation time goodbye. This is a dangerious pitfall. Your end target is to ensure an uptime of 99% per annum, there's much to learn and much to pass on to others. Rgds. :-)
participants (4)
-
aki -
Dennis Kioko -
Ephraim Muchemi -
Odhiambo Washington