discuss: Production use distribution? ---Re: [olug] Linux sysadmin position

[Brian Wiese]

On Sun, 12 Jan 2003 15:44:19 -0800
"Nick Walter" <waltern at iivip.com> wrote:

|When we began phasing out Unixware (yuck) and going to Linux for
production
|systems where I work, there was only one distro choice, Red Hat.  Not
|because it's a corporate distro or support contracts are available, but
|simply because the vendor support was there.  Oracle was saying use Red
Hat
|if you want our db, telephony vendors were telling us use Red Hat if you
|want supported linux device drivers, etc.

When you/they say support, do they mean it "only works on (coded for)
Redhat" or they "only test it on Redhat"?  I'm just wondering how a
program designed for GNU/Linux would work on one distribution and not
another?  (hard coded to use specific Redhat programs? paths?)

I'd really like to find out/address the point (if it exists) that perhaps
not all distros are alike?  They cannot all be customized to work exactly
the same (after removing all the fluff)?

|We'd have used Billy Joe's HomeBrew Linux for l33t h4xx0rs if that's what
|they'd told us would have been supported.  I think you'll find a lot of
|people saying the same thing.  While other Linux distros have various
|advantages over Red Hat, application and hardware support are *far* more
|important to businesses that a nicer installer or package manager or
|whatnot.  Even if Red Hat lags a little behind other distros in some
areas,
|it's still a trillion times easier to maintain a bunch of RH servers vs a
|bunch of crash happy NT/2000 servers.
|
|Nick Walter

Thanks

|
|----- Original Message -----
|From: "Brian Wiese" <bwiese at cotse.com>
|To: <olug at olug.org>
|Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 1:01 PM
|Subject: discuss: Production use distribution? ---Re: [olug] Linux
sysadmin
|position
|
|
|> On Sat, 11 Jan 2003 21:37:12 -0600 (CST)
|> "IrishMASMS" <IrishMASMS at olug.org> wrote:
|>
|> |FYI: http://www.danga.com/jobs/sysadmin.txt
|> |
|> ...
|> "-- linux (debian, redhat)"
|> ...
|> "15 database servers (MySQL, mix of RedHat and Debian)"
|> ...
|> "20+ web servers (Debian (mostly netbooting), mod_perl and/or
|>  apache+mod_proxy+lingerd)"
|>
|> I must say, I was a bit impressed to them use Debian as well as Redhat
for
|> their main production GNU/Linux distros.  I guess I'm just somewhat
|> suprised to see Debian in use because it's not a commercial
distribution
|> like Redhat, SuSE, Mandrake, etc... but then again neither is FreeBSD
|> correct? - and it's been very popular in production environments for
many
|> years, including running Hotmail[1] in the past (before Micro$oft took
|> over).
|>
|> Though I know that in different parts of the world, different
|> distributions of GNU/Linux are more popular (SuSE and Mandrake in
Europe,
|> YellowDog and  TurboLinux in Africa/Asia -- read an article about this
|> once) and Redhat is the most popular in the U.S.  (and world now - even
|> though SuSE was AFAIR?)  --- I think it ultimately comes to a decision
by
|> the administrator of which distro to use, they'll be the ones that use
|> it... and we talked about this at the installfest as well (Linux gives
you
|> choices).
|>
|> My question:  What are your opinions and preferences on a GNU/Linux
|> distribution for use in a production environment and why?  Would you
|> recommend a specific distro for a business?
|>
|> To me it just seems most companies see GNU/Linux and think "Redhat" 
(ohhh
|> it gets me when people say they run Linux 7.3!!!) and thats it, thats
the
|> decision, thats what distro they will use - simply because its popular?
|> Others have more insight and just prefer one that better meets their
|> needs/experience/preference perhaps, and what a unified distribution in
|> use.  As for continuity... I feel a GNU/Linux sysadmin should 'know'
how
|> to configure/admin a GNU/Linux system - not just a Redhat, Mandrake or
|> Debian one... and definately that any distro could be customized just
as
|> well to meet a specific need.
|>
|> So, what are the arguments for choosing a production/business GNU/Linux
|> distro.... besides system administrator preference?  (of which is more
|> manageable/easier to use?)  Some preferences:
|> - ease of use, administration, management, control over system
|> - package management preference
|> - default install/customization of system
|>
|> Business perspective:
|> == Redhat
|> + commercial support available
|> + 3rd party consultants available
|> + large user base
|> + security patches released quickly for packages
|> + default support for some special commercial software?
|> (Some software may say, requires Redhat 7.3 or better? lol)
|>
|> == Debian
|> +/- not dependant on a company, but rather community for support
|> + 3rd party consultants available
|> + large user base
|> + security patches released quickly for packages
|>
|> == Others?
|>
|> In the end, I think I'm still biased for Debian since I use it and
enjoy
|> it, and find it easily configurable enough for any task/environment.
(and
|> some philosophical reasons as well)
|>
|> [1] http://www.securityoffice.net/mssecrets/hotmail.html#_Toc491601819
|> ------------
|> "Experience in the past has shown us that most programmer + sysadmins
|> prefer to just program.  So, we're looking for somebody that perhaps
|> knows how to program, but doesn't necessarily enjoy it.  :)"
|> ....
|> haha! sounds like me!  (I should learn to program more though)
|>
|>
|>   Brian Wiese | bwiese at cotse.com | aim: unolinuxguru
|> ------------------------------------------------------
|>   GnuPG/PGP key 0x1E820A73 | "FREEDOM!" - Braveheart
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  Brian Wiese | bwiese at cotse.com | aim: unolinuxguru
------------------------------------------------------
  GnuPG/PGP key 0x1E820A73 | "FREEDOM!" - Braveheart 
------------------------------------------------------  
This is not about Napster or DVDs. It's about your Freedom.
  I'll see your DMCA and raise you a First Amendment.
              http://www.anti-dmca.org