Product Reviews

Centeris Likewise arrived on the scene a few months ago, offering a simple way to integrate and manage Linux server systems on Windows Active Directory networks. Its Windows-centric approach provides a familiar way for network support staff experienced in the Microsoft GUI to manage these systems.

The initial release offered support for Linux-based file and print services and the Apache web server, and could manage Windows servers as well, giving access to all the Active Directory server systems from either of its two Windows-based management interfaces. The new version supports a greater range of Linux distributions than before, and includes 64-bit support. The browser-based console management application provides the same two-pane tabbed display from the previous version, but with more options, and the MMC snap-in is also retained.

The console application will encounter problems if it's installed on a Windows Server 2003 machine due to the enhanced security settings the system imposes on Internet Explorer. You can alter these settings to allow the Centeris console to run, but it's questionable whether you should run this from a server in the first place.

Once installation is complete,

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you can start to propagate the Linux software out to the servers as needed. For this, the agent installation process has been improved. The system no longer needs the original Linux installation discs to install an agent, and can download the relevant Linux packages from Centeris' own servers.

Likewise has a new management module, giving access to BIND DNS systems running on Linux servers, providing similar management facilities to those offered by Windows. The system administration module has been upgraded, offering several new features. A system status page provides a graphical system utilisation display and an event log browser for Linux systems, complementing the Windows facilities. The file-sharing and printer-management options have been improved, and the system's ability to manage both Linux and Windows servers from the same console is particularly useful in this area. User management also benefits from this unified approach.

The web-server administration module offers configuration and control options for virtual servers running under Apache. This is one area where the ability to support multiple Linux distributions is particularly useful, since Apache configuration files can vary greatly across distributions. A Secure Shell (SSH) facility is now available too. A Windows administrator wouldn't normally expect to make use of this facility, but there are times when only the command line will do, and its inclusion is therefore welcome.

Likewise does a good job of concealing the differences between Windows and Linux behind a common management interface. The additional modules, which extend its usefulness into areas such as BIND configuration, web server control and SSH, could interest Linux administrators as well. Overall, this is a compelling upgrade.