RE: [cobalt-users] Why I'll Never do business with Sun Cobalt AGA IN!

[Carrie Bartkowiak <ravencarrie@xxxxxxxx>]

(warning: one of Carrie's long ones...)

On Wed, 1 Aug 2001 21:43:00 -0400, Robert Fitzpatrick mumbled 
something like:
>>I am planning to have this Cobalt run DNS, e-mail and web servers.
>>I plan
>>to install web-based e-mail and run popular programs like PHP,
>>MySQL, etc.

I've been a RaQhead for almost a year now. Being that I lease my 
boxes and have used 3 different NOCs now, I've had 3 4i's and one 4r. 
I'm currently running two of those 4i's.
I've never (knock on wood) had a box crash on me. I did, however, 
have a machine refuse to get on the network after I goofed around and 
changed the default gateway settings (which wasn't *entirely* my 
fault). I've also locked myself out of a box a few times when 
learning exactly how PortSentry works.  ;)

No one - and I do mean NO ONE - on this list can tell you whether or 
not you've made the right choice by purchasing and migrating to a 
RaQ. I would question moving to a 3 rather than a 4, being that older 
models (1) take more work and (2) will be moved to the 'unsupported' 
list sooner. The RaQ4's also have larger processors, PHP already 
installed, and the r's have RAID level 1 with a backup drive.*shrugs*

Many people on the list (myself included) view the RaQ as a 'step-up' 
or 'learning' machine. Meaning you use it as a crutch until you know 
enough to run a "real" (Non-GUI) Linux box, and then you either make 
the jump or ease yourself over. Take a poll of how many people on the 
list have a "test box" running Linux at home that they play with and 
learn on - and then how many of those people set up this Linux box 
only after getting their RaQ and playing with it for a while until 
they got comfortable. It's probably pretty high.

For you, being used to running a FreeBSD server, I would consider 
moving to the RaQ as "stepping down", or perhaps getting something 
that would (hopefully) reduce your time involved in hosting your 
sites and running your business.

Not being a Linux guru, I'd say that the main things to remember 
about a RaQ are:
1. The files are all in different places. As Charlie put it, he's 
never had to use the "locate" command so much in his life.
2. The GUI overwites the files, so any changes you make will most 
likely be wiped out sometime in the future. Get around this by using 
include files, or never touching the GUI for that particular site or 
setting again.
3. Installing things from source to upgrade the box is very likely to 
either break the GUI or cause future packages/updates to not work 
correctly, being that they rely on your system files being a specific 
version. As an example, I was considering upgrading to BIND v9. Jens 
runs v9 on his boxes and quickly let me know that v9 completely 
breaks the GUI. He doesn't need the GUI, but my customers do - so I 
can't do anything to wreck the GUI and hence I can't upgrade BIND on 
my own. I have to wait for Cobalt to bring out an upgrade.

Will I ever leave the Cobalt line? YES.
Will it be soon? No. While I'm comfortable running, tweaking, and 
securing as best I can a 'vanilla' linux box, I still haven't tackled 
the issues of adding users and sites. It's probably a LOT easier than 
the Shell Tools that come with the RaQs, but I just haven't had time 
to get into it yet. Then there's always the customer issue - my 
business is built around customer service and letting the customer 
have as much control over their own space as possible without having 
to ask for my intervention (years of being a webmaster and waiting 
for a host to add a simple email address or even an alias for me is 
something I've never forgotten. People are happy to pay their money 
on time, as long as you don't do something to waste their time - like 
making them wait for *you* to do something.). So I need a GUI, and 
I'm honestly not real happy with WebMin from an end-user's 
(customer's) viewpoint, and I don't like Plesk from an admin's 
viewpoint. So I'm stuck here for the moment until my Linux knowledge 
catches up with my PHP and Perl knowledge, then I'll finish making my 
own. ;)

Don't think that you've made a mistake. You are going to learn a 
different way of doing things, and that's never a bad experience. The 
RaQs are stable little machines if you simply respect the 
limitations... they're not meant to handle 20,000 users, for example, 
as one list member recently posted problems about. 
You could build a machine that will handle a lot more sites with much 
heavier loads for far less money... but then again, there might be 
advantages to the RaQ that you'll find will cut some of your admin 
tasks in half, which will probably be quite a boon.
Pack her with as much RAM as you can afford, touch her system files 
carefully and with respect (always make backups!), and that little 
blue baby should do you just fine.

--
CarrieB
"Wherever is found what is called a paternal government, there is 
found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to 
insure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery." 
--Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister 1868 and 1874-1880