My wishes list (or Letter to Santa)

[GG_jr (Gabriel GHEORGHIU)]

Hi everybody,

As many others, I heard about NethServer on Zentyal Forum.
I joined this Forum about 6 months ago and I tried to be a good member of this Community.
On the Home page of the NethServer website I found this: “NethServer is an operating system for Linux enthusiasts, designed for small offices and medium enterprises”. OK! Why not! This is just what I’m looking for!
Since then I test NethServer to use it in production, someday.
Why someday and not now?
I think NethServer not yet found his IDENTITY.
There are many points of view into this Forum regarding how to use NethServer.
Everybody, including me, wants something they wants to use with/on NethServer, but:
What is and what will be NethServer? All in One, UTM, PDC, Media Server, Application Server, Any in One, … and so on?
Who uses and who will use NethServer? Home users or professionals (for business)? Both?

I think @zamboni give the proper answer for all above questions:

@zamboni

everybody here is free to install and configure and share their code… I see only people asking for features

I never said I use NS as a firewall and domain controller

moreover, I think we should focus on the business side of development, meaning that the “homeserver” features are, IMVVVHO, not important or relevant

@zamboni

at home you can try whatever you want

at work, with HW nowadays available and things like esxi (there’s a customized version running with no problems on latesh HP microserver) or proxmox, you can have many VM running different services…

even if NS can run as a homeserver, I’d like to see it in a enterprise perspective… otherwise there are dozens of available distro out there

I’m totaly agree with him, especially for “… we should focus on the business side of development, meaning that the “homeserver” features are, IMVVVHO, not important or relevant” and “… even if NS can run as a homeserver, I’d like to see it in a enterprise perspective… otherwise there are dozens of available distro out there”!
And he is not the only one who thinks like that!

@alefattorini had asked “Could NethServer be one of the BEST distribution for servers in 2016?” My answer was “Maybe yes” and I am further convinced of this.

NethServer is too young to find the proper path or is too old to change the path?
I think NethServer has the proper age to “… be one of the BEST distribution for servers in 2016”.

What can we do for this? What can I do for this?
I’m not programmer. But for nearly 14 years I’m working close to programmers and I know it is not easy for them to do what we ask them. But is not impossible. It is a big effort and it worth when we ask them to do suitable features.

I am one of the “people who asking for features”. I am an user who want to make all settings from UI. I am a user who want Delivery Status Notification (DSN), Mailgraph, AWstats, GeoIP, Reverse Proxy, improvements for the existing modules.

Added: minimal desktop with web browser integrated, as standard.

Because the Christmas is coming, I think I will write a letter to Santa with my wishes:

Dear Santa,

I wish that NethServer to be one of the best distribution for BUSINESS servers in 2016!

For this, I wish some features like:
1. Delivery Status Notification (DSN)
2. Mailgraph, AWstats
3. GeoIP
4. Reverse Proxy
5. Improvements for …

Just my opinion.
Kind regards,
Gabriel

PS
Who wants to write to Santa?

[cronopio (luisr)]

wish: Samba 4

[Jim]

Wish(es):

• A well organized left menu
• A bunch of good tutorials about the e-smith layer

@GG_jr

I think NethServer not yet found his IDENTITY.

Totally agree with this.

@GG_jr

moreover, I think we should focus on the business side of development, meaning that the “homeserver” features are, IMVVVHO, not important or relevant

Don’t agree…
Because who can determine if the “homeuser”, is not a Freelance, who need such or such feature?
With how many users you can tell - This is a small entreprise or this is for a home use…?

I think that the Nethserver Team, the Community, should beg on the modularity, and let “the User”, find the best way Nethserver will serve them for SME, for SOHO, for Freelancer, even for Homeuser.

Independent of the use ( SME, SOHO, Freelance…), Nethserver must serve, and serve well

[zamboni (Stefano)]

@Jim

A bunch of good tutorials about the e-smith layer

you already have it, linked here more than once, on an external site… please read them; when you’re done, just ask NS team to give you access to the documentation and improve it yourself… this is a community

@Jim

Don’t agree… Because who can determine if the “homeuser”, is not a Freelance, who need such or such feature?With how many users you can tell - This is a small entreprise or this is for a home use…?

the business/enterprise perspective is not only related to sw but mainly to the approach used to build things…
in this perspective, you’ll never see an “an official” package relying on the last blade edge version of whatsoever… this is strongly discouraged…
moreover, we’d focus on some features (meaning improve them or just introduce them) that are needed in an enterprise: AD DC, enhanced and improved mail features and so on.

indeed, a plex server could be usefull in your daily job in your business, but its priority is quite lower than having AD DC features onboard.

