Red Hat Virtual Experience report

[Max Spevack]

Hi all,

Here's my "trip report" from the Red Hat Virtual Experience.  Some 
interesting conversations, and frequently-asked-questions that lots of 
Ambassadors will get.

http://spevack.livejournal.com/95091.html

--Max

[Juan J. Martínez]

Hello,

I'm the man "with the gap between Fedora an RHEL" (sic).

Sorry to not identifying myself as an ambassador.

I was commenting with Max a problem that my company has with a big
customer, with a very complex set of needs.

For the server they have pretty clear that RHEL it's the way to go (or
CentOS when paid support it's not important), but for the desktop it's
different because they want to migrate from Windows to a
state-of-the-art desktop.

Basically they want the RHEL support (7 years), with the cutting edge
features of Fedora (only 18 months, and then reinstall or play with
upgrade). And I want to own a Ferrari :)

We know that this very unlikely to happen because the long time support
and ABI compatibility over time implies app version freezing, so we're
proposing RHEL for desktops that require long time support (and "suffer"
Gnome 2.16, etc), and Fedora for the rest.

Overall they're happy with the idea (three levels: RHEL for long time
paid support, CentOS for long time community support and Fedora for
cutting edge desktops -- and satellite/spacewalk to manage them all).

The weak point comes when the Fedora support ends. Too much desktops to
reinstall, or upgrade (that actually isn't 100% perfect).

Than was a complex conversation to have in the minimal-tiny chat box of
the Fedora booth, but anyway :)

Comments are welcome, because it seems to me a nice case to prove your
advocacy abilities :)

Regards,

Juanjo

El mié, 09-12-2009 a las 16:13 -0500, Max Spevack escribió:
>  Hi all,
>  
>  Here's my "trip report" from the Red Hat Virtual Experience.  Some 
>  interesting conversations, and frequently-asked-questions that lots of 
>  Ambassadors will get.
>  
>  http://spevack.livejournal.com/95091.html
>  
>  --Max
>  
>  --
>  Fedora-ambassadors-list mailing list
>  Fedora-ambassadors-list(a)redhat.com
>  https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-ambassadors-list 

-- 
jjm's home: http://www.usebox.net/jjm/
blackshell: http://blackshell.usebox.net/
 ramble on: http://rambleon.usebox.net/

[David Ramsey]

>  Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 16:13:00 -0500
>  From: mspevack(a)redhat.com
>  To: fedora-ambassadors-list(a)redhat.com
>  Subject: [Ambassadors] Red Hat Virtual Experience report 

Hello Everyone,

Greetings.  :)

 

Max, most excellent!  :)

>  Here's my "trip report" from the Red Hat Virtual
> Experience. Some interesting conversations, and frequently-asked-questions that lots of
> Ambassadors will get. 

>  http://spevack.livejournal.com/95091.html 

Interesting discussions listed in your livejournal.  :)

 

Virtual systems are definitely on my system and I love it!  :D

 

I strongly agree with discussion of use of Fedora in order to practice for RHCE as well as
the RHCT skill base.  Provides for a marketable ability in my current and future.  :)

 

Also, I guess that I am like one of those who likes to be running the Fedora environment
in order to further solidify my Linux System Administration foundation.  Practice,
practice, practice.  :)

 

Please have a great day!  :~)

Thank You
Sincerely
=-=-=-=-=
- David -
=-=-=-=-=
David Ramsey
---------------------------------
十人十色
じゅうにんといろ
10 people 10 colors
Different strokes for different folks
---------------------------------
=
Fedora Project's Japan & Maryland Ambassador dramsey(a)fedoraproject.org
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Dramsey
* Three dual core systems with 3.0 GB running the Fedora 12 (Constantine) kernel -
vmlinuz-2.6.31.6-162.fc12.i686.PAE
* One dual core system with 3.0 GB running the Fedora 13 kernel -
2.6.32-0.56.rc8.git1.fc13.i686.PAE
With eight (8) x86_64 computing cores, 16 GB of RAM and two SATA Seagate 7200.12 500 GB
harddisks.
=

[David Ramsey]

>  Subject: Re: [Ambassadors] Red Hat Virtual Experience report
>  From: jjm(a)usebox.net
>  To: fedora-ambassadors-list(a)redhat.com
>  Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 23:17:13 +0100 

Hello Everyone,

Greetings.  :)

 

Juanjo, thank you for your post.  :)

>  I'm the man "with the gap between Fedora an RHEL"
> (sic).
>  Sorry to not identifying myself as an ambassador.
>  I was commenting with Max a problem that my company has with a big customer, with a very
> complex set of needs.
>  For the server they have pretty clear that RHEL it's the way to go (or CentOS when
> paid support it's not important), but for the desktop it's different because they
> want to migrate from Windows to a state-of-the-art desktop. 

