Installing fedora at school

[James Mckenzie]

From: Robin Laing <Robin.Laing at drdc-rddc.gc.ca>
Subject: Re: Installing fedora at school

Rahul Sundaram wrote:
> Hi
> 
>>One of the things that I would like to point out is that FC is a BETA or testing product.
>
> no. its not. while its is used as a basis for RHEL, the previous
> redhat linux releases were too. so nothing has changed in that aspect

It is pointed out on the Fedora site that FC is a testing release and they do not recommend using FC in a production environment.  I agree with their assessment. FC is a testing release and is subject to becoming unstable.  Since I test/evaluate software for a living, I stand by my statement that I would not use FC in a production environment nor would I use in a training evironment with one cavaet:  I would not run routine updates on the production machine, but would put updates on a testing/development system and see if they cause my production environment to become unstable (that means that it abnormally terminates [commonly referred to as crashes]) or my production software no longer functions as required.  I would not subject students to the same.  FC3 out-of-the-box (or as distributed) has software flaws and will not work with certain systems or certain components.  This is known and is being worked by 'upstream' teams.  If FC3 works for you in a production system, then I would not be routinely updating that server.  This means disabling the nightly updates by either up2date, yum, apt-get, or other updating programs.
> 
> 
> this is more due to the fast release cycle of fedora and not because
> its a beta product

Again, I refer to the Fedora Project and that this is a testing system, which from what I remember means that it is a beta.  Things can and do go terribly wrong and you might end up with an unbootable system.
> 

|We use Fedora in production environment with no major headaches.  We 
|run versions ranging from FC1 to FC3 and still have less problems than 
|that major OS that costs hundreds of dollars (which we have site 
|licenses for).
|

That almost goes without saying.  I live in that environment and have a lot more software to keep the bad guys at bay (which eats up system resources).  

|The only issue is someone will have to learn how to maintain the 
|system and if they are windows oriented, it will take time.

I agree totally with that.  The UNIX/LINUX paridgm is much different.  Most system adminstration is done through the Command Line, where it is GUI based for Windows.  However, if someone is skilled enough to be a very good to great Windows Systems Administrator, then they should be able to make it in the UNIX world.  
|
|Go for it and enjoy.

I agree, with the knowledge that FC could break (well Windows can too.)



James McKenzie
A Proud User of Linux!