Date: 10 Aug 1998 12:54:19 +0200 From: Walter Hafner <hafner@informatik.tu-muenchen.de> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: help in convincing management not to supplant Unix with NT Message-ID: <srjaf5dt8dg.fsf@hprbg5.informatik.tu-muenchen.de> In-Reply-To: djv@bedford.net's message of "9 Aug 1998 15:33:00 %2B0200" References: <199808090309.WAA00774@gforce.bellsouth.net> <199808091300.JAA04256@lucy.bedford.net>
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djv@bedford.net (CyberPeasant) writes:
> Now is a good time to change jobs. One of the reasons that NT is
> used to replace Unix is because pointed-headed managers think they will
> be cheaper to manage. They intend to fire all the Unix people, and hire
> "certified droids". They have been assured by M$ marketers that it
> will be cheaper to run NT. *sigh* the managers secretly believe that
> the new pimple-faced NT dweebs will be more docile and easily controlled.
> This is correct.
>
> Challenge them to provide a /single/ technical reason to run NT on
> a server. This won't work though, they already have the evidence.
> Evidence doesn't matter to these types. They have a "vision". Pfui.
Just to tell another story from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen ...
I have ca. 30 webservers running happily on three machines (x86 Solaris
and FreeBSD). No special attention required, they just run. Now the
University administration wants a webserver for sensitive data, accessed
only behind the firewall, that separates the administration network from
the university network. They asked me (the University WWW
representative) for advice.
Under the restrictions that they have to
- access Oracle and Ingres databases
- have several online-forms, from simple mail-feedbacks up to
user-dependant database queries and updates etc.
I told them to get a Unix workstation - any kind of commercial unix will
do. If I remember correctly I told them to get a cheap Solaris machine
(SUN or x86). I mean: I/O is a no-issue, but they need professional
support, which is why I didn't recommend FreeBSD. Support is very
important for administrations and the like... I recommended Unix because
of the highly dynamic contents of the pages (Query forms based on
user-accounts, built online via CGI) and the database interaction (imho
this interaction needs to be highly customized and I don't trust MS
ISAPI for such a task)
Guess what: It'll be NT.
The reasons as they were told to me:
1) The university administration already runs a TCP/IP based NT network
and they want to do all the security stuff based on the NT accounts
(Yeah, I TOLD them what this means for the security of the network)
2) Administrations need solutions that are completely standardized. By
'completely' they mean, that scripts written by the staff are a complete
no-no. The staff could be changing and the scripts aren't maintained
anymore. So no Perl scripts, no add-ons like PHP for the database stuff
etc. (Yeah, I TOLD them what database interaction means without
customized scripts)
3) They already have lots NT users, so teaching one of them to become
WWW administrator shouldn't be too hard ... (Yeah, I TOLD them ...)
4) An NT WWW server surely fits MUCH better into the existing NT
network (At that point I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry ...)
Well, I didn't try to convince them any longer, when I heard their
reasons. Best of all: Apart from me, they didn't ask anyone else for
advice. They came up with that all by themselves. Still, it's got to be
NT. And yes: I handed them the Kirch article.
What did I do? Despite my job of being the one who helps all the
University staff out of their WWW troubles, I told them quite clearly,
that I won't help them with problems. That's fine, I was told. So
instead of running a virtual server on one of my machines, they buy
another server and think of hiring another employee just to run that
server in case the users can't cope with it.
That's about $60.000 a year just to avoid using Unix.
*shrug*
Oh - and I'm sure that they'll eventually convert back to Unix. Last
information I heard: I had to explain the NT user that was appointed to
manage the admistration-WWW-project the meaning of HTML ("What's it
for?") and had to recommend some courses to him ... nuff said.
I mean: Here I am. 10 years of Internet experience, 5 years of WWW
experience, 9 years of being a Unix-sysadmin, Masters degree in
computer science ... and then this single story tells me how much my
advice is valued.
-Walter
--
Walter Hafner_______________________________ hafner@in.tum.de
<A href=http://www.in.tum.de/~hafner/>*CLICK*</A>;
The best observation I can make is that the BSD Daemon logo
is _much_ cooler than that Penguin :-) (Donald Whiteside)
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