<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Good points, and your right Nagios is
a bear to configure, but GUI tools are out there that make the job faster
and without so much hair pulling. Gorundworks is just one of many http://www.groundworkopensource.com/</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">That being said I opted to go it the
text file configuration way and learned a ton in the process. I agree a
change is in the air, but it will be slow going. </font>
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<td width=40%><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><b>Todd Richardson <trichardson@cvecoop.org></b>
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<br><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Sent by: nmglug-bounces@nmglug.org</font>
<p><font size=1 face="sans-serif">03/21/2008 10:21 AM</font>
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<div align=center><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Please respond to<br>
"NMGLUG.org mailing list" <nmglug@nmglug.org></font></div></table>
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<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">To</font></div>
<td valign=top><font size=1 face="sans-serif">"NMGLUG.org mailing
list" <nmglug@nmglug.org></font>
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<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Subject</font></div>
<td valign=top><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Re: [nmglug] I'll be at Ubuntu
Live</font></table>
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<br><font size=2><tt>Congratulations on being asked to present.<br>
<br>
I wish I had more to contribute, but Nagios didn't leave just a<br>
wonderful taste in my mouth. If I had a bit more time to devote to<br>
learning how to configure it, I think it would have been great!<br>
<br>
As far as general use of open source software, openoffice.org represents<br>
one of the best practical packages for the masses. Its written on
the<br>
most popular platforms, is sponsored by a big player, and it is software<br>
that can be used by almost any discipline. Its a very mature project,<br>
and they seem to be doing a lot of good over there. <br>
<br>
I think, in practical terms, systems administrators aren't going to<br>
change the world because we advocate the implementation of open source<br>
software. Most of us use it in some manner or another. It is
going to<br>
be getting our users (or users in general, neighbors, family, etc.) to<br>
see the value in OSS. Nagios is very niche in that it appeals to
those<br>
managing the network. When OSS does catch on, it will be because
User<br>
Joe 1) Knew about it (which systems admins can influence by word of<br>
mouth and other advocacy,) 2) saw it used and liked what they saw (and<br>
I've seen some impressive desktops on youtube and the like) and 3) Had<br>
little to no problem installing it. <br>
<br>
Issue 3 presents the biggest hurdle. While its easy to download and<br>
install on a new system, most people just go out and buy their system<br>
with an OS already on it. On the famous (infamous?) $200 computer
from<br>
wal-mart costs were cut by offering a cheap platform with a free OS.<br>
Its selling pretty well, so those users are probably satisfied with<br>
linux... to a degree at least (either that or they are finding out
that<br>
they are upgrade faster than they expected.) As a matter of survival,<br>
and I've observed this to an extent, installation and support of new<br>
packages should be easy. Ubuntu's use of a high level package manager<br>
(hooray apt!) is one example of the ease of installation. In my<br>
opinion, Ubuntu has done everything right on this front. Now if we<br>
could only get a couple of vendors to ship systems with it. You know...<br>
save a couple hundred bucks by getting Ubuntu instead of windoze +<br>
bloat. <br>
<br>
I'll admit, I've said what most of us already know, but it feels good to<br>
get it off my chest every once in a while. Now that I've preached
to<br>
the choir, I'll keep my mouth shut for a while. A change is coming<br>
though. People talk, around a water cooler, or wherever they gather;<br>
saying that their system seems to be acting funny... that they lost a<br>
bunch of work to a crash or automatic reboot after an update... <insert<br>
other negative micro$oft related comment overheard here>. As long
as we<br>
offer an alternative they will eventually arrive.<br>
<br>
*steps down from his soap box.<br>
<br>
-Todd Richardson<br>
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On Fri, 2008-03-21 at 07:21 -0600, DThomas@metrocourt.state.nm.us wrote:<br>
> <br>
> What a good Friday, I just found out this morning I’ll be presenting<br>
> at this years Ubuntu Live. I’ll be talking about the practical use
of<br>
> open source software. I’m very exited about the Ubuntu Live<br>
> presentation. This month I presented at HDI 2008, but that audience<br>
> was manly call center managers, Help Desk technicians, and had few
if<br>
> any network administrators in attendance. Ubuntu Live promises to
be a<br>
> much more technical group of people including developers of some of<br>
> the software I use with my organization every day. I’ll primarily
be<br>
> focusing on nagiosand network monitoring in general and I’d love
to<br>
> hear some of your experiences that I could include in my presentation.<br>
> Hope to see you in Portland, Oregon July 21-22, 2008. <br>
> <br>
> Now if I only was not sick as a dog....dang flu I thnk. <br>
> <br>
> David Thomas<br>
> IT Specialist Manager<br>
> Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courts<br>
> 401 Lomas NW<br>
> Albuquerque, NM 87103<br>
> <br>
> dthomas@metrocourt.state.nm.us<br>
> 505-841-9807 <br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> nmglug mailing list<br>
> nmglug@nmglug.org<br>
> https://nmglug.org/mailman/listinfo/nmglug<br>
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