Server GUI Configuration Tools

[Arwyn Hainsworth]

On 23/10/06, Ivan Krstić <krstic at solarsail.hcs.harvard.edu> wrote:
>
> Carlos Ribeiro wrote:
> > before implementing a GUI tool, we should talk about whether
> > to have X installed on a server or not.
>
> This isn't much of a discussion topic; we absolutely won't enable X by
> default in Ubuntu Server.
>
> That said, Adam and I tossed around the idea of a "small business
> server"-type edition that would install X, and a semi-decent GUI for
> configuring the server and daemons. The problem is, no such GUI exists;
> what's out there now is just egregious.
>
> Getting server GUI configuration right is a hard problem. I'd be happy
> to see a group of people come together to spec this out in detail, and
> then get something implemented. The server team can review specs and
> answer any questions, and for those looking to get involved in
> development, this would be a great project that would -- if done right
> -- almost certainly get adopted in other distributions. There's a need
> for this tool.


A simple, easy server configuration GUI is a must for most small businesses,
since they generally don't have the resources to get decent IT staff that
can admin a linux box. That said, a local X-based GUI would not be a good
idea, some of the reasons have already been mentioned I believe, so I won't
repeat them.

What I would like to see is a _remote_ Gtk-based GUI that connects securely
to a daemon that runs on the server. No X overhead, no Apache overhead, just
a small daemon. If done properly, this could help make inroads into the
cheap, easy, small business server market, which is still MSs domain.

I'm up for assisting with a spec. Does someone want to write it, so I can
'assist'. :)

Arwyn
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