[I'm posting this in the server forum instead of the general forum since it is probably a better target audience.]

Does anyone have any experience/opinions of the product Quest Management Xtensions for Device Management aka QMX?

It is a 3rd party bolt-on to M$ SCCM in order to "manage non-Windows systems and devices".

I'm a Unix/Linux admin that is being asked to "consider using existing tools" since our shop has M$ SCCM for managing Windows servers; there is an "allure" with management to buy an SCCM plug-in for patching/provisioning Linux and Solaris systems.

I'm trying to insist on purchase of RHN Satellite (RHSS) - there is a natural, healthy reluctance by this seasoned 15+ yrs Unix/Linux admin to use MS-based tools to patch/configure/provision/administer Unix & Linux servers!

If I have to "get under the hood" with my admin product, I want it to be Linux-based, not Windows-based. I'm also looking to create/rollout some custom RPMs, so you can certainly understand my skepticism with this "Window-y thang".

I've asked the Quest sales rep to view the RHN Satellite features and tell me what their product does/doesn't do in comparison, but I have yet to receive a response.

Thanks,

cadet_concept

I haven't used it myself but if it really only cost $49/server as its main page says I can imagine management would have huge reluctance to shell out for what Satellite costs.

However a couple of things stand out for me on their compatibility page at: http://management-extensions.org/configagentless.jspa
1) They say they support "RedHat Linux" You might want to verify that means RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and goes through 5.5. You might also want to ask if they've done any work with the RHEL6 beta and if not how long will it take to integrate that after it becomes available.
2) Most folks are installing 64 bit Linux these days but the note at the top of the page says:
For us that would be enough to say we don't want it. We have very few RHEL 32 bit systems left.

You might want to investigate Spacewalk which is the freeware tool like Satellite. I've seen people say they can use it for RHEL but haven't done it myself.

Thank you for the reply.

I've received a private email from an admin at a shop where QMX was deployed along with RHN Satellite; this is the gist of their comments on QMX:

• Took lots of time to get it working.
• Had to write custom software for the clients to even get 50% of the info pulled from their Windows servers (expectation was that it would give all of the same type of info that was being pulled from Windows server out-of-the-box; it did not).
• List of software packages didn't include info on whether 32 or 64 bit - a show stopper for their needs.
• It was difficult to get it to package config files to be shipped to client systems.
• Lots of "noisy" messages in the SCCM logs that took some effort to figure out how to silence.
• When they called the company for support, the support people didn't recognize the product they were calling about.

Per http://spacewalk.redhat.com/faq.html#entitlements

Can I use Spacewalk to sync my entitlements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and other Red Hat software products?

No. At this time, in order to be able to connect to rhn.redhat.com and satellite-sync Red Hat software content, you will need the Satellite product with an active Satellite certificate.

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Later in my response I noted there was a 32 bit limitation that would prevent us from even trying it since we use mostly 64 bit installs.

Also what you found is the official RedHat response. Given that they make money on Satellite they have no reason to assist anyone in using Spacewalk. What I was saying is that others have indicated they have used it. I haven't had time to try it but mentioned it in case you were feeling industrious.

Yeah, as an admin living under a "you will use QMX" mandate, that list is pretty good; bottom-line from my perspective: QMX may be cheap but it certainly is lousy. The two best things it does: "rpm -qa" (with the caveat listed above) and right-click->connect-with-putty. The hardware inventory is pretty much garbage without spending alot of time re-writing the (jscript: *shudder*) scripts (we haven't yet ventured there).

I believe that comment is only meant to apply tothe Windows system that hosts the QMX software must be 32-bit.

Basically, the way QMX works is it opens putty, logs into the system, and then types commands (e.g. rpm -qa; cat /etc/redhat-release; df; ps) and reads the output; it's possible a script might run a command that differs from 32-bit to 64-bit, but I don't know of any in the default configuration.

Did anybody get to install Redhat on bare metal with sccm + qmx?
Does it work with pxe boot?