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What do you use SFU/Interix for ?
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 What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Mar. 22, '04, 3:35:38 PM
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Rodney
Posts: 3728
Joined: Jul. 9, '02,
From: /Tools lab
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To try and serve everyone better we're asking:
What/where do you use SFU/Interix for?
Feel free to post back into a forum topic if you
need to add more, or to e-mail .
thanks 
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Mar. 23, '04, 10:56:47 AM
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javacody
Posts: 17
Joined: Mar. 16, '04,
Status: offline
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I'm using it for the Windows cron service. I intend to use it for more than that eventually, but having something that doesn't suck for scheduling (ala Windows AT) is wonderful!
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Mar. 23, '04, 11:04:30 AM
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steveh
Posts: 195
Joined: Jan. 23, '04,
Status: offline
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Looking for it to replace our cygwin system. This is used to control and monitor game servers and is running on cygwin at current so that we can use the same system for Win32 as we do for Linux / FreeBSD.
Initial trials showed that interix is significantly quicker than cygwin although at current there are some issues regarding basic perl modules not compiling under interix including but not limited to MD5.
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SSH File Transfers & As An Alternative to Samba Server - Mar. 23, '04, 4:10:39 PM
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EugeneTSWong
Posts: 9
Joined: Jan. 27, '04,
Status: offline
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We mainly use it for transferring files via SSH. Once in a while, we'll also use it for administrating the server.
For the clients we use OpenSSH, PuTTY or WinSCP. I can't emphasize how much SSH has changed our work flow. We have people working for us in India. Before, they would have uploaded to their web servers, then logged into our terminal servers, then downloaded via Internet Explorer. They considered this normal, & nobody asked any questions. Once I set up SFU & WinSCP for them, they were able to do it all much quicker. I suspect that SSH will always transfer files much more quickly than a Internet Explorer. 1 interesting thing that I noticed recently is that they only have 10 MB of spare space on the web server. If you combine that fact with the fact that only 2 people @ a time can log into each of our terminal servers, then you should be able to imagine how difficult it was for them to get their work done. They would probably have to take turns almost all the time. With SSH, they can bypass the legalities & actually get work done without having to login unless they actually needed a console for testing.
I don't know why, but my intuition tells me that it is much more efficient to install SFU on Windows instead of Samba on Linux. I'm trying to get my office to migrate away from Windows, & this seems to work fine. I'm not going to try to prove that 1 is better than the other. I'm not enough of an expert to know. All I know is that SFU "just works", while Samba needs some obscure configuration that should be obvious, in my opinion.
_____________________________
Sincerely, & with thanks,
Eugene T.S. Wong
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Mar. 23, '04, 6:18:51 PM
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bycrom
Posts: 16
Joined: Mar. 19, '04,
Status: offline
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I am building a tool that will run on windows, osx, and linux. It will be built from the same source code base. Currently the tool runs on Windows so at this point it is a port to osx and linux, so my main build machine at this time is a osx box.
I have developed a build system that will build and test on each platform automatically. Basically how it works is I develop the code on osx, when I am happy with it I execute a shell script that, using rsync, will copy the relevant files to a linux machine, run gcc, and run a test suite on the built executables. It will then report back the results to the build window of my os x ide. My script tweaks the standard error results from the remote server so they jive with what my ide is excepting, so if I have a compile error it will show up locally on the osx machine as though the compile error happened on the local sources. This allows me to double click on the error and be taken right to the line in question, and allows the correct glyphs for errors and warnings to be displayed.
SFU will hopefully play a part in all this in that I need to ensure I am not *breaking* the windows sources that this is being ported from. So I am currently developing another system that will do the same as above but to a remote windows box, running the command vc++ compiler. I am currently evaluating if I should use sfu or cygwin, currently sfu is much better.
ByCrom
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Apr. 16, '04, 11:37:29 PM
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jonsmi
Posts: 168
Joined: Aug. 12, '03,
From: Oslo, Norway
Status: offline
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Very interestïng question indeed. After three years with HP Norway as an MS specialist (holding 22 MCPs), back at the University in Oslo (UiO), Computer Science. For some obscure reason I still like Windows. At UiO it's Linux/Solaris; at home 3 SuSE Linux and 2 Win 2003 and 1 XP (we get MSDN Academic for free).
Serious people working with computers are obsessed. My obsession right now is learning UNIX. Linux and SFU/Interix are excellent tools for this. NIS/AD and NFS server/client with IPP on Windows and CUPS on Linux -- excellent!
This of course is homo ludens -- a lot of fun; more serious, in the long run we'll see dual platforms everywhere. SFU/Interix makes for a great integration: Let's not forget Mac X (BSD) and Novell (coming strong back on Linux: eDirectory/ZenWorks).
My biggest fear is that MS might discontinue this excellent product, as it won't move people to, but rather from MS -- as far as I can see. If this happens, I'll drop Windows!
P.S. High on the wish list: Emacs/Gnus -- any port in sight? Native Java Development support of course!!!
Best regards, Jon-Alfred
< Message edited by jonsmi -- Apr. 16, '04, 11:47:14 PM >
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Apr. 17, '04, 12:02:13 PM
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markfunk
Posts: 673
Joined: Mar. 31, '03,
Status: offline
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emacs port: ftp.interopsystems.com/beta/emacs/
Look at the readme's for explanations and directions.
This is the only known Interix port. This is all there is.
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Apr. 18, '04, 10:41:29 AM
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cortez_
Posts: 330
Joined: Mar. 27, '04,
From: Poland
Status: offline
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As to the main question. I use the SFU-interix environment mostly to allew remote acces to the server machine (based on win XP). Having the unix tools like ssh it's really great to be able to acces the machine remotly.
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - May 1, '04, 4:31:32 PM
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Roger_Telco
Posts: 31
Joined: Jan. 22, '04,
Status: offline
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I'd have to say scripting is a big one:
1) Automated data collection from network devices (expect)
2) Developing data parsing and processing scripts that will have to be used on Solaris and/or Linux (bash, perl, tcl, expect)
3) General quick-and-dirty CLI tasks (grep, sed, cut, sort, etc.)
4) Automated data conversion
SSHD service is another great feature I use all the time.
NFS client access of course.
In the next iteration of W2K Pro/WXP Pro, I'd like to see:
a) SFU/Interix included with the OS
b) An integrated, high performance X Server
IMHO, this would make Windows pull level again with the latest versions of Mac OS X (which now include X11 support.)
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - May 4, '04, 2:52:36 AM
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suchunghou
Posts: 24
Joined: Feb. 3, '04,
Status: offline
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It would be great if Windows includes an internationalized X11 support, with all the input methods in Windows.
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - May 6, '04, 12:57:23 AM
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cygwinxp
Posts: 11
Joined: Feb. 2, '04,
Status: offline
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I think the most import commercial use is that we can run Unix program on Windows with the minimum porting effort.
Another thing is we can directly use any open source on Windows with minimum effort.
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - May 20, '04, 1:41:47 PM
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mavetx
Posts: 7
Joined: May 20, '04,
Status: offline
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In short, networking, x-windows, Unix syntax.
My job needs to talk to and display images from several SGI/SUN/Linux and unfortunately I have a PC laptop. MS-DOS bothers me a lot and I wish to have a single term on my box to talk to all other systems with the same "language" like "ls /etc/passwd" instead of "dir c:\windows" on my particular box.
Tried Cygwin/X but it is, basically, a translater/parser and it is based on the experience of Linux and ignore a lot of essence of Windows where it resides in. In other words, it does not talk to Windows interface very well.
I almost decide to trade my PC with a powerbook running MacOS X, which talks to Unix well with X server. Glad to see SFU surfacing and developing... I am going to stick with my PC for a little bit longer. I do wish that Windows can be designed to at least get along with other systems better.
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - May 21, '04, 4:01:21 PM
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benker
Posts: 37
Joined: May 7, '04,
Status: offline
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1) Ksh/Csh scripting
2) automating programs using Expect
3) simple text manipulation (grep, cut, paste, sort, etc.)
4) cron jobs
5) Tcl/Tk GUI programs
I agree 100% with the previous author who wrote that he'd like to see SFU/Interix included with the OS with an integrated, high performance X Server.
< Message edited by benker -- May 27, '04, 11:14:28 AM >
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - May 24, '04, 8:16:33 PM
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vishuvs
Posts: 3
Joined: May 24, '04,
Status: offline
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1) Ksh/Csh scripting
2) cronjob on windows
3) simple text manipulation (grep, cut, paste, sort, etc.)
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - May 26, '04, 2:42:26 AM
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aotto1968
Posts: 37
Joined: Apr. 7, '04,
From: Germany
Status: offline
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Hi,
I try to support cross-platform software development.
all of my tools are unix and I want to use it on windows too.
mfg
aotto
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Jun. 7, '04, 9:10:58 AM
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bvn
Posts: 15
Joined: Mar. 18, '04,
Status: offline
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We use SFU (and also the older Interix 2.2) for porting our UNIX application suite (with a Motif GUI) to PC/Windows. In addition we use a X-based Window-server (e.g. Exceed, Desktop-X).
Bart
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Oct. 22, '04, 6:37:32 PM
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heinz
Posts: 64
Joined: Oct. 21, '04,
Status: offline
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We're porting a SCO/Linux text-based application to Interix in the hope that Win2003/Interix will give us and our customers a stable commercial platform. It is also the hope that we will be able to have closer integration with some GUI pieces we are starting to use, written with VB/.NET and RealBasic. We are early into the port but very optimistic that we'll be able to continue instead of having to revert back to Linux.
heinz
http://www.bytedesigns.com
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Oct. 24, '04, 7:39:22 PM
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breiter
Posts: 346
Joined: Jun. 14, '04,
From: Washington, DC
Status: offline
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We use SFU/Interix for three things, primarily:
- Secure server administration: OpenSSH w/ port forwading is key here.
- Developer (anti-)productivity: levereging classic UNIX utilitites to work done. (Sometimes this devolves into a peculiar sort of exploratory play, but even that generally proves useful eventually.)
- Incorporating F/OSS software into solutions for clients. For example ClamAV as a component of a holistic virus mitigation strategy.
quote:
Jonsmi:
My biggest fear is that MS might discontinue this excellent product...
I don't think this is very likely to happen, and I'll tell you why:
- US DoD procurement regulations require that any OS purchased by DoD must support POSIX "Orange Book" specification also known as ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990. This is the reason that POSIX support was a requirement of the original Windows NT. But Windows XP/2003 do NOT have a POSIX subsystem bundled at all. The only way to get it is with Interix 2.2, or SFU 3/3.5.
- Microsoft has some very large important clients that have used Interix to migrate mainframe applications to Windows 2000, including the aforementioned DoD and the IRS. I'm sure other Agencies and Fortune 500 companies as well. It would be a PR disaster to abandon the product at a time when Microsoft is trying to prove the worth of Windows in the high-end datacenter.
- Microsoft uses SFU/Interix to maintain and administer Hotmail.
- Microsoft wants Windows to be THE perferred server in the datacenter. However there is a huge base of installed UNIX software that Windows servers would have to support if they would replace aging UNIX servers. It is very likely uneconomic and a poor sales strategy for Microsoft to simply say "rip and replace" with shiny new C# code.
- Finally, Microsoft is competing with Cygwin for the UNIX-on-Windows market. The reason that SFU/Interix is free is that Cygwin free and they had a hard time selling SFU/Inerix for thousands of dollars in that market. MS wants you to use their software with their architecture that validates the design of Windows and the NT Kernel, not Cygwin as a transition strategy to RedHat.
To sum up, I would be very surprised if SFU/Interix went away. I think it is much more likely that it will be burned onto the same DVD as Longhorn and Longhorn Server.
< Message edited by breiter -- Oct. 24, '04, 7:40:10 PM >
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Oct. 27, '04, 10:38:11 AM
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Rodney
Posts: 3728
Joined: Jul. 9, '02,
From: /Tools lab
Status: offline
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I'd like to add some clarity (hopefully) to the question from jonsmi
about the life expectency of SFU/Interix.
I have to muddle this a bit by noting that there are some things that I can't write
about because either I don't know or I can't tell (NDA); it's a fuzzy line.
I'll start by paraphrasing what Microsoft has said can be said:
The plans with SFU/Interix do extend well into the future. There is no end-of-line planned.
The goal is to continue to make Windows much more approachable for Unix savvy people.
The plans include better integration between the Unix toolset/functionality and Windows.
To breiter's comments, mostly I can't/shouldn't indicate whether he's right or wrong.
Yeah, I know that's a teaser. But that's the position I'm in; I just can't pass an opinion
in this case without implying something that I shouldn't and/or getting someone upset.
The question about Interix surviving at MS has been raised since the day 1 and it's now 5 years
later. The development team continues to do work and there is staff in PSS (support) that
specialize in SFU/Interix. Though we may not see the names here in the forum there are some
big names using it.
As time progresses and more information becomes public on future plans then it should be
clear that there are more plans beyond that.
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RE: What do you use SFU/Interix for ? - Oct. 28, '04, 5:52:40 PM
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Thaidog
Posts: 28
Joined: Oct. 28, '04,
Status: offline
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I'm using it as a Linux substitute. I'm at the point where I would like to use Linux for everything I do, but since I've got so much money invested already in Windows software it's not practical. Another issue is X as the main windowing system... omce again not practical for my workstation configuration... advanced extended (dual) monitor support is shotty at best... with issues with drivers and problems with 3D design applicaions and games not working correctly I'm back to windows which has no configuration issues with multiple monitors... everything ironed out and easy. SFU gives me the ability to run everything I need from linux and keep my system on windows. I'll be using it for things like ssh and snort as a nids and maybe adding a X windows server in later.
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