Unix to Linux Migration Whitepaper

UNIXtoLinuxMigration:AnIntroductionByNathanThomas

AbstractThispaperisintendedtoprovideadiscussionoftheimportantconsiderations,bestpractices,andresourcesformigrationsfromaRISCbasedplatformtoLinux.ItpresentsthedifferencesbetweenUNIXandLinuxandprovidesanoverviewofwhattoexpectwhenmigratingtoLinux.ThedocumentshouldserveasageneralreferenceguideduringatypicalmigrationandprovideinformationonadditionalRedHatresourcesthatwillassistwiththeoverallstrategyandimplementation.

Revision4a.February2005

Copyright2005RedHat,Inc.Allrightsreserved.RedHatandtheShadowmanlogoareregisteredtrademarksofRedHat,Inc.intheUSandothercountries.LinuxisaregisteredtrademarkofLinusTorvalds.Allothertrademarksreferencedhereinarethetrademarksoftheirrespectiveowners.

TableofContentsIntroduction........................................................................................................3

WhatisRedHatEnterpriseLinux?..............................................................3Whatisopensource?...................................................................................4WhatisRedHat'sbusinessmodel?............................................................5

Operatingsystemdifferences............................................................................5BasicUNIXinfrastructure.............................................................................5Opensourcetools.......................................................................................6Filesystem....................................................................................................6Performance.................................................................................................6Stability.........................................................................................................8Scalability......................................................................................................8Security.........................................................................................................9

Enterpriseoperatingenvironment.....................................................................10TypicalLinuxusages....................................................................................10ITinfrastructure............................................................................................11Desktop.........................................................................................................12ISVapplicationsupport................................................................................13LargescaleLinuxdeployment.....................................................................13Remotemanagementcapabilities...............................................................14Skillstransferandtraining............................................