Somewhere out there!

Ars at Ubuntu Live: Mark Shuttleworth’s keynote:

“The next LTS release will be based on Ubuntu 8.04, which is currently planned for release in April 2008,” said Shuttleworth. “We believe we can bring the same level of predictability to the LTS releases as we have to the regular six-month release cycle… There will be a regular series of LTS releases approximately two years apart, starting in 2008 and continuing from there.”

From Brian Madden – Login Consultants releases a massive framework that can automate pretty much everything. Oh, and it’s free:

It’s called the Solution4 Framework (or “S4 Framework” for short), and it’s basically a huge set of scripts, scripts, tools, and more scripts that you can use to completely manage your Terminal Server or Citrix Presentation Server farm.

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I did a quick test install of Windows 2008 Standard Server Beta2 onto my XenEnterprise server. Requires the PV drivers in order for the network interfaces to works correctly, but otherwise seems to work with XE 3.2. I didn’t test much; at this stage I just wanted to see if I could get it going.

If you get a couple errors like dm-linear: Device lookup failed or mount: /dev/sdc1 already mounted or /export busy on XenEnterprise with Ubuntu Dapper, I suggest: apt-get remove -\-purge evms. See this bug report for some extra details.

I stopped using evms many years ago when it corrupted some of my data, lvm by itself its a much better system. I wish Ubuntu wouldn’t include it by default.

Untangle integrates best-of-breed OSS source for spam blocking, web filtering, remote access, reporting features and a nice java-based management tool. The free version is very functional, with the pro version adding features like client-less Java SSL vpn portal and AD integration. Virtual Rack system allows you to provide different service levels to different networks. Check out the 4m demo.

Personally I might install just for the Openvpn management functionality.

From The 2007 AO 100 Top Companies.

Some useful info and comments on the Solaris scheduler.

Sun have released their latest Xen update and it looks like it will be one of the key strategic platforms:

And that’s exactly the theory behind the newly bundled virtualization features in Solaris 10 – from Xen to ZFS, Crossbow to Java (fancy names for the same idea – reducing complexity to increase productivity). Solaris 10’s virtualization enables customers to consolidate the sprawling Linux, Solaris and Windows boxes laying around their datacenters, without having to pay exorbitant software licenses for add-on products. We built virtualization in to Solaris 10 not to encourage fewer computer or storage purchases, but instead, more – systems that are twice as utilized are twice as affordable. (When you double the mileage of a car, more people can afford it.)

ZFS keeps improving and now has the ability to delegate zfs administrative tasks to ordinary users.

Two styles of delegated permissions are supported. First the individual permission(s) can be explicitly specified, or the administrator can define a permission set. A permission set can then later be updated and all of the consumers of the set will automatically pick up the change. Permission sets all begin with the letter @ and are limited to 64 characters in length. Characters after the @ sign in a set name have the same restrictions as normal ZFS file system names.

Nice and simply unix style interface, with lots of scripting potential. I can see some usefulness in this once Solaris gets its iscsi stack sorted and I get it going with XenEnterprise.

Permissions are delegated with the allow subcommand to ZFS(1M).

zfs allow [-l] [-d] <"everyone"|user|group>[,<"everyone" |user|group>]  <perm>|@<setname>[,<perm>|@<setname>...] 
<filesystem|volume>
zfs allow [-l] [-d] -u <user> <perm>|@<setname>[,<perm>|@<setname>...] 
<filesystem|volume>
zfs allow [-l] [-d] -g <group> <perm>|@<setname>[,<perm>|@<setname>...] <filesystem|volume>
zfs allow [-l] [-d] -e <perm>|@<setname>[,<perm>|@<setname>...]<filesystem|volume>
zfs allow -c <perm>|@<setname>[,<perm>|@<setname>...] <filesystem|volume>
zfs allow -s @setname <perm>|@<setname>[,<perm>...] <filesystem|volume>

Excellent. I’ve been waiting for something like Landscape for quite a while, thinking about building something basic myself. Web-based centralised management portal for pushing updates and installing packages is the best way to do this.

Canonical Launches Web-Based Systems Management Tool For Ubuntu Deployments.

About Landscape

With Landscape, users can manage, monitor and maintain all their Ubuntu machines simply by registering them with the service. Focused on being easy to deploy, Landscape is immediately available with an easy to use Web interface to common administration tasks.

Security and stability are enhanced with visibility of new security fixes and updates as soon as they’re available for Ubuntu. Individual systems, or groups can be updated making it simple and quick to keep them secure. With package management across a range of systems the total cost of managing an Ubuntu deployment of desktops, laptops and servers is reduced.

Key features of Landscape include:

Package management: All the package management features for remotely managing a system. Quickly find installed packages, view information about them and add or remove them.

System updates: Secure Ubuntu systems quickly and easily. Instantly view packages that need updating across all systems that Landscape knows about. Install security and feature updates as they become available.

Manage groups of machines: With Landscape you can manage multiple machines within a group, either acting on them all or just one machine within the group. Groups are flexible and fast to set up, whether you want to manage machines by location or function.

Semi-connected management: Safely and securely manage systems that are infrequently connected to the Internet. Landscape queues tasks for disconnected and distributed desktops, laptops, or servers. When they come on-line it carries out the queued instructions.

System inventory: Reduce the speed and cost of supporting users with the detailed information needed to resolve problems. Landscape reports on individual system hardware giving a view of all the system’s components. In addition, it reports how Ubuntu sees the system, including elements like the running kernel.

Performance reporting: An organization can compare the performance of multiple systems, viewing key measurements such as system load and disk usage, enabling workloads to be managed effectively.

System history: Administrators can audit the actions on their systems improving security. Landscape provides information on the tasks it will perform in the future. The historical view shows actions shows actions it performed and those done locally on the machine.

From osnews.

Billy Gates is a clever business person, this article from CNN discusses How Microsoft conquered China.

Today Gates openly concedes that tolerating piracy turned out to be Microsoft’s best long-term strategy. That’s why Windows is used on an estimated 90% of China’s 120 million PCs. “It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not,” Gates says. “Are you kidding? You can get the real thing, and you get the same price.” Indeed, in China’s back alleys, Linux often costs more than Windows because it requires more disks. And Microsoft’s own prices have dropped so low it now sells a $3 package of Windows and Office to students.

A basic desktop computer in China now can be had for about 200-300USD, with a Chinese version of windows pre-installed. Funnily enough if you can find it only full retail (priced) versions of English Windows are available.

From infoworld.