[Zope] which operating system quandry

[Olavo Santos]

From: "David Bear" <David.Bear at asu.edu>
Sent: Friday, 29 de September de 2006 23:05

    Hello.

[...]

> 4) I am very interested to know how others manage zope sites. Are
> there any best practices? Are there any linux distributions that are
> more kind to zope than others -- meaning they don't have dependencies
> on old python versions, or they have a very good patch system (debian
> apt updates for zope??)

    Believe it or not, but is far easier to rely on "configure/make/make
install" for any Zope installation on linux.

    Specific python installation for Zope is a must, because you can tailor
your python with your own modules, configuration, hacks, patches, whatever.

    If possible, install everything under /opt/webapp/. This will give you a
big friend ( man tar ) when you have to transfer your Zope app to another
server.

    Separate/Isolate your Zope installation from OS and the sysadmin will
also be your friend.

    Zope upgrades ( not security updates ) are very dificult to manage. For
example, upgrading from 2.9 to 2.10 produces too many errors, followed by an
incredible amount of work, especially if you have a lot of products or
special hacks on your zope installation.

    So the rule here is to install a python/zope version ( and stick to
it! ), keep an eye on zope.org security patches, python module upgrades (
PIL, pycrypto, etc ) and watch the daily log of your sysadmin.

    Generate enough documentation to rebuild a Zope installation from
scratch ( we never know when that fantastic hw raid ceased to be... ).

    Don't forget to elaborate a list of external dependencies. "I don't
understand why john just disconnected that dns server" or "john, are your
there? i'm unable to reach that important database" are common sentences
after firewall/<place_your_network_equipment_here> policy updates by your
friend, sysadmin john.

    Backup often. And if you have time, write a recovery plan and test it,
writing down how much time it will take to recover from that stupid hw raid.

Best regards,

@178, Nbk

P.s. - And don't think to upgrade directly from 2.7 to 2.10. That's even
harder. ;-)