(LinuxWorld) -- This is the start of a series on general Linux software. Some installments will contain partial product reviews. This article, for example, looks at Red Hat 7.2 and my experience with it versus Mandrake 8.1. Later in the series, I plan to discuss Caldera's Volution Messaging Server and Evolution from Ximian.

All of the servers we manage for customers run Red Hat 6.2, save one. The oddball of the group is running Mandrake version 8.0. We had standardized on Red Hat 6.2 because it is stable, reasonably secure, and easy to work with. "Red Hat" is also the most recognized Linux brand. The Mandrake 8.0 machine came about when Red Hat released 7.0 of its distribution. After evaluating 7.0, I felt that Red Hat's engineers had lost some of their senses, and decided it wise to consider other distributions. I looked at SuSE and I liked it. However, SuSE represented a learning curve in regards to practical systems management. The learning curve was not an option and therefore we started to consider Mandrake, which is Red Hat-based.

After working with Mandrake 8.0 on the server, we were reasonably happy with it. Some of the default security mechanisms that Mandrake puts in place were excellent. I had also started testing Mandrake 8.0 as a workstation platform. The online update and general Mandrake community was very enticing.

As much as I liked Mandrake, I couldn't shake the belief it would be easier to sell my customers on the name Red Hat than Mandrake. After some experience with Mandrake 8 and 8.1 (most of the experiences were positive), I decided to look at the newest version of Red Hat, which is 7.2.

The new Red Hat installation program looks similar to the 6.2. The 7.2 installation, however, is cleaner and more professional. The installation has a certain "The marketing team said..." feel to it. In other words, it is a little spiffy in areas where it probably doesn't need to be. It looks like pros built this stuff.

A downside to the Red Hat installation is that it still doesn't offer the ability to re-size disk partitions. Mandrake does, and I found this ability quite useful on dual-boot machines. On the positive side, Red Hat allows you to select the GRUB boot loader. The Red Hat install will also allow you to use the GRUB password option.

The GRUB password option is excellent for security. It ensures that you cannot boot Linux with optional command parameters (such as booting into run level 1 to bypass password authentication) without entering a password.

LILO has a similar option, but the Red Hat installer does not allow you to specify it as part of the LILO configuration.

The installation now has a basic firewall configuration tool, complete with documentation on the firewall options listed during installation. I believe Red Hat had this in earlier Red Hat 7.x releases, but as I said, this is the first time we have looked at Red Hat since the 6.2 series. The firewall has options of High, Medium, and no firewall. The Medium option is the best compromise between security and usability, where the High option would probably end up driving most people nuts. While configuring the firewall, you also have the option to select custom ports that are allowed through the firewall. This is a good option if you are like me and like having SSH open.

The rest of the Red Hat install was pretty standard, unpacking the packages and asking if I wanted a boot disk. After boot up, I did something that I normally would never do. I started the GNOME Desktop. I did this because I noticed on another Red Hat 7.2 machine that if you choose to use the KDE desktop (my preferred desktop) it can be a little frustrating to find the GNOME/Red Hat administration tools. As I had not reviewed Red Hat since the days of 6.2 and LinuxConf, I wanted to see what Red Hat had done to improve the admin tools.

The first thing I noticed was a firewall configuration program. All I can say is, "It is about damn time." I fired it up and was almost instantly creating rules to my never-ending network-security-freak's delight.

Keeping up2date

The second item I noticed, and had actually known about for some time, was the up2date program. up2date is part of the Red Hat Network, and it allows you to maintain vital software updates over the network. It even resolves dependencies for you, and can be run either from the command line or from within the GUI.

After a brief registration where Red Hat goes through great pains to assure me that my private information is just that (I really liked that part), I was able to start up2date.

Now, some of you may be saying, "Yeah, yeah, but Mandrake and SuSE have been doing that for a while." Well, that statement would be true, but I have a kludge of a Mandrake 8.0 machine that I am writing this article on right now that is proof-positive that the Mandrake distribution has a ways to go before it is as clean, stable, and easy to use as the Red Hat Network. Don't get me wrong, I like Mandrake. However, from a business perspective, stability in services is a requirement, not an option. I can't really speak for SuSE.

In a matter of moments, I had selected all of my relevant upgrades, and read the advisories as to why I should upgrade and began downloading. After the downloading was complete, the software installed without a hint of hesitation. This was an absolute relief from the Red Hat 6.2 days of downloading a rpm package, typing rpm -i package name, seeing a failed dependency, downloading the dependency, typing rpm -i package name, seeing another failed dependency, downloading the new failed dependency, typing rpm -i package name, seeing yet another failed dependency, and so on. The Red Hat Network eliminates this problem, and I strongly suggest if you are using Red Hat 6.2 or later that you start using this wonderful service.

Overall, I have used Red Hat 7.2 for about a week and I am very happy with it. In the coming weeks I look forward to exploring some of the newer utilities for the administration of Red Hat as well as a new look at MOSIX, Volution Messaging Server, and Evolution.