Ah, customers' set of needs indeed.  :)

 

>  Basically they want the RHEL support (7 years), with the cutting edge
> features of Fedora (only 18 months, and then reinstall or play with upgrade). And I want
> to own a Ferrari :)
>  We know that this very unlikely to happen because the long time support and ABI
> compatibility over time implies app version freezing, so we're proposing RHEL for
> desktops that require long time support (and "suffer" Gnome 2.16, etc), and
> Fedora for the rest. 

Definitely sounds like your company has determined requirements and applied these
requirements into specifications which are now being addressed and creating solutions in
order to address.  :)

 

+1 Juanjo!  :)

 

>  Overall they're happy with the idea (three levels: RHEL for long
> time paid support, CentOS for long time community support and Fedora for cutting edge
> desktops -- and satellite/spacewalk to manage them all). 
 

Woo hoo!  :)


>  The weak point comes when the Fedora support ends. Too much desktops
> to reinstall, or upgrade (that actually isn't 100% perfect). 

Sounds like a possible example of desktop deployment...or at least a consideration for how
to integrate in order to address.  :)

 

> From weaknesses come a set of solutions as well opportunities, find a
> way to think outside the box and the world "options may be endness indeed" is
> yours.  ;) 
 

>  Than was a complex conversation to have in the minimal-tiny chat box
> of the Fedora booth, but anyway :)
>  Comments are welcome, because it seems to me a nice case to prove your advocacy abilities
> :) 
 

How about consideration of virtualization for integrating your customers' needs?  :)


Juanjo, as an idea for some more food for thought regarding your customers' needs,
have you considered placing a "Post" into the FedoraForum.org?  This may be a
good forum to get additional ideas/considerations which may be to your advantage.  :)

 

If interested, see FedoraForum.org's URL -

 

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/index.php

 

Please have a great day and an enjoyable weekend!  :~)

Thank You
Sincerely
=-=-=-=-=
- David -
=-=-=-=-=
David Ramsey
---------------------------------
猿も木から落ちる
さるもきからおちる
Even monkeys fall from trees.
Even experts make mistakes.
---------------------------------
=
Fedora Project's Japan & Maryland Ambassador dramsey(a)fedoraproject.org
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Dramsey
* Three dual core systems with 3.0 GB running the Fedora 12 (Constantine) kernel -
vmlinuz-2.6.31.6-162.fc12.i686.PAE
* One dual core system with 3.0 GB running the Fedora 13 kernel -
2.6.32-0.56.rc8.git1.fc13.i686.PAE
With eight (8) x86_64 computing cores, 16 GB of RAM and two SATA Seagate 7200.12 500 GB
harddisks.
=

[Mathieu Bridon]

>  Basically they want the RHEL support (7 years), with the cutting
> edge
>  features of Fedora (only 18 months, and then reinstall or play with
>  upgrade). 
A Fedora release only lives for 13 months approximately, not 18.

>  And I want to own a Ferrari :) 
Sorry, can't do anything about that :)

>  We know that this very unlikely to happen because the long time
> support
>  and ABI compatibility over time implies app version freezing, so we're
>  proposing RHEL for desktops that require long time support (and "suffer"
>  Gnome 2.16, etc), and Fedora for the rest.
>
>  Overall they're happy with the idea (three levels: RHEL for long time
>  paid support, CentOS for long time community support and Fedora for
>  cutting edge desktops -- and satellite/spacewalk to manage them all).
>
>  The weak point comes when the Fedora support ends. Too much desktops to
>  reinstall, or upgrade (that actually isn't 100% perfect). 
I was at FOSDEM in Brussels this year and went to see a talk by 2 Cobbler devs.

They talked about Cobbler, and how it helped deployments.

Then they made a demonstration. They had 2 laptops, one with Fedora
installed on it, the other without anything.

The demonstration consisted of :
1. installing and configuring Cobbler on the Fedora laptop
2. deploying Fedora on the second laptop (PXE boot thanks to Cobbler)

All in all, the session lasted no more than one hour. Quite impressive :)

If I were you, that's the way I'd be pursuing.

Anyway, the Ambassadors mailing list is probably not the best place to
ask for help about such an issue, you'll have much more valuable
answers on the Cobbler mailing list, in technical forums or through
your Red Hat paid support (if you have it). ;)

Best regards,


----------

Mathieu Bridon (bochecha)