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why Linux ?

 
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Maaz
Valued Contributor

why Linux ?

Dear Experts some times ago I asked a question that "is Linux Stable/reliable enough" http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1136641

Please help me creating/writing a presentation, whose topic is "Why Choose Linux over Unix" or "The Benefits Of Linux over Unix".

I am asking this becuase one of our client has intentions to buy IBM-AIX to run SEP. My task is to convince them to use/buy Linux(Enterprise Linux) to run SEP(ERP).

I have some points in mind, on which I can write e.g Cost and wide range of Apps that can be run on Linux, but not on Unix. Linux is almost Hardware Independent, while Unix is almost hardware Dependent.

I have heard that there is some support advantage using SEP(ERP) on Suse Linux Enterprise Server.

Anyone of you can please provide me some points, or share any article on this subject.

points that focus on COST, HARDWARE, Wide Range of Applications availability etc will also be appreciated

Regards
Maaz
12 REPLIES 12
Ivan Ferreira
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: why Linux ?

Hi Maaz. I asked the same question a time ago for a presentation.

Please start reading that thread:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1133264

Good answers there.
Por que hacerlo dificil si es posible hacerlo facil? - Why do it the hard way, when you can do it the easy way?
Maaz
Valued Contributor

Re: why Linux ?

Thanks Ivan for help.
I would appreciate more replies esp that focuses on Linux is Better then Unix.
Both Linux and Unix are reliable stable and secure, but Linux has edge because.. linux is cheaper(cost wise), has no especial hw limit(as unicies has), wider range of apps are avialable to run, and
ESP I would appreciate if anyone gives the WORDS/THOUGHTS that as compare to Linux, there is no additional advantage to run SEP on AIX(since Liux is secure, reliable & stable as AIX), but the additional adv Linux gives that it can run on Cheaper Hardware, as well as Linux is also Cheap(cost wise only ;-) ), so it is better to run SEP(erp) on Linux instead of AIX(unix).
Ivan Ferreira
Honored Contributor

Re: why Linux ?

Sorry Maaz, I did not realize that was comparing Linux vs Unix.

From my perspective, Linux can't compare one to one with other Unix version. Depending of what you need, Linux can be placed a lot under other Unix flavors.

These are some thigs that I have to go in favor of Unix:

- AIX, HP-UX, Solaris volume manager with mirror capabilities very stable and tested. AIX provides one of the best volume manager from my point of view. Clustered mirrors and snapshots. Solaris ZFS is excelent.

- Clustering solutions. Very reliable, flexible and powerfull clustering solutions for HP-UX and Solaris. Split brain handling, global/cluster file systems, etc. HACMP not too good to me. I don't know how good is ServiceGuard for Linux as compared with HP-UX.

- Crash dump handling and debugging.

- Dynamic Reconfiguration. Movement of hardware resources between "physical" or logical partitios (memory, cpu, I/O). Hot swap device replacement (OLAR).

- Solaris zones are really good for virtualization.

- Longer binary compatibility.

- Support quality?. Don't know, support service for any providers is bad here ;).
Por que hacerlo dificil si es posible hacerlo facil? - Why do it the hard way, when you can do it the easy way?
Steven Schweda
Honored Contributor

Re: why Linux ?

> I would appreciate more replies esp that
> focuses on Linux is Better then Unix.

Whether it's true or not?

> [...] Liux is secure, reliable & stable as
> AIX [...]

That's your opinion. IBM might not agree
(although they also sell Linux).

> [...] wider range of apps are avialable to
> run, [...]

And, even assuming that that's true, if you
don't need any of those other applications,
how big a benefit is that?

> [...] Linux gives that it can run on
> Cheaper Hardware, [...]

And cheaper = more reliable? In some cases,
price is not the most important
consideration.


If I were looking for advice from one of my
vendors on which OS to choose, I'd tend to
ignore advice I got from anyone who knew the
answer before doing any investigation of my
situation. I'd also tend not to give great
weight to advice from anyone who knows all
about one OS (say, Linux), but nothing about
another (say, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, or
whatever).

