Free system administration software for linux

Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix.

Using any browser that supports tables and forms, you can setup user accounts, internet services, DNS, file sharing and so on.

Formerly known as the Ximian Setup Tools, GNOME System Tools are a fully integrated set of tools aimed to make easy the job that means the computer administration on an UNIX or Linux system.
Theyre thought to help from the new Linux or UNIX user to the system administrators. The GNOME System Tools are free software, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Main features:
Its main advantages are:
- Full integration with the new GNOME Control Center.
- An user-friendly interface to carry out the main administration tasks.
- The use of a common user interface in every system.
- A common structure that makes easy the development of new system tools.
Nowadays there are tools for managing:
- Users and groups
- Date and time
- Network configuration
- Bootloaders
- Runlevels

Advanced Poll Script provides a polling system with powerful administration tool.

Advanced Poll is a polling system with powerful administration tool. It features: multiple polls, unlimited options, templates, language support, IP-Logging, IP-Locking, cookie support, comment feature, vote expire feature, random poll support and more. Supports both text file and mySQL database.

ILIAS project is a platform for Web-based training.

It is being developed at the University of Cologne, in Germany, using PHP and MySQL.

It has been available since September 2000 as open software software under the GPL.

The systems core is an authoring tool for creating courses.

Other main components include personal desktops, a mail system, newsgroups, a group system, and system administration.

GOsa is a PHP-based administration tool for role based managing of accounts and systems in LDAP databases.
Standard configurations can manage generic, posix/shadow, postfix/cyrus/sieve, pureftpd, fax and samba2/3 accounts in LDAP.
GOsa has plugins for DNS (BIND), DHCP (ISC dhcpd), and system/terminal management. The look and feel can be easily adapted to users needs.
Enhancements:
- This version fixes problems with automatic reverse zones in the DNS plugin, improves IE6/7 support, updates the available translations and fixes a couple of bugs in the FAI management dialog.
- Additionally, support for changing passwords without entering a fully blown GOsa has been added.

The Arusha Project (ARK) seeks to provide a framework and/or tools for collaborative system administration of multi-platform Unix sites with many dozens of machines.

The core ARK developers are interested in using the Arusha Project as a comprehensive solution for system administration.

It is therefore easy to miss the point that the core ARK engine---which simply provides a ``configuration language to say sysadminish things---can be used in many less-than-comprehensive ways.

Here is a ``laundry list... There are undoubtedly hundreds of other weird-and-wonderful possibilities we havent thought of.

Also note that some of these uses are orthogonal to each other. You could pick one (or none) of the ways to tackle software packages and pick one (or none) of the ways to manage the config files in /etc and pick one (or none) of the ways to manage user accounts, etc. -- this gives you many ARK options, without even breaking a sweat.

1. As a multi-platform package manager for user applications, particularly standard freeware packages.

(We arent pleased to have written Yet Another package manager, but the others [RPM, BSD ports, etc.] just arent up to much when you have several diverse Unix platforms for which you want the ``same packages.)

(Other system administration would be done by other means.)

2. To provide an early-adopter `playpen: [a variant on #1] at a site of any size, you will have a small number of people keen to try out beta- and even alpha-quality software. (It is wise to let them do so---they accumulate much ``intelligence which is helpful when deciding about new software to roll out to the general user population.)

You could use ARK to set up a `playpen where early-adopters could do their trials in a controlled and non-problematic way. (The Sidai version wrapper stuff is one way to get a handle on the multiple-versions-live-at-the-same-time problem.)

3. As a `unifier for diverse package managers: Imagine you have a site of Solaris, Linux, and NetBSD boxes, .and you want to use the native package managers for each. But you want the ``same packages on all hosts, and want a site-at-a-time way to manage them; i.e. ark package install ALL should install all packages on all hosts, each in the appropriate way.

4. As a (binary) package producer: One can imagine having a small number of ARK hosts whose job is to produce (say) binary RPM packages of everything of interest to your site. Your (many?) client/production hosts would then simply use the RPMs.

5. As a front-end for Cfengine or PIKT, or similar: Express what there is to know about the hosts, etc., at your site in the ARK object way (including constraints between them), then push a button to generate a configuration for one of the established sysadmin tools, which will do the heavy lifting for you.

6. As a fancy `rdist: A Unix site has bunches of config files that need to be ``the same across many machines, e.g. /etc/hosts or /etc/resolv.conf. The distributed ARK code (notably from team Sidai) is a good way to do this stuff, and you might use ARK just for that.

7. As an `idea bank: Dont run ARK code at all; simply study others sysadmin solutions as a source of ideas. This is a pathetic choice in our view :-), but entirely legitimate!

8. Toss it for system administration and build chip designs with it, instead! (While this is a mostly-facetious suggestion, it reflects the fact that the earliest ARK ideas emerged alongside some chip-building ideas at Glasgow University in 1999.)

HostGIS Linux project is a Linux/GNU distribution specifically made for handling GIS information. HostGIS Linux saves hours or days of installing MapServer and its components, and will have you serving GIS maps in minutes.
Main features:
- All the usual amenities of a Linux distribution: compilers, Perl, etc.
- Apache webserver, with PHP
- MapServer, and MapScript for PHP, Perl, and Python
- PDFlib, with support built in to PHP, Perl, Python, and MapServer
- PostGIS-enabled Postgres database server
- MapServer Web Client (MWC) to display great interactive maps without designing any HTML or JavaScript
- Example maps already installed: shapefiles, ECW raster, PostGIS, MyGIS, WMS server and client, and Flash output
- Webmin, phpMyAdmin, and phpPgAdmin for easy system administration
Being a Linux, HostGIS Linux is of course completely open source and may be downloaded, modified, and redistributed free of charge.
Enhancements:
- All the usual amenities of a Linux distribution: compilers, Perl, etc.
- Apache webserver, with PHP
- MapServer, and MapScript for PHP, Perl, and Python
- PDFlib, with support built in to PHP, Perl, Python, and MapServer
- PostGIS-enabled Postgres database server
- MapServer Web Client (MWC) to display great interactive maps without designing any HTML or JavaScript
- Example maps already installed: shapefiles, ECW raster, PostGIS, MyGIS, WMS server and client, and Flash output
- Webmin, phpMyAdmin, and phpPgAdmin for easy system administration