[GG_jr (Gabriel GHEORGHIU)]

Many of “wishes” on this forum are related to OS (applications), not to NS (tools for administration).
As I already said, you don’t need NS for that applications and all effort can be redirect.

[Jim]

@zamboni

you already have it, linked here more than once, on an external site… please read them; when you’re done, just ask NS team to give you access to the documentation and improve it yourself… this is a community

Yes, I already know… You talk about the doc wich has :

Note:
The section describes the general structure of the configuration 
database. The actual entries and properties are subject to change 
between releases.

And:

Outdated:
The information on this page maybe no longer relevant.

Here the link:
http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Documentation:Developers_Manual

My wish is “A bunch of good tutorials about the e-smith layer”, by good, it mean, actualized, not boring, accessible

[zamboni (Stefano)]

eh, your wish…
you just want someone else to read them, to actualize them, to write down them in a fancy and attractive way…

I guess that studying history in a 10 years ago book doesn’t make sense for you, you need an history book written now, updated to yesterday to know what’s happened in the last 100 years…
interesting mental approach…

you don’t want to learn, you just want some one else do your work.

[Jim]

Only to know what is relevant, and what isn’t…

Another wish:

To see @zamboni in a good mood one day

[zamboni (Stefano)]

@Jim

Only to know what is relevant, and what isn’t…

why don’t you just try?
try, play, test, break, enjoy…

you’re just waiting for someone else to play and to say to you “it’s funny”…

as Steph said, if you have such an approach, there’s no documentation that can attract you…

BTW, I’m not in a bad mood (despite of my avatar), just trying to make you move your a… ahem, brain and start digging it…
don’t be shy… try it, and if you find something strange or that doesn’t work as expected, just write here ask…
ATM you’ve just said “it’s a mess, it’s useless, it’s difficult”, but you never worte anything like “ok guy, Tried to create a custom service, an tried do store some variables… well, i did it so and so but it doesn’t work… what’s wrong with it?”

[giacomo (Giacomo Sanchietti)]

@zamboni @jim, please stop. At least move to the other thread.

Thank you

[alefattorini (Alessio Fattorini)]

@giacomo

At least move to the other thread.

In private is better. Your points of view are clear to everyone please don’t repeat the same things across multiple threads and try to stay on topic
Thank you

[filippo_carletti]

@GG_jr

1. Delivery Status Notification (DSN)

Oops, I promised an update on this matter, but it got lost in my head.
I read postfix docs and RFC3464, but I’m still unsure about this feature.
Would you like to open a new thread to discuss details? Thanks.

[filippo_carletti]

@GG_jr

Mailgraph, AWstats

Do you mean “have mailgraph installed by default” instead of using the howto to install it?

@GG_jr

GeoIP

The only feature missing to close this issue is the web interface. Out of my reach.

@GG_jr

Reverse Proxy

Do you mean a web interface to configure Reverse proxies, right? I usually drop a fragment to httpd/conf.d.

[GG_jr (Gabriel GHEORGHIU)]

@filippo_carletti

Oops, I promised an update on this matter, but it got lost in my head.
…
Would you like to open a new thread to discuss details? Thanks.

No problem!
Already opened by @alefattorini here: Enable DSN on Postfix

[GG_jr (Gabriel GHEORGHIU)]

@filippo_carletti

Do you mean “have mailgraph installed by default” instead of using the howto to install it?

Yes, installed by default. I find a lot of “how to” here: CentOS 6 - MAIL Server - Log Reports - AWstats : Server World
I used “how to” from here and it works, but I think this “must be”
Don’t you think that AWStats offer more informations?

@filippo_carletti

Do you mean a web interface to configure Reverse proxies, right?

Again, YES!
It’s useful when you have only one Public IP on RED and you have at least 2 servers on ORANGE that use in the same time http or https (E-mail Server with Webmail and Web Hosting, …). It’s nice to do this from UI (for me, will be great!)

[giacomo (Giacomo Sanchietti)]

@GG_jr

I used “how to” from here and it works, but I think this “must be” Don’t you think that AWStats offer more informations?

I just analyzed it a bit.
The installation process is really simple, but the configuration is quite hard: you need N configurations files, one for each site.
I think creating a web interface for AWstats is really really hard.

[GG_jr (Gabriel GHEORGHIU)]

@giacomo

I think creating a web interface for AWstats is really really hard.

Thank you!