> > The distributions I have tried
> > so far are SUSE 8.1 Pro and Mandrake 10 (full version).
> 
> I don't think you're going to get much admin tool joy out of the
> mainstream distributions.  If you've got a specific task in mind
> (especially when it comes to "appliance" tasks like firewalls), then a
> specifically targetted distribution like SME, Censornet, or similar
> might do the job.  If you're looking for a generalist distribution,
> waiting for Novell to polish up SLES a bit more might be the best bet.
> 
> Sorry not to be much help.  :-)  Can anyone on LIAS shed some more light? 

I agree that webmin is excellent and I've always liked the setup of SME especially in school environments. The stability is second to none but the  unique architecture e-smith (SME)'s single configuration file that in turn feeds the regular unix config files is elegant and simple but does require a bit of study. I highly recommend it. Novel claims to have polished SLES9 a bit more recently and I note that the recent Linux Format magazine has a glowing review of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
in which the following quote strikes me, "YaST, with the backing of Novell, IBM and Sun, is progressing to a degree that may see it become the standard management tool for linux systems." Might be time to install it again inside a virtual machine.

We have continued to develop SNS (school network server) for our educational requirements and have a few schools running the packages. It is basically a Redhat (and now we're testing a Fedora based version) anaconda installer complete with a series of perl scripts that sets up a Samba PDC file server customised for adding users and raw speed on modest equipment. In Canberra we've added all the WAN and LAN details of each school in the system to a series of text files so that depending on which school you are in the installer will create a unique install for that position in the WAN. 

We also highly recommend K12LTSP and are very interested in its deployment and use.

Nicholas Oliver
Multimedia teacher
Lake Tuggeranong College ACT 
nick@linux.act.edu.au
www.linux.act.edu.au 


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