Here’s the final installment of Bill Nottingham’s series based on the talk he gave at this year’s Red Hat Summit. Find out about the latest and greatest Fedora™ developments… and the future of Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® from this experienced engineer. Missed the first part? Catch up in the archives.
Another area that’s shown a lot of improvement since Enterprise Linux 5 is networking, especially for desktop and laptop computers. In Fedora 9, we’ve greatly enhanced NetworkManager, and as a result, have switched to NetworkManager by default for all installs. Some of the features we’ve added to NetworkManager include:
This is the first in a two-part series from Summit presenter and Red Hat/Fedora engineer Bill Nottingham. It is based on the talk he gave at this year’s Red Hat Summit. Part two will be published later this week.
One of the most-asked questions in the software world is:
“What’s coming in the next release?”
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® is no different. You can wait for the beta, and pore over the release notes and the package changelogs. You can corner a product manager at the right moment. But the easiest and best way to get the scoop on what’s coming up in future Red Hat Enterprise Linux releases? Take a look at Fedora.
Fedora, for those that don’t know, is a freely available and distributable Linux-based operating system that showcases the latest in free and open-source software. It’s developed globally within the Fedora project community, and is where Red Hat innovates. Read on as we describe some of the innovations in Fedora that will be headed for future Enterprise Linux releases. » Read more
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has emerged as a popular technology for modern voice communications. Many organizations have replaced their analog or proprietary digital telephone systems with VoIP-based solutions. This allows the consolidation of telephone services into an existing IP infrastructure. In addition, using IP to host voice services lets the organization leverage existing expertise–while retaining all of the network’s management advantages. Though not without its disadvantages, VoIP provides a compelling option to those looking for a telephone solution.
This article will present a simple VoIP solution using Asterisk, an open source private branch exchange (PBX) product. It will show you how to install Asterisk, configure it using its LDAP backend, and connect to it using the Ekiga software VoIP client and a Cisco 7900 Series VoIP telephone to make calls. » Read more
Paul Frields (Fedora Project Leader) sits down to discuss the Live USB feature debuted in Fedora 9 with developer Jeremy Katz. See a live demo of the persistant desktop, and find out how to get more involved in the next Fedora release.
For years I have envied how easy my Windows- and Mac-based peers had it when traveling with their laptops. They connect to hotspots with ease, get online while I was still logging into root and running some tools. It just wasn’t fair. I wanted an integrated easy-to-use tool that did not require bringing up a shell or logging into root.
I now have that tool in NetworkManager. In this article I will explain what NetworkManager is, what capabilities exist in the tool (in both Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux), and what you can do to extend it to give you more control over your system than before.
NetworkManager is a software utility that allows a desktop user to manage wired, wireless, modem, WWAN/3G, and VPN network connectivity from a single source. It does not require root access or manual editing of configuration files.
NetworkManager started as a Gnome project and initially appeared in Fedora. It is now supported on multiple desktop environments (Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc.) and in multiple distributions (Fedora, SuSE, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Debian, etc.). NetworkManager uses dbus and hal to provide network status updates to other desktop applications, allowing them to alter their operation based on this information. For instance, if NetworkManager shows the network is offline, then apps like Evolution and Pidgin will put themselves into offline mode andwait for the network to come online. » Read more
I had the privilege of giving not one but two talks at the Red Hat Summit–both about open source systems management topics. A good deal of this content was also shared with a different audience at FudCON–the Fedora Users and Developers Conference. This was a great trip to Boston, and a fantastic chance to talk with users, administrators, and developers of all types.
The first talk I had a part in was Func, which I co-presented with Adrian Likins. Func, as mentioned before in Red Hat Magazine, is an API for controlling lots of nodes for arbitrary systems management tasks. It is ideally suited for replacing legacy SSH infrastructure as well as building new network applications that require secure network communications infrastructure.
We gave an overview for folks that hadn’t heard of Func before, and showed off several examples of things you can do with the Python API. Interest in Func is growing, and lots of folks are using it in ways we hadn’t originally intended (which is, of course, the idea). » Read more
Last month, I wrote about confining the user with SELinux. I explained that–as of Fedora 9–SELinux supports the concept of the confined user and comes with 5 confined user types defined.
These confined users are a great starting point, but what if you want to create a confined user with different privileges? » Read more
FUDCon comes on the heels of the Red Hat Summit, with many of the speakers and developers doing double-duty. Even Red Hat’s CEO showed up for both events. Did you miss out? Never fear, there’s always another FUDCon coming up, and the Fedora Project Leader is happy to give you the report from this one.
The Fedora Users and Developers Conference (FUDCon) is in full swing on its second day. We have another full day of exceptional hacking taking place on the third floor of the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Just as the Red Hat Summit is drawing to a close downstairs–winding up with a half-day of sessions and panels–we’re just now kicking into high gear. This has been an exceptional way to introduce open source customers to the larger ecosystem behind the products they love, and the community that powers Fedora, the upstream for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. » Read more
