[NTLUG:Discuss] RHEL vs debian

[Steve Litt]

On Wed, 12 Sep 2018 09:41:59 -0500
Christopher Cox <cjcox at acm.org> wrote:

> On 09/11/2018 11:28 PM, Ralph wrote:
> > Howdy,
> >   I have a lot more experience with Debian based servers than with
> > RHEL.  I have always liked the way it supports upgrades for long
> > term use.  But, no matter my preference, I see more companies using
> > RHEL derived servers(CentOS, RHEL,, Oracle, et al).  I am applying
> > at one such company and I'd like some advice.  What are a few
> > things I need o study about RHEL based systems to be prepared?  I
> > use Fedora enough to handle the package manager, so what else
> > should I study?  I assume I'll use RHEL 7.
> > Thanks,
> > Ralph  
> 
> It's not just systemd (systemctl, journalctl)... it's all the "*ctl"
> commands that now are a part of RHEL/CentOS.
> 
> How do you change the hostname?  hostnamectl
> How do you change the timezone or other time related things?
> timedatectl How do you change locale and keyboard? localectl

[snip list of artifacts of systemd]

> 
> You'll also learn to cry as systemd dies (and it does) and leaves
> your system in an almost worthless dynamic state until it is fully
> rebooted (thank you Lennart).  This means your older RHEL/CentOS 6
> platforms, while older, are much more reliable (sad, but true).
> Interest level by Lennart and Red Hat in fixing this: -1,000,000 (but
> the "minor" problem is discussed from time to time)

[snip sysconfig, selinux]

 
> Network management has gotten worse with 7, you can use the evil
> NeworkManager or the more sane /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
> approach.  Choose wisely.  IMHO, the authors of NetworkManager along
> with systemd/PulseAudio need to go to work for Microsoft (or anywhere
> as far away from Linux as possible).
> 
> Best way to learn RHEL/CentOS 7, by using it live in real world use...

s/live/endure/

Your email really makes me appreciate my current distro, Void Linux. No
systemd, instead it inits and supervises daemons with runit.

Networkmanager? /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts? Here's my upnet.sh
shellscript to set all my Daily Driver Desktop's network settings:

===========================================================
#!/bin/bash
ip link set dev enp3s0 down
ip addr add 192.168.100.2/24 dev enp3s0
ip addr add 192.168.100.102/24 dev enp3s0
ip link set dev enp3s0 up
ip route add default via 192.168.100.96
===========================================================

Bang! I just cut through five levels of confusing abstraction. AFAIK
this works on any distro. By the way, the 192.168.100.102 is an alias
used by my caching DNS server, so everyone on my LAN can use it.

But what about my laptops? I use Void Linux on those too. Instead of
all sorts of NetworkManager/wicd magical mystery tours, I just run
wpa_supplicant as a daemon. Then, I just use wpa_gui to change, add and
configure access points.

I chattr set the +i on /etc/resolv.conf because *I* want to be the one
to pick it. On my laptops it typically points to an Unbound caching DNS
service on the laptop, or perhaps to a public DNS like 8.8.8.8.

I've programmed for a living. So I understand the value of abstraction.
Nobody wants to be working with Assembler anymore. That being said, it
seems to me that in order to cover every last corner case for every
knownothing user,  we're burying actual functionality in layer after
layer after layer of abstraction. And the different disros use
different abstractions.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
September 2018 featured book: Quit Joblessness: Start Your Own Business
http://www.troubleshooters.com/startbiz