WHY MAKE THE MOVE TO L INUX?
O P E R A T I O N A L B E N E F I T S A N D I S S U E S O F
U N I X / L I N U X M I G R A T I O N
Over the past few years, Linux has emerged as a credible alternative solution to
traditional Unix system deployments, particularly for basic infrastructure workloads
traditionally found behind the scenes at businesses, governmental organizations, and
universities. Linux was intended from its introduction in the early 1990s to deliver a
Unix-like experience, and because Linux draws on many of the same utilities and
applications used in Unix, the parallels between these two environments, for
programmers and for system administrators, are remarkably strong. Early
deployments often took the form of a basic network service, such as a print server,
file server, Web server, or firewall system
These early workloads generally were not dependent upon layered infrastructure
software such as transaction processing software, database software or application
server software, and were typically invisible to end users and executive management.
If an organization’s needs were to outgrow the capabilities of the Linux system, or
should the Linux prove unsuitable to the workload assigned, a Unix system could
easily be substituted with little fanfare.
After proving itself in these less glamorous roles, Linux now is increasingly being
seen as a solution suitable for more demanding business workloads. The introduction
of commercial software ranging from databases, Web application servers,
middleware, infrastructure software and management tools, it is apparent that Linux
now offers a software stack that can be a credible alternative to Unix systems.
In particular, the move of Oracle and other vendors to port its database products to
Linux is exactly the kind of industry support that lends credibility to the power of the
open-source software movement. By offering equal or higher capabilities along with
better price/performance than competitive technologies, users can explore the
possibility of migrating elements of their installed base Unix/RISC servers, over time,
to more cost-effective volume server systems (servers priced less than $25,000) and
to midrange enterprise server systems (servers priced from $25,000 to $499,999).
ECONOMICS
Past IDC studies on total cost of ownership (TCO) consistently found that the most
significant cost item associated with a 3- or 5-year TCO calculation is the IT staffing
cost. Considering the similarity between Linux and Unix software environments, it is
not surprising that hourly staffing costs for full-time equivalent (FTE) administrative
personnel are similar. However, these IDC studies have also found that for some
workloads, Linux servers can have a lower TCO, especially for Web-enabled
workloads and infrastructure workloads. These differences often are the result of less
complicated – and therefore less costly – configurations on the part of the Linux
systems.