First and foremost the server should do what it is supposed to do. Say if you installed Samba Active Directory, and Active Directory should be there and acting like it should do.
Second, backup/restore and backup/restore and backup/restore. Backup/Restore should work and if not working, do virtual and backup the virtual.
Third, almost tied to backup, is documentation. Documentation is everything. If everything is not in documentation (or someone misinterpret what it said) they might mess the server up, and they might have to go to backup. If restore is not working, I hope they are doing virtual and backing up the virtual.
This list is the top three things I believe a server to do.
Most, or all, in the NethServer Community believe in the first one, it should work. I know making the server works is by far the first thing, but not only thing. I also believe in the backup/restore and documentation, but I think a minor few don’t care about these steps.
But this a standard that a few don’t care about backup/restore and documentation. I see all the time in minor programs and major programs such as NethServer. But one of the reasons why Red Hat and Ubuntu are so big and making money (now Canonical/Ubuntu partnering for Microsoft) is because they are not only excellent what the do but the backup/restore and especially the documentation.
Hope this helps you to understand why I posted this.
I agree with your point. And good to see you added restore to the routine: a backup is useless if you can’t restore it. (you can debate if you should be able to restore the whole backup or also just extract a single file from the backup)
Saying that, we must have absolute foolproof documentation on all modules and services supported by NS. Which also implies that the backup and restore routine must be completely clear. I even think that we need to provide several backup and restore scenarios and options to use as backup. For instance, the importance of having an offsite backup. This is basic sysadmin work, but I do believe most of our members are not (professional)sysadmins. We have a duty to educate all our users. (or at least give the resources so they can be educated)