Qubes for enterprise usage

[tggrps]

Hi all,

Did anyone try to use Qubes for enterprise use cases? e.g. for securing access to sensitive resources? How did that end up?

Last time I looked at Qubes, it didn't have enterprise manageability features and required users to be familiar with Linux, which is not always the case with enterprise users. The HCL is also a bit of a concern as enterprise laptops might not well support Linux (audio/video/docking stations/wifi/power management...).

Details about your experience with Qubes today for enterprise users (either power users or simple users) would be helpful!

Thanks!

[unman]

Qubes has salt stack and some features for manageability.
Look here:
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/salt
https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2017/06/27/qubes-admin-api

It does not require *users* to be familiar with Linux, but undoubtedly
admins do. I don't know what a power user is.
Sensible selection from the HCL make the choices somewhat limited, but
workable.
I know some SMEs that use Qubes, but the sysadmins are extremely
competent in Linux and Xen.
The biggest blocker to widespread adoption is the somewhat sketchy
support for Windows imo. (Win 7 support is generally good, but later?)

[tggrps]

Thanks for the response - interesting to learn about the lacking Windows guest support.
Do you know which specific SMEs are using Qubes OS? (e.g. specific users I can talk to) Interested in learning more from their experience pushing it to more than a handful of users.

BTW - also see this article about Qubes OS (and others) that also claims there's a big problem about hardware compatibility with Qubes OS making it impractical for enterprises:
https://www.brianmadden.com/opinion/client-virtualization-part-2-how-client-vms-have-evolved

Thank you!

[unman]

Please don't top-post when mailing the list.
I know the admins who use Qubes watch this list - if they want to chip
in, they will.
I'd seen that article. I didnt find it particularly useful. I dont think
it's fair to say that Qubes has a problem with hardware compatibility,
any more than Linux has such a problem.
As I said, choosing the hardware is important.
If you commit to Qubes, then its simple to find hardware that works
well. Probably not the latest processors/mboards, but solid enterprise
laptops are available and work well. It's certainly true that you cant
pick *any* laptop and have a trouble free install/use, but frankly the
same goes for (e.g) Debian.

[Andrew David Wong]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Qubes 4.0 is designed for enterprise usage. For some examples and
ideas regarding use cases, please take a look at the following:

https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2017/06/27/qubes-admin-api/
https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2017/10/03/core3/
https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2018/01/22/qubes-air/

Companies interested in enterprise extensions and deployments of
Qubes OS are welcome to contact us at <busi...@qubes-os.org>.

- --
Andrew David Wong (Axon)
Community Manager, Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org

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