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Win7+2008 group policys/Win7 client support/Remote admin tool for windows/Asp.net and AD complience/Virtual hypervision - Quick start/help wanted

Asked by Stoffe

Hello!
Im new to ubuntu as a server OS and have been using windows Server for quite some time now, want to migrate my servers to ubuntu gradually and want some quick start help to get me started in trying this project.
Im going to ask multiple questions in this Q and I hope somebody would be gracefull enought to try to answer all of them, I would greatly appreciate some good help in these matters. Thanks in advance!

First off, I want to be able to have 2 virtual servers on one machine, can this be done with just the Ubuntu server OS or do I need vmware to be able to do this?
(In Win 2008 R2 you can for example make one server automaticly startup on another location if this server goes down on another location, thus making the servers appear to never stop, can this be done in Ubuntu without 3rd party addons?)

Second, I have multiple Windows 7 clients and I was woundering if Ubuntu server can handle and support these clients, in 2008 you have the ability to control almost everything in win7 using group policys, can you control as much with ubuntu as a server or is there a future update comming soon that makes this feature availible?

Since im using win7 on my clients and wont be able to upgrade this for some time, and Ubuntu is not using any x-win for configuration, is there a good GUI admin tool, for helping someone new to this that will work on win7? (For administrating my ubuntu servers)? or how would you recommend me to do for best practise and best get a good overview of my ubuntu servers?

is there any posibility for using asp.net(vb.net) on ubuntu servers? (free of charge)

And finally, if I need to make a network installation of either win7 or ubuntu OS on other client computers, using network installation. Would this be possible using ubuntu or do I need third party programs?
(Today ive been using symantect solutions for CCM but this only works on windows server, so I need another linux program to do the same thing and replace this solution)

And of course, im interresting in help finding the best GUI´s for administration of all of these areas and the best GUI´s for getting a good overview over what happens with my ubuntu servers, both servers, virtual setup and of course also network installations.

Im sorry for makeing these newbie questions, but as you see these questions is not easy to find information about in a good way. I would greatly appreciate some help in getting a hind in what way to go and where to find out some more information about how to get these applications to work.

Thanks in advance!
Merry christmas and a happy new year to you all!

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Stoffe
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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

You should split this into multiple questions for clarity. I will address the virtual server question. You can easily use virtualbox or vmware on an Ubuntu system to host 2 virtualised syatems. Virtualbox has the option to make the virtualised systems appea on the LAN so will be accessible from remoe systems. This is called bridging the network interface and is easy to configure.

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Stoffe (test-arfvidson) said : 		#2

Yes, I know, it is multiple questions however, I hoped someone could answer some of them quite quickly, they should not be impossible to answer using simple terms, however.
Using vmware is a safe card and I know it will work, however, im looking into the possibility to take away vmware.
so my question is simply how long ubuntu has come with the virtualisation project to be able to boot multiple ubuntu servers on one machine.
If they have support for this or if I still need vmware for this option to work.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

Virtualbox will allow as many virtual machines as your system will hold. You can run as many as you like. Virtualbox is also open ulike vmware wich is proprietary :D

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Appiah (appiah) said : 		#4

1)
Virtualbox
Xen
qemu
KVM
Vmware

all those can run on Ubuntu for your virtual needs.
Read each documentation for fail-over / high-availability features.

2) To use group policies you would need a Windows AD. to control multiple Ubuntu servers I do not know of any good tool, currently exploring alternatives but no one seams to fit me 100%. There is however Landscape that Ubuntu provides but that tool is not free.

3) Not quite sure I get the question but it's similar to the above answer?!

4) http://www.mono-project.com/ASP.NET

5) "And finally, if I need to make a network installation of either win7 or ubuntu OS on other client computers, using network installation" How about kickstart ? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KickstartCompatibility

And please to put so many different questions in one question.

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Stoffe (test-arfvidson) said : 		#5

Yes, sorry, I will start a new thread with each area in witch I think I need more info about.

Im very sad to hear that Linux has not put any effort in having a good gui for supervision and configuration of their servers.
It is imperial that you have good supervision of every aspect of a server, and you cannot get this unless you have a good GUI.

This is for both getting the current status of the servers (especially if you run multiple server parks) and for configurating it in a good way, then if you want to get into it deeper, you can always use the command prompt.

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Appiah (appiah) said : 		#6

There are several webinterfaces and tools for this.
Some are great but would cost you. (like landscape and red hat enterprise stuff)

I just can't recommend one thats free beacuse they all suck.
My hopes are on zivios right now.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#7

You can ssh to the server you need and run gu iapps there using x forwarding, you can also run the config tools locally to configure stuff as well as run scripts and edit config files without needing to stream the entire desktop hich will mean configuration and maintenance will impact minimally on the network.

You can also script commands to run on multiple servers using bas which windows does not have (unless you implement powershell which is 3rd party to the OS itself).

In short both OSes have advantages and disadvantages. If GUIs are all you judge an OS by then windows is for you. If you want something designed for maximum availability and performance then Linux is an ideal.

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Stoffe (test-arfvidson) said : 		#8

Nono, dont misunderstand me,
I don´t judge an Os based on the GUI, however it is imperitive to be able to have a good overlook of the system, nomather what is behind the shell.

And the human eye and brain is not at its best to translate text in to structured data to be able to make a good judgement, hence the apperance of graphs etc.

Thats why GUIs is a need for a huge park.
To not miss a thing.
Then what is behind is a different thing.
and no, I don´t think Linux is bad because of the lack of a good GUI, thats like comparing apples and pares.
but, they could (I think) appeal to a greater mass, if they would just put a little bit of effort into makeing a separate (not needed for the installation, but optional) package, containing this tool.

But, hey, what do I know, I just started this exploration, maybe there are tools out there that do just this.

However, I will end this topic now, since there are not any good answers today.
I will look on and see if Linux is the OS that could deliver the power of windows servers, at the moment it dosnt look like it can but we will see. (And no, im not talking about GUI at the moment)

Thanks your your answers and happy new year!