why not OS X?

[Rich Dolinsky]

Using software update, you have the option to save the installer it just
finished downloading.  When that is done just leave it on the server and
push that onto the machines... only one machine needed to be open for the
download.

on 6/4/02 5:42 PM, Konstantin Riabitsev at icon@phy.duke.edu wrote:

> On Tue, 2002-06-04 at 17:22, Thomas Kernes wrote:
>> Apple Remote Desktop allows network-wide software upgrades...albeit for a
>> price.
> 
> Right, so does Red Hat. However, with Red Hat you are not limited to "do
> it with us, or don't do it at all". We are happily automatically
> patching Red Hat based systems for all of Duke University, pretty much,
> all at no cost except for the bandwidth which Duke provides us free
> anyway.
> 
> Moreover, "Remote Desktop" is not entirely what I am talking about. Say,
> you have a network of workstations on a private IP subnet and you want
> to update software on all of them. With remote desktop, you will still
> need to somehow allow them to connect to Apple and download updates.
> PUNCH. That's a nice hole in your firewall. Or, let's imagine that you
> have 200 machines, and one wussy ISDN line out. Consider how long it
> would take for a 50-Mb update to download 200 times? Wouldn't you rather
> have an internal server where you could put a package for the clients to
> download and install it over your 100Base-T?
> 
>> I updated PHP and SSH without waiting for Apple to distribute a patch.
>> Isn't that what you do every time you want to upgrade your Linux system?
> 
> Nope, I wait for a package from Red Hat, and then put it on my internal
> update server. Overnight all my 250 boxes contact it and install the
> update. Consider:
> 
> you: download, compile, [curse, hack, compile], package, ssh to your
> clients, install
> me: download, rpm --resign, upload.
> 
> Now let's calculate admin time spent on updating 250 OS X boxes, and
> admin time spent on updating 250 Linux boxes... Hmm... Better keep that
> secret from your employers...
> 
>> I use my OS X systems everyday in production environments and wish (as a
>> system admin) that everyone else would consider it.
> 
> I don't argue that it can be done. I'm just saying that compared to
> existing linux solutions you/your employers are paying through the nose.