[AccessD] New Approach

Hi Hans:

I think I did cover that point.

"... though there are very little (no) differences other than cosmetic
between desktop and server. They are both fully multi-user and use the same
kernel. " 

I think that having no GUI is ultimate cosmetic. ;-) According to the Ubuntu
site, their server and desktop have been completely the same (other than the
GUI) and there have only been a few modest difference starting as of the
12.04 version. 

As for Microsoft not having servers with out a GUI, there is their latest
offers, a Hyper-V Server 2012. It is free to download and run but it is
totally command prompt driven. I understand there is a couple of packages
out there, if needing some GUI but they are basic in the extreme.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/hyper-v-server/default.aspx

A friend is running his servers with the package and he is very pleased with
it. It runs everything as virtual drives. It is not as fast as Linux but a
lot faster than the regular MS Server 2012 and it is supposed to scale a lot
easier and has full support for the Cloud as well as Samba server and Linux
integration. (Why the GUI should affect the basic functionality I have no
idea but that is what I am being told).

As a point of interest the DBA website is running off such a server.   

I think most of us old guys grew up with the command prompt, with various
minis, main-frames, UNIX and even DOS and would have little problem going
back but only if demanded as we have become a little gentrified. You have to
completely blame Apple for starting the whole GUI trend. ;-)

Jim  

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Hans-Christian
Andersen
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2013 12:30 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] New Approach

Hi Jim,

Just to add to your comment about Ubuntu, there are some slight differences
between desktop and server. The most obvious one is thar Ubuntu server does
not install with a GUI by default and this is a good thing. In my opinion
and that of many in the industry, a GUI is a waste of system resources, as
Linux can be administrated perfectly fine via the command line (bash and
ssh) and you have less software installed this less of a surface for
security vulnerabilities. For those reasons and others, I'd say it is the
superior choice for a server administrator, but that is sometimes a hard
sell for someone more familiar with using Microsoft server operating
systems, so you can still install a GUI if that is your preference.

Another difference is that the kernel for Ubuntu server is a little
different. It's been optimised and tweaked more for a server environment and
better performance in that respect. Which is nice.

The last notable difference is also the software packages available and the
package repositories. They are not quite the same as the server version is
geared more for stable software releases, while desktop is a bit more
bleeding edge. Ubuntu also provides you with some services that you don't
really get on the desktop version, such as Landscape, other cloud services
and etc.

I run an Ubuntu server (still on 11.04 though, need to upgrade one of these
days), but my experience so far in the last 2 or so years has been great. I
recommend it if you want a good server OS and the other proper Linux server
distros like CentOS and Debian are a bit intimidating.


- Hans