I have to agree with you. IBM have opened up many of the systems that I have been working with over the last 3 years or so. Some of their "open" products are not really as open but overall the company is much more transparent.
Hi,
I have done some large deployments with the same challenges you mention. The software we have used is the Linux Management suite from Novell. Here is the direct URL : http://www.novell.com/products/zenworks/linuxmanagement/
It works well with Redhat and SuSe but does not support many other distributions. In fact as you would expect its by far the best integrated with SuSe however it works well with Redhat.
Hi There,
I have been using a network appliance storevault in our environment that has similar requirements to what you seem to have. The device is a little more expensive when compared to the other netgear etc products you mention but for large sequential file transfers we will almost always get line-rate gigabit performance. It is great because it also gives you a gateway to experience the data ontap software from the netapp range. We paid just under £5000 for the particular setup we have but I have never looked back. Everyone in the organization is extremely happy with the products performance and reliability and at the end of the day isn't that what it is all about?
So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of money? -- Ayn Rand