We have a whole bunch of both redhat enterprise and solaris 5.7,8,9 systems and we would like to make images of the drives. Does anyone have recommendations on how to best image these systems?

Try kickstart for Linux
and jumpstart with Flash image of the whole system (check /usr/sbin/flarcreate) for Solaris

Is there no equivalent to ghost to make this stuff work in a simple way or does someone know how to make ghost work to image unix drives?

Yes, the equivalent is g4u. Go to http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/. This is an easy system "cloning" tool and it worked great. It is free for private users and non-military/related commericial users. You have to find out the defination term of "Non-military/releated". And you have to pay if you want to use g4u in an environment related to commercial (re)sale.

Read carefully on the above URL. It is very clear and step-by-step process.

Just some suggestions:

g4u HowTo Create the Image:
1. Download the floppy image from the above website
2. Copy the floppy image to a floppy.
3. Create a new user called "install" on your ftp server. Make sure the "install" user has Write Access to the root directory of the ftp server
4. Prepare the workstation that you want to use as your master... just set it up the way you want all the others
5. Boot the workstation with the floppy you created above
6. Type the following command: "uploaddisk FTP-IP FILENAME.gz"
7. Enter the password for the "install" user
8. Sit back and wait for it to finish

g4u HowTo Load from the Image:
1. Boot the destination pc with the same floppy as above
2. Type the following command: "slurpdisk FTP-IP FILENAME.gz"
3. Enter the "install" user's password
4. Sit back and wait until finished.
5. Power off and restart the system.


Requirements / Notes:
1. Workstations to be cloned should be similar in hardware. Disk sizes, especially. See the site above for more specific details.
2. You'll need a DHCP Server on your network. When booting to the floppy, the workstations will request a DHCP IP Address
3. Your FTP Server should support large file sizes. Some Linux FTP Servers only support file sizes up to 2Gb.
4. This system scans your hard disk bit-by-bit, so it will image any OS.