The reason I do "all this" is that I manage headless servers, some hosted as far away as London, UK, Connecticut, New York, Missouri, ...etc.<br><br>There is no GUI on any of them. Running X and a desktop is a waste of resources on a server. The RAM usage and complexity is better used somewhere else.<br>
<br>Everything is via ssh.<br><br>For desktops (Kubuntu, Ubuntu, ..etc.), yes there is a widget that grabs your attention when updates are pending and you just click it, press a coupld of buttons and you are up to date.<br>
<br>Still, if you manage lots of desktops, you may do it either way: let the user click the widget, or you may want to install openssh-server on each of them and manage the updates remotely.<br><br>On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 11:16 AM, Insurance Squared Inc. <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gcooke@insurancesquared.com">gcooke@insurancesquared.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
You folks do all this?<br>
<br>
Like I posted before, I've got an applet that runs on my desktop that
turns red when there are updates. I click on it, and it updates (I get
to see the list first). <br>
<br>
Yes, it can all be done automatically in other ways, but the way
mandriva does it suits perfectly for a desktop user. It completely
seperates the 'how' from the 'do'. <br>
<br>
And since I run the same distro on my desktop as I do my servers,
whenever I do a desktop upgrade, I just hop onto the server and type
'drakconf' from the command line and I've got the same upgrade process,
just minus the red alert.<br>
<br>
I can't imagine doing it any other way now. I get automatic updates,
without having to think about how it happens, and the ability to select
what packages I want to upgrade, and when.<br>
<br>
(and btw, not that an end user cares, but during the installation, it
automatically grabs the mirror nearest me and uses that repository.
And since I'm a paid subscriber I've got access to some additional
repositories, and it sets those up automatically during the install as
well. )<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:john@netdirect.ca" target="_blank">john@netdirect.ca</a> wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre><a href="mailto:kwlug-disc-bounces@kwlug.org" target="_blank">kwlug-disc-bounces@kwlug.org</a> wrote on 02/04/2010 10:48:23 AM:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>One might argue that there is separate software for that in Windows.
Windows SMS, or MOM (is it?) And there are 3rd party packages. Those,
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre>also
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>provide monitoring for patches and AV updates. The Linux package
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre>managers
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>don't monitor.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre>They can be set to update automatically.
Just put this in cron.
aptitude update && aptitude -y safe-upgrade
However, as you said, I like to see what changed and decide to update
when it is convenient for the client (and for me), not blindly go and
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre>update.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>There is also apticron, which I use on all our servers and for client
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre>servers.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>It runs once a day overnight and reports back if there are any
updates pending,
in an email.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre>Automating update attempts is easy enough. Knowing if they are successful
is another thing. The email reports are easy to do, but it's hard to get a
quick view of the current state, it would require sifting through
potentially lots of email.
I'm playing a devil's advocate here and posing comments as MS-oriented
admins might. And it doesn't really matter. There are proprietary tools
that work with MS and Linux to monitor and update. Some of these tools are
pretty slick in that they know which updates are needed for Windows. It's
something that would require monitoring MS patches and writing custom
Nagios configs for otherwise.
John Van Ostrand
Net Direct Inc.
CTO, co-CEO
564 Weber St. N. Unit 12
map
Waterloo, ON N2L 5C6
<a href="mailto:john@netdirect.ca" target="_blank">john@netdirect.ca</a>
Ph: 866-883-1172
ext.5102
Linux Solutions / IBM Hardware
Fx: 519-883-8533
_______________________________________________
<a href="http://kwlug-disc_kwlug.org" target="_blank">kwlug-disc_kwlug.org</a> mailing list
<a href="mailto:kwlug-disc_kwlug.org@kwlug.org" target="_blank">kwlug-disc_kwlug.org@kwlug.org</a>
<a href="http://astoria.ccjclearline.com/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org" target="_blank">http://astoria.ccjclearline.com/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div></div><div class="im"><pre cols="72">--
Glenn Cooke
Insurance Squared Inc.
(866) 779-1499
<a href="http://www.insurancesquared.com" target="_blank">www.insurancesquared.com</a>
Insurance Agent Discussion Forum:
<a href="http://www.americaninsurancebroker.com" target="_blank">www.americaninsurancebroker.com</a>
</pre>
</div></div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
<a href="http://kwlug-disc_kwlug.org" target="_blank">kwlug-disc_kwlug.org</a> mailing list<br>
<a href="http://kwlug-disc_kwlug.org" target="_blank">kwlug-disc_kwlug.org</a>@<a href="http://kwlug.org" target="_blank">kwlug.org</a><br>
<a href="http://astoria.ccjclearline.com/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org" target="_blank">http://astoria.ccjclearline.com/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Khalid M. Baheyeldin<br><a href="http://2bits.com">2bits.com</a>, Inc.<br><a href="http://2bits.com">http://2bits.com</a><br>Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.<br>
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -- Edsger W.Dijkstra<br>Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. -- Leonardo da Vinci<br>