But your client may think differently from
me.
Steven E. Protter
Exalted Contributor

Re: why Linux ?

Shalom,

I saw a study by HP showing their IA-64 systems running HP-UX 11.31 with 16 CPU's in two nodes could the work of 50 Dell CPU's in a 10 node HA configuration running 32 bit Linux Red Hat.

Was that fair? No. It was designed to dell Itanium hardware.

What I can tell you from our business is the really large customers with really large databases like their HP-UX.

The smaller ones with smaller budgets like their Linux.

I can't remember the last time we had real downtime in production attributed to the OS anywhere.

I have notices some serious Quality Assurance issues with Red Hat Linux. Serious problems such as memory leaks and poor functionality, especially on the dot zero releases. Serious problems surviving two releases.

I have seen better quality releases from HP on HP-UX. However not everyone or every project can afford the OS.

The right tool for the right job.

SEP
Steven E Protter
Owner of ISN Corporation
http://isnamerica.com
http://hpuxconsulting.com
Sponsor: http://hpux.ws
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hpuxlinux
Founder http://newdatacloud.com
dirk dierickx
Honored Contributor

Re: why Linux ?

hey, i prefer linux, and promote it as much as i can.
if you're running an all 'open-source' stack, you couldn't do much better then to run in on linux.
but, i don't know this SEP thing, and i doubt it's open-source. and it doesn't matter that linux is good, because it will only be as good as the application running on it (in the eyes of the end-user).
what you need to do is ask these SEP guys what their prefered platform is, which has the best support, which is used for INITIAL development. then you'll know what to run it on.

linux is a great environment, for admins even more (ihmo), but if the application doesn't run well...

read these articles in the press where they say linux was not ready yet, and they are going back to windows/solaris/whatever. linux was ready, the application vendor wasn't ready for linux yet. ofcourse that makes linux invalid as a platform too.
Ted A
Occasional Advisor

Re: why Linux ?

I understand that you want to build a case for Linux in your environment, but you may get better answers asking the question both ways; that is, where is AIX the better choice, where is Linux (Red Hat, SuSe, etc) the better choice. There are a number of factors that will build a solid, non-biased case, and possibly for Linux in a Cost-Benefit Analasys:

Hardware Cost and support over 5 years
OS Cost and support over 5 years
Application support differences
Expertise of supporting team
Willingness of all involved to center on a scpecific OS

And while your developing this, consider what you are supporting now. Is there history to point to that pushes the descision one way or the other? I say this because we have had specific issues with IBM support that made the choice much more clear.

Finally, look for templates from the likes of HP and IBM that can give the proper verbage that CIO and others will understand.
Court Campbell
Honored Contributor

Re: why Linux ?

I can't specifically say one is better than the other. Cost is going to be the main difference. You can save money by going to Linux and using less expensive hardware, but I would not say that makes Linux better. The main thing when choosing Linux IMO is the hardware. You are going to want to buy supported hardware that has great support for drivers, etc. If you go into it willy-nilly you might find yourself fixing issues every other day. This is where company's like IBM and HP excel with UNIX. You have a limited set of hardware and you are able to tune the heck out of it. I have been using HP-UX for years and wouldn't mind moving to Linux, but I don't know that it will really give us anything. If anything I would much prefer to move to Solaris and give Oracle on ZFS a whirl.
"The difference between me and you? I will read the man page." and "Respect the hat." and "You could just do a search on ITRC, you don't need to start a thread on a topic that's been answered 100 times already." Oh, and "What. no points???"
~sesh
Esteemed Contributor

Re: why Linux ?

Here is what Novell (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) have to say in comparison to Windows, Solaris & RHEL:

http://www.novell.com/linux/compare.html?tab=1

Here is Linux advocacy:
http://www.linux.org/info/advocacy.html

When you are trying to think about the advantages of Linux over AIX / UNIX - there are not many you can point out. As you said, hardware support & cost of purchase are definitely the advantages of Linux. Also, Linux has more software easily available, but that wouldn't hold much relevance if the sole purpose is to run SEP on Linux.

Good Luck!