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You should be aware of the fundamental changes taking place in computer
technologies markets. One of the most significant is the introduction
of Linux to mainstream corporate computing environments.
Why invest in Linux? With established network operating system products
available from Microsoft, Sun, IBM, and Novell, why is Linux so “hot”?
- Freedom
- Cost
- Reliability
- Security
Freedom – Linux offers its adopters freedom – freedom to change something
in their system if it doesn’t meet your current needs. Linux is not proprietary
and , due to it’s open source nature, you're free to view and innovate
the product.
Linux is built on standards. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) ratified
industry accepted standards that ensure interoperability with other products.
You are freed from the impact another company’s decisions as to what capacities
they think you should have. There are no proprietary components that lock
you into a specific vendor’s solution – nothing to hold you or your hostage.
If you’re conducting a security audit, you’re free to review the underlying
code running your critical systems. Linux frees you from an outsider’s
idea of what technologies you and your company need to have available
and puts the responsibility and control in your hands, where it should
be.
Cost – Linux is much more cost-effective than other operating systems
products available. Linux is free, as in $0, and non-proprietary, unlike
its commercial counterparts that require multiple licenses. The most significant
cost is the ongoing cost of operations. Hardware costs, administration
costs, and system availability all contribute to the actual cost of a
system.
Studies have shown that Linux/Unix systems are more stable, require less
hardware and need fewer administrators to operate them than comparable
Windows based platforms. Universities and corporations across the country
maintain multi-thousand user campuses with minimal server teams. How?
They are Linux and Unix on their back-end systems. In an article entitled
A Strategic Comparison of Windows Vs Unix, written by Paul Murphy and
published on LinuxWorld.com, he reported a 3.67 to 1 ratio of systems
administrators between the two platforms. In other words, Windows based
systems require, on average, 3.67 times as many support personnel as Linux
based systems.
A second significant factor in determining real cost to operate a system
is uptime. When was the last time that you heard about a Windows based
machine running, in a production environment, non-stop for a year? It
just doesn’t happen. Linux/Unix machines achieving this level of uptime
is common. In fact, it’s the norm. Desktop users will be surprised if
a server is not available, rather than groaning, “Not again!” Measurement
of productivity losses due to system down time is difficult but apparent.
The loss of productivity and revenue is a real cost to businesses that
every decision maker must take into account.
Reliability – Well designed computer systems run for hundreds of days
on end without having to be stopped and restarted. It is not normal to
reboot or initial program load (IPL) a computer system regularly. It is
not unreasonable to expect zero unscheduled system outages.
Though Microsoft is a widely recognized name in the computer industry,
we feel that it’s important to let companies know that there are other
viable options available to them.
Some operating systems have convinced computer users that it is a normal course of operation
to be required to restart computer systems periodically and that occasional
“crashes” or “blue screens” are acceptable. Using the largest software operating system's published
figures, a 5000 user manufacturing business running eight Windows 2000
servers can expect a major server failure every 13 days, according to
Paul Murphy’s article, A Strategic Comparison of Windows Vs Unix. This
same environment running on a Linux or Unix platform can expect a major
server failure . . . never.
Security - The fundamental strength of Linux security stems from it’s
core design. Linux and Unix were engineered from the onset to be secure
and it shows in the number of security related updates to the systems
that have been released. The system was designed such that only the appropriate
applications relevant to the system’s function need to be installed on
the platform. Translation – if my Linux server needs to provide Microsoft
compliant file and print services to my server, music player, or any other
non-relevant software application installed on it. That’s a pretty basic
security premise. Fewer applications = fewer lines of code = fewer points
of attack or failure.
Anyone in the technical trenches is familiar with the security problems
plaguing Microsoft platforms. The scenario: Exploit discovered. Patch
released. Repeat process. This is not an occasional process. It happens
almost every week. In fact, I can’t recall a week that has passed where
this process has not occurred. There are over 1500 patches out for Windows
2000. Aside from the cost to businesses for support staff needing to keep
up with patches, what are the implications if systems are compromised
because a patch was missed?
The core design of Linux simplifies administration, improves performance
and scalability, and increases uptime. Linux systems are designed to be
“assembled” in a modular fashion, where only the software systems required
to perform the intended function of the machine need to be installed.
Default permissions in the Linux environment are assigned in a way akin
to Novell’s approach with their Netware operation systems – and exactly
the opposite of Microsoft’s viewpoint. Nothing is available to the user
until they are specifically granted access. This ensures that permitting
system access is a conscious decision rather than hoping that all areas
where user access should be denied have been properly configured. Additionally,
firewall support is included in the platform, making it practical, and
a good practice, to configure the machine to deny all access not relevant
to the task at hand.
We’ve mentioned only a few of the strengths inherent in the Linux platform.
Linux offers you the freedom to serve the needs of your business more
reliably, with greater security, and at a lower cost than the other options
in the marketplace today. No platform satisfies every requirement for
every task, but in many cases Linux will prove to be the smarter choice.
GoldTech's Linux services provide one of the industry's most comprehensive
portfolios of consulting, integration and support services to help you
migrate to and optimize Linux and open source in your multi vendor environment.
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