Operating System - Linux
1748204 Members
4372 Online
108759 Solutions
New Discussion юеВ

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

 
James Specht
Trusted Contributor

Redhat - Winds of Change

OK, I am looking for input on linux versions people use. I have 6 production boxes running RedHat linux and come April 2004 I can no longer patch my systems through RH. I have used RH since 5.2 and really have not looked at other products myself. The bosses and myself can not justify $1400 per year per system to keep using RH linux, enterprise or not. So the search begins for the next linux vendor.

I must have patch support and the OS must be able to run Oracle and I want a strong command line interface. I hate it when the best way to do something is through a GUI only! Right now I am looking at SUSE or mandrake as a primary replacement for RH.

Any and all input is greatly appreciated!

--Jim
"Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be taught how not to. So it is with the great programmers."
22 REPLIES 22
Steven E. Protter
Exalted Contributor

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

Red Hat has a project called Fedora.

It will take over support and development of the free versions. I believe that might be what you are looking for.

You can get AS support from Red Hat for as little as $349.

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
Martin P.J. Zinser
Honored Contributor

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

Hello Jim,

I am using SuSE for a couple of years now on my private gear. Generally I do like them, although for a production environment I would check a new distro on a test system before depoloying it on the servers (but hey,this I do/would do with any OS ;-)

They should be able to put up more of a presence in the US since they were bought by Novell very recently.

Greetings, Martin
erik petersen_1
Occasional Advisor

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

Hi Jim,
I too have just entered a similar scenario. We were just fixing to launch some new servers using RH 9 then we saw the announcement.

I do have a server that just completed one full year of uptime service running SuSE 8.0, Apache, MySQL and sendmail. This server moves over 55GB/mo. Can't vouch for Oracle support but I did see library support for Oracle.

Now that Novell owns SuSE, who knows whats going to happen ... JFS and Reiser removed in favor of Netware volumes !?! ;-)

What about Debian?

Best regards,
-erik
The mind is like a parachute -- if it doesn't open, it doesn't work.
Mark Grant
Honored Contributor

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

I first tried Red Hat at version 4.2 and thought "Wow, that installed quick". I stuck with it until around 5.2 when I realised it wasn't actually very good.

I ran SuSe on several servers for a couple of years and was really pleasantly surprised. As long as you remember to disable SuSe-Config as soon as you have installed the box, it behaves almost like a Unix box :). It comes pretty close to Red Hat in terms of support though that might change now that Novell are involved. I know IBM run Oracle on SuSe at several sites and it is supported by Oracle.

We are moving to Slackware on several machines because it doesn't do much which is just how we like it :)
Never preceed any demonstration with anything more predictive than "watch this"
Ragu_1
Regular Advisor

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

Some people may argue that you should buy support services for software you have on your machines. the money going in makes the software better and more secure. This is not entirely true! Debian GNU/Linux would be a good choice for you, with its update tool `apt-get' and some other CLI tools. Security breaches are disclosed and fixes are made public. Right now, Debian.org has been cracked into, full disclosures may be posted any time soon. Better deploy a solution where you have full control instead of the vendor of that software/OS.
Share and share alike
Jerome Henry
Honored Contributor

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

Hi Jim,

Same issue for us, RH since 5.2.

We are turning to fedora, assuming we'll be able to decide what needs to be updated and not, not getting the latest package just because it has been released...

We are not turning to mandrake, because we feel it's often too heavy, and not as efficient as redhat, as far as stability and home made tools are concerned.

Not to Suse either, for the community seems to be less wide than RH based one. Of course, this is in no way criticising these distro, just our local feeling. If your purpose is just Oracle and command line, Suse is said to be strong on Oracle support, being the first to have been officialy supported by Oracle...

ht help you choose.

J
You can lean only on what resists you...
Bill Thorsteinson
Honored Contributor

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

I've been running development systems on Debian since I had to upgrade them. The dependency handling is extremely good.

I had a little problem installing a virus scanner deployed as an RPM. However, once I worked out the dependencies and got it installed
it has worked flawlessly.
James Specht
Trusted Contributor

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

SEP: Fedora is sounding more like a BETA version of Enterprise if you read the RH releases. I don't think I want to stay with RH that badly. I do have a couple of servers that are 2 CPUs or less and could get the AS version for those, but two of my systems have 4 CPUs in them. Forcing the ES version.

Martin: Our Assiociate Director is our old network admin and he is big on Novell and what they could do with SUSE. I just need to find out what applications are supported on SUSE. And I live by your testing any and all OS thoughly.

Mark: Thanks for the oracle info!

Jerome: Another mark for SUSE and oracle. I'm not against doing my own patching but I have 36 systems to maintain all by my lonesome and need any help I can get. I have truly fallen in love with CPM and up2date!

Thanks for the input! Keep it coming! I'll keep checking this thread. I can't get online as much as I used to at the moment due to a serious upgrade we are doing over the holiday break and all the last minute details need buttoned up.

--Jim
"Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be taught how not to. So it is with the great programmers."
erik petersen_1
Occasional Advisor

Re: Redhat - Winds of Change

FYI and slightly OT:
It looks like Debian was hit yesterday. See:
http://lists.netsys.com/pipermail/full-disclosure/2003-November/014019.html

-erik
The mind is like a parachute -- if it doesn't open, it doesn't work.