[rt-users] New user considering to use RT + FreeBSD port for 3.8

[Mike Peachey]

Joe Mailinglists wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> We've been using Horde+whups system for helpdesk in our University
> for the past 3 years.  We recently upgraded it from a very old version and
> everything got hosed.  We are planning to move to a better ticketing system
> that is more stable and can be upgraded later without breaking the existing
> infrastructure (databases, etc.).  I heard good things about RT.

Good. I'm a big fan of Horde when it comes to IMP and Kronolith (as soon
as non-personal calendars can be given sane names not random hashes) -
but for ticketing RT is always the way to go.

> 
> My questions to you guys are the following:
> 1) We use a FreeBSD system.  I see that there is a port available (rt36) for
>     version 3.6 but none for 3.8 yet.  Is it ok if I go ahead and
> install rt36 now
>     and later on upgrade to rt38 whenever it is available?  If not, do
> you suggest
>     that I manually download the latest version of rt3.8.1 and then
> install it
>     from the source?  Which method is safer/easier for upgrades in the long
>     run?

I always recommend a manual install. While some are much better than
others, trusting your installation to someone else just means that when
you need to know something about the way it's installed, you end up
having a lot of trouble finding out.

Manual installation not really difficult.

Also, I definitely recommend you use 3.8.1 not 3.6.x

> 
> 2) If FreeBSD systems are not well supported, we can also move to a Linux
>     system.  Is it better to use a Linux system?

It really doesn't matter what the operating system is so long as you
have a webserver with FastCGI or mod_perl and a database, preferably MySQL.

My personal preference is Slackware Linux 12.1 + Apache 2 + mod_perl 2 +
RT-3.8.1 but your choices are endless.

> 
> 3) I've been reading that RT is memory intensive.  Is 2 GB enough?  This
>     machine also runs the DHCP server.  Do you guys recommend to have a
>     separate system for RT?

That's really fine. It's not *that* memory intensive. I have had two
installations running side by side on a primary DNS and DHCP server that
also runs multiple MySQL instances and other things besides on it and it
was fine.

> 
> I hope these questions belong to this list.  If not, can you please
> point me to
> the correct list?

You found the right place.

-- 
Kind Regards,

__________________________________________________

Mike Peachey, IT
Tel: +44 114 281 2655
Fax: +44 114 281 2951
Jennic Ltd, Furnival Street, Sheffield, S1 4QT, UK
Comp Reg No: 3191371 - Registered In England
http://www.jennic.com
__________________________________________________