[wplug] Ensim

Vanco, Donald VANCOD at PIOS.com
Wed Jul 2 08:08:02 EDT 2003


Bill wrote:
> I'm not too familiar with this product (everything I know is from the
> web site) but i didnt get the impression there was much value-add
> involved.  It kinda seems like Webmin with a price tag.
	Well, kinda....

> On Tue, 2003-07-01 at 20:27, Scott Bourns wrote:
>> Has anyone had a lot of experience with Ensim webpliance? I ask
>> because I'm about to lease a server with it offered, and I'm
>> wondering if I should refuse it. The GUI looks tempting - super
>> easy. Might be easier to train my staff to do some routine things.
	Ensim's main product is a server virtualization tool - the ISP
you're talking to (apparently) uses it, and the management interface (for
the VM you will "rent") is the WEBppliance software you're referring to.
While I'm not certain of it as a requirement (it's been a long time since I
looked that the Ensim product, but they were a Pioneer customer at one time)
it may be the defacto tool for services from this ISP.
	If it's not required you could, in fact, run Webmin - but there is
likely additional functionality WRT actual apps in the WEBppliance product.
Whether or not they are of value to you is another question......  at one
time the core Ensim product had the ability to "Click here to turn on
Half-Life Server" and "Click here to turn on Sendmail" - it's likely they've
extended this type of function into the WEBppliance software.

	If it were me - I'd ask the ISP for a few days to try it and see if
it's worth the $$ - just out of curiosity - how much is it?

	Overall, the Ensim products are very cool - the profile of the guys
that started the company is phenomenal, and they've got dozens of patents
behind the server virtualization product.  FWIW - I was impressed by it 2
years ago - I can only imagine it's matured since then.  You could literally
click CPU cycles and memory bandwidth on and off per VM, and drag-n-drop
whole hosted domains BETWEEN physical servers.  A client can upgrade from a
P-III/800 w/128MB to a P4/2.4GHz XEON w/2GB in about 30 seconds.  The back
end was equally impressive WRT statistics (and inherently - billing
metrics).  Any aspiring ISPs out there would be wise to look at the Ensim
stuff....

YMMV
Don



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