After a six-month beta period, Canonical Ltd. is adding management muscle to Ubuntu Linux servers and desktops in the form of its Landscape systems management tool.

Early next month, Canonical will officially release the Landscape suite, enabling IT managers to install, monitor, upgrade and manage servers and/or desktops with a single click. Adding users, fixing security problems and monitoring system performance are a few of the tasks that administrators can now perform centrally instead of on individual machines. Additional functions include auditing, inventory and organization.

Gerry Carr, Canonical's marketing manager, said Landscape is expected to make it much easier to integrate Ubuntu machines into organizations. "It's not good enough to have technology," Carr said. "Businesses need services to manage and run [machines]."

Following a brief trial in which the Landscape was offered for free, the new service will be incorporated into Canonical's support package. Landscape will compete with Red Hat Network and Novell Zenworks Suite.

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