Poll: Who uses a GUI on a pure linux server?

I dont. I find the gui to be a waste of resources and a security risk. I do however use the gui on my pseudo servers as they are basically desktop OS' with server features installed. But other then that CLI.

 

CLI FTW!
I've even caught myself couple times not typing "startx" after logging in my ThinkPad just because I could read my emails faster by mutt than logging in web gmail interface, lol

 

It depends. Production servers are heavily locked down and therefore CLI-only, but there's no policy with regards to what can go on development/testing clusters so some have GUIs while others don't.

 

Ill have to try mutt out, but both my pseudo server and mobile thinkpad start the x window system automatically.

Any of my pure servers dont get accessed locally so CLI is just easier and more peace of mind for me. Pseudo servers on the other hand have a gui. I guess it comes down to personal preference of the admin.

 

CLI only for mine. Less updates and less of a security risk.

 

I only use the GUI on the server for ease of setup. Copying files into the correct folders, folder/file navigation, etc.

 

Try midnight commander!

 

I'm currently running CLI on one of my servers. Much easier, IMO.

 

For me the gui doesnt improve file navigation. I still do most of my copying in CLI.

 

Ok, well it does for me. Guess some people are more experienced and more oriented where their files are

 

I had a problem with early installs of Ubuntu 10.04LTS where under certain conditions, the CLI only version wouldn't finish booting but with the GUI installed it would. Had to do with that sreadahead thing. anyway, the solution at first was install gnome, have a GUI, never use it.

Other than that, no I don't put GUIs on servers.

 

Maybe another reason not to use a gui.

Network security blunders: Tales from the field

They were working on the production firewall server gathering some data for a support case, the server was windows. The admin reached across the table and accidentally leaned on the mouse, which was over the Start Menu. As fate has it in for us network engineers at all times, the mouse activated the Start Menu and was unbelievably over the shutdown menu item when it popped up. Yep, right there in the middle of production this financial corporation watched their production firewall shutdown.

 

CLI since all the servers are VM hosts.

 

I had something similar happen with a Windows NT4.0 domain controller. I was logged into it to do some fairly simple maintenance, and I went to log out. Hit start -> logout. And the machine just sat there, not logging me out. Waited about 60 seconds, still nothing. Thinking maybe I missed the logout button etc I hit the start button again. right as I hit it it started to log me out. Race condition. Machine logs me out but leaves the start menu up and alive over a black screen. Machine now fails to respond to any input. Ran around the office telling everyone to save their stuff NOW as the PDC was likely crap out at any moment. 5 minutes later it hung hard, and had to be power cycled.

I cannot imagine the person who thought running a production firewall / networking stack on windows was a good idea.

 

Hey I always say to each their own. If it works better for you but not for me that doesnt make it wrong.

The issue with GUIs is that it allows you to use things like vnc and remote desktop(although disabled access as default). VNC is enabled by default and isnt the most secure technique. Granted I use VNC, but that is when Im already SSH'd into the box and technically local at that point.

But yes the gui does open up doors by default that must be manually locked if you want to be fully secure.

 

For a server? CLI for sure, man! Heck, I wouldn't even use a monitor; I'd just SSH into the box when I need too.

There isn't too much of a point in a GUI if you feel comfortable with the command line. Just wastes resources and disk space.

 

I have a shell script that generates files inside directories which are nested 20+ levels deep (and yes, there is a reason for having so many layers). Using the GUI is already painful enough since it's a power-clicking session just to get to the file I need. With the CLI, even with Tab autocompletion, it would be downright crazy, especially when I have to do it twice to mv or cp the file to a similarly deeply-nested directory.

 

My server has a GUI, but that's because it is a media center as well.

 

My home server is the same. It pulls everything from web server to media server. While I primarily work in bash, there are just some tasks you need a gui for and streaming video is one of them.

 

mplayer can play a video without X

 

When I had a home server, it ran GUI-less, console-only and was accessed through SSH.

 

My two linux servers now run Fluxbox for a single purpose - its much easier to manage BOINC via graphical rather than the command line. I deal with them mostly via SSH, though, and when I am in front of the monitor hooked into them, its CLI all the way.

 

Thats great and all but can you run a windows 7 VM running slingbox and netflix (need to try it on wine) in bash?

 

And since when does a server need to run netflix?

 

LoL like I said my home server does everything since I only have 2 computers. I even use it for a tv when we are in the office (netflix and slingbox).

 

+1 l

 

I don't use a GUI on my server. Only on my desktop machines. I still install X apps on the server though... ssh -X FTW. You can even set up a Cygwin+X install to tunnel apps to a Windows desktop if you want.

 

I sorta, kinda do.

I use Deluge on my local machine to connect to the deluged instances on my seedboxes.

 

And, ofc, you are using your seedboxes for seeding torrents of linux distros

No doubts, my server is doing the same, thats why it's equipped with 2TB HDD.

 

Actually, yes. I see Linux ISOs, Creative Commons-Licensed films and music, and free-to-distribute game updates/mods.

 

That's cool!

But your upload speed is crazy. I can barely get 0.5 MB/s!

 

Hah, looks like I've passed focusing test.
I like your reply!

BTW, rtorrent + some webui and you can get rid of X on your server.

 

What makes you think I'm running an X server on the seedboxes?

deluged is the only bit that's on the boxes. The GTK client is on my local machine -- I simply set up a tunnel to whichever seedbox I want to manage. I've tried rTorrent/ruTorrent a number of times. In my experience it's a lot more trouble than it's worth. rTorrent is somewhat unstable, plus I'd have to maintain the package myself (I run Debian on my seedboxes, although that's gonna change soon.) ruTorrent is stable, but buggy, plus I don't like the idea of having to expose the 'A' and 'P' parts of LAMP to the outside world just because I want a GUI. That increases the box's attack surface substantially, and I don't want that. They ain't cheap, and I don't want them being used to remind folks how they can score cheap Viagra.

Oh, and that upload speed is nothing. Now that Slackware 13.37 is out, my boxes are a *lot* busier: 'ossbox' (the one in the picture) is averaging around 80-90 mbit/s sustained (that would be about 11 MB/s). The ones I've got with FDCServers resellers are a bit slower due to FDCServers' general policy of hitting their customers over the head with a bag of suck, but they're still doing about 40-50 mbit/s, mostly on the Slackware torrents. That'll die down in a few days, but then there's the Ubuntu release to seed...

Back on topic, I try to avoid running X or anything like it on servers. I do, however, like daemons that use their own protocol(s) to let me connect a pretty GUI on another machine, especially when they're less chatty than X (and thus better equipped for use over an SSH tunnel).

 

+1
I'm at the boat where 'what works faster' for me is good. I have on my RHEL/CentOS servers always the X server present. But not running.
Default runlevel is without X, but i can start it, run vncserver (ssh tunnel to it) or run mentioned ssh -X .... sometimes its good to have clickable tool handy, since its faster (in some special ocassion), with combination of 'vi' editor ...