Amanda,
Notice you say that the XServes are running Linux, not OSX. They must have had one of those requirements like "server must be 1U size and run Linux", and their contract department must have gotten the lowest bid for the XServes. I would truly be surprised to hear of any Navy command that uses Mac OSX directly, especially on a server.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the occasional Sun or HP box are apparently acceptable for "scientific systems", usually because they're running some old code that no one's going to bother to port over to Windows. But for day-to-day tasks, you'll be sitting in front of an all-black Dell Optiplex box (like the one I sadly type on now). When the NMCI deployment team came through my department a few weeks back, one of the techs mentioned something on the order of 400,000 machines. All Dells with state-of-the-art Windows 2000 SP4! Then he said that NMCI has a three-year refresh of all the systems in the contract. Unless they can remotely install XP on this 2000 box, it'll be 2009 before I'm using XP. Maybe Vista will be out by then...
Dell ranting aside, I am of the understanding that I have the only two Mac OS computers on the network for my entire command. The folks in IT chain of command have the position of "If you can accomplish all of your tasks using Windows, you're using Windows." Of course, accomplishing tasks and level of productivity are two different things, but that argument will fall on deaf ears. I'm allowed to keep them networked as long as I keep them STIG'ed and maintain IAVA compliance, but my command does not support Macs primarily because everyone else that had a networked Mac caved in many years ago and turned to using a Windows box, not to mention it would cost the command more money to maintain IT support personnel trained on Mac OS.
They've been trying for quite some time to completely abolish the Macs. Soon, our existing scientific network will be going away, and it looks like my Macs are going with it. They'll become standalone systems, effectively eliminating the fast, easy and reliable web access that I've enjoyed for the past six years.
Lonny Orth
Electronics Engineer
Naval Oceanographic Office
Stennis Space Center, MS
On Apr 13, 2006, at 3:16 PM, Zinnato, Ronald NAVAIR wrote:
If it doesn't say "Dell" on it,
and it doesn't run Windows, it doesn't exist to the Navy.
Is this just for desktops? My understanding was that the Navy uses a bunch of ruggedized XServes running Linux for shipboard number crunching...
Amanda Walker
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