NetDirector 3.1 review

NetDirector is an open and extensible management framework for managing configurations of common open source network services. Net

License: MPL (Mozilla Public License) File size: 0K Developer: The NetDirector Project

0

NetDirector is an open and extensible management framework for managing configurations of common open source network services.

NetDirector offers both form driven and fine-grained control of server configuration files with many added benefits including rollback and policy-based access. It can manage both Linux and most any flavor of Unix. However, the preferred platform to host NetDirector Server Manager on is Linux.

What can you manage with NetDirector?

Today you can manage the following configurations through an easy-to-use form based web console. Or you can edit the entire configuration file in an editor manually but with the added advantage of automated version control.

HTTP (Apache)
DNS (BIND)
DHCP
File and Print Services (Samba, NFS)
Email (Postfix, Sendmail)
FTP (VSFTP)
Users and Groups (mass add users to multiple servers at once.
Network Interfaces
Numerous System files

What else can NetDirector do beyond configuration management?

NetDirector is more than just a configuration tool, NetDirector has additional features including the following:

Rollbacks (Revision Control) of each change made to a service accross any number of servers
Troubleshooting/Logs
Schedule Changes to occur anytime in the future
Server configuration cloning.
Intuitive integrated support for managing clustered servers and disaster recovery configurations.
Track Past or Scheduled Changes to be done
Track who made what changes and when
Granular Role based user management

These capabilities can be applied to other server functions. For example, you could adapt NetDirector to schedule and run shell scripts on servers under management. Or, you could develop a module to provide system backups using Amanda as or simply use NetDirector as a way to front-end access to all servers, giving you the ability to tighten the points of authentication to servers and add an additional layer of security.