Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India
The Institute of Mathematical Sciences has been using Debian for a
relatively long time (perhaps since 1998 or so). We first started with the
use of Debian for the proxy
(squid) server and for our mirror of the
e-print archive (custom built apache
). We then went on to the name servers
(bind
), mail servers (exim
), firewall (iptables
) and remote access
machine (ssh
). During the last two years or so even most desktop machines
(about 100) run Debian or a clone
.
The main reasons for this transition (we were essential a completely Solaris + Xterm based operation until 1996) are:
- Debian's attention to detail that makes life easier for the system administrator.
- The possibility to provide bug reports and participate in the process of seeing these fixed.
- Some pro-active local users :-)
We had few problems installing Debian on servers. The main difficulties have been with desktop installations:
- The difficulty of supporting newer hardware hit hard when we installed on desktops.
- The entrenched support for Solaris and other legacy systems has been a recurrent problem :-(
- There is a perception in many places that Debian is not for the desktop users.