Openfiler upsets me

Those of you who have followed this blog over time will know I am not averse to being critical. Today it is the turn of the OpenFiler team.
We have recently launched a new site called Linuxcomputinguk.co.uk where we are specifically trying to promote Linux products so I thought I really should try and find a Linux NAS server rather than the FreeNAS base we have used before. I came across OpenFiler.
So today I got an install going.
Using 2.99.1, after doing all the network setup, password etc the system spends 3 minutes (well 2.42 actually) to do the install and then goes away for 10-15 minutes seemingly doing nothing before eventually saying it is ready for a reboot.
After the reboot I get the web GUI and type in root and my password and get presented with a user account quota page.
I tried the UK support desk. They were all out at lunch, oh and by the way they do not take phone calls unless you have paid for a support contract. I spoke with sales who said they would put me in touch with the Partner support team. 6 hours later I am still waiting for a response.
Thinking I had a bum install I reinstalled. No change. I have now tried 4 installs of 2.99.1 and 2 installs of 2.3. And where am I now, nowhere forward from lunchtime. I even put in a call to the States but still have had no response (except to ask for my contact details which had been at the foot of every email I have sent them).
In the end I had a look at the install guide on their webpage. I do not expect that after more Linux installs than I care to remember that I should need to look at the install guide. What is it they say, manuals are for those who just can't hack it themselves. Something like that anyway. But right at the bottom of the guide is the gem. Log on as user openfiler, password password. Boy, why can't that be displayed on one of the install screens?
So I got in to the web gui to set up the system. Can I set up a volume? Can I, hell as like! No volume, no share, no usable system.
For me it is back to FreeNAS.

Web server based on OpenPanel

We have been experimenting with control panels for web hosting servers.
Commercially we have been running Plesk on our production servers but we needed to make ourselves a server for test purposes.
After a lot of searching we have come across the Openpanel project. We were looking for an open source freeware control panel able to run on Linux (LAMP) servers. From the screen shots this seemed to offer one of the cleanest interfaces around.
We built the server on an old Intel machine. We installed Ubuntu Server 8.04 LTS using this simply to build the LAMP server.
We then downloaded and ran the Openpanel install process which ran a smoothly as any we have known. We then configured a domain using Openpanel and were able to FTP a website and view it without problem. The whole process from start to finish = 3 hours tops.
Our gratitude to the Openpanel project team.
We will offer our help to the project should it be needed.

Microsoft networking seems to get worse

Is it just me or has Microsoft networking got worse over recent weeks.
On my home machine which never gets switched off, I used to be able to use networking functions at any time. In the last couple of months, Outlook refuses to collect mail unless I a) log of and log back on or b) hit the repair function on the network connection.
In the last couple of weeks at home and at work I have had timeouts on displaying web pages which then correctly display when I hit the refresh button.
To explain why I am writing this blog today I will offer an example. At work I have two computers on my desk, one running Vista Business, one running Ubuntu Hardy.
I was trying to access some pages on the Dell website (I won't bore you with why I would do such a foolhardy thing). My Vista machine was up and running. Go to IE (7) and type in www.dell.com. Wait for the first page to display, link to the next page and ...... Nothing. Windows connection display flashing back and forth.
After waiting for a while I decide to take action.
I boot up my Linux machine. I log on. I load Firefox. I type www.dell.com in the address bar. I get the first page displayed. I link to the next page and lo.... It displays BEFORE the Vista machine does. Albeit by only a few seconds but look at what it has done to get there.
Let's just consider the following.
Two machines of similar hardware spec. Both log on the the same domain server. Both use that domain server as the primary DNS server. Both access the internet through the same broadband link. Both accessed the same website pages. What is different. The operating system.
I have not in the past been one of those who knocks Microsoft, my posts on the Ubuntu forum bears witness to that, but why, oh why, with all the resources Microsoft can throw at a problem does the system perform slower and slower. None of the upgrades seem to improve performance. It seems that where we once thought we were wading in the thin sugary syrup, we now seem to be struggling through thick black treacle.
Come on Microsoft get it fixed.

Microsoft Office alternatives

Many businesses out there in the wider world are committed to using Microsoft Office as the primary office suite software. True Word and Excel are good products. Outlook is popular and Powerpoint almost ubiquitous.
It doesn't have to be. Many users do not like the new ribbon interface on Office 2007. Uptake to Office 2007 has been slow and offers very few advantages over Office 2003. We still have a number of clients on Office XP and Office 2000 and who have no intention of upgrading just for the sake of it.
Add to this the new file formats in Office 2007 and the cost of the new products and you can see why users prefer to stay with what they are used to.
But for the more adventurous there is an alternative. It does most of what Office does. It comes with Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Database, Slide Presenter. Best of all it comes for free.
The product is Open Office. It can be downloaded from http://www.openoffice.org .
See our website open source page for details of this and other open source software.