The Linux Advantage
Whether you’re replacing your back office proprietary servers with Linux or deploying your new mission critical application on it, the advantages are numerous. Apart from the cost advantage that no proprietary OS can beat, Linux offers you a great deal of flexibility in the form of
1. Lower hardware cost
Proprietary operating systems like IBM-AIX and Sun Solaris are built with the proprietary hardware in mind. Hence to take full advantage of the power of these OSes, businesses are required to buy proprietary hardware in addition to the OS. This leads to what is popularly referred to as hardware vendor Lock-in. You cannot use the hardware for anything else. With Linux the story is different. Linux can run on both high end servers and low end commodity hardware.
Computer Hardware failure happens. Thus, instead of buying a single UNIX hardware for thousands of dollars, the same money can buy many 1U commodity servers that could be setup as a high-availability or fail over cluster, delivering same or better performance. Also, if you are running out of hardware budget, you can easily convert that desktop to your Linux file server!
2. Interoperability
The Linux Operating system is a built through a peer review community system that boasts of thousands of developers no single company can afford. This diversity in development team has enabled Linux to evolve into an interoperable operating system that is built on open standards and native networking protocols. This has made it so easy for Linux to interoperate with other proprietary operating environments. Linux can work with all the various flavors of UNIX and Windows.
3. Security
Linux is secure by design. Unlike other monolithic operating systems, the Linux kernel is modular in nature. The advantage of a modular design is that you can remove as many redundant and unneeded modules that could pose a security risk to the whole system. If your server will run as a mail server, you can easily remove all other services on the OS, leaving you with a leaner, more secure and better manageable system. The enterprise flavors of Linux also have a very quick bug-discovery-and fix cycle, hence you benefit from quick patches for common internet vulnerabilities.
4. Customization
There is a technical and legal limit to how much you can seek to hack/go into proprietary systems to gain customization benefits. With Linux, you have not only the Operating system, but also the source code! You can recompile the Linux kernel to meet your specific hardware needs. You can rebuild a new kernel that will take care of your memory intensive business application.
Most times more hardware is not the solution to performance issues, simple customization and tuning has saved a lot of businesses the cost of additional hardware. You can install and reinstall Linux on as many machines as you like, for as many times you like, you will not pay a dime.
5. Performance and reliability
Enterprise grade Linux was built with performance in mind. Your Linux server was designed for maximum uptime. It is thus no surprise to see Linux servers powering mission-critical applications. Linux also powers the most visited websites on the internet today. Linux can run for years without needing a reboot! Because of its slim and light nature, Linux can run your heavy weight enterprise application continuously 24X7X365 with minimal to no human intervention as long as the hardware components do not fail.
With Linux, you can squeeze out more and more performance out of your enterprise servers.
1. Lower hardware cost
Proprietary operating systems like IBM-AIX and Sun Solaris are built with the proprietary hardware in mind. Hence to take full advantage of the power of these OSes, businesses are required to buy proprietary hardware in addition to the OS. This leads to what is popularly referred to as hardware vendor Lock-in. You cannot use the hardware for anything else. With Linux the story is different. Linux can run on both high end servers and low end commodity hardware.
Computer Hardware failure happens. Thus, instead of buying a single UNIX hardware for thousands of dollars, the same money can buy many 1U commodity servers that could be setup as a high-availability or fail over cluster, delivering same or better performance. Also, if you are running out of hardware budget, you can easily convert that desktop to your Linux file server!
2. Interoperability
The Linux Operating system is a built through a peer review community system that boasts of thousands of developers no single company can afford. This diversity in development team has enabled Linux to evolve into an interoperable operating system that is built on open standards and native networking protocols. This has made it so easy for Linux to interoperate with other proprietary operating environments. Linux can work with all the various flavors of UNIX and Windows.
3. Security
Linux is secure by design. Unlike other monolithic operating systems, the Linux kernel is modular in nature. The advantage of a modular design is that you can remove as many redundant and unneeded modules that could pose a security risk to the whole system. If your server will run as a mail server, you can easily remove all other services on the OS, leaving you with a leaner, more secure and better manageable system. The enterprise flavors of Linux also have a very quick bug-discovery-and fix cycle, hence you benefit from quick patches for common internet vulnerabilities.
4. Customization
There is a technical and legal limit to how much you can seek to hack/go into proprietary systems to gain customization benefits. With Linux, you have not only the Operating system, but also the source code! You can recompile the Linux kernel to meet your specific hardware needs. You can rebuild a new kernel that will take care of your memory intensive business application.
Most times more hardware is not the solution to performance issues, simple customization and tuning has saved a lot of businesses the cost of additional hardware. You can install and reinstall Linux on as many machines as you like, for as many times you like, you will not pay a dime.
5. Performance and reliability
Enterprise grade Linux was built with performance in mind. Your Linux server was designed for maximum uptime. It is thus no surprise to see Linux servers powering mission-critical applications. Linux also powers the most visited websites on the internet today. Linux can run for years without needing a reboot! Because of its slim and light nature, Linux can run your heavy weight enterprise application continuously 24X7X365 with minimal to no human intervention as long as the hardware components do not fail.
With Linux, you can squeeze out more and more performance out of your enterprise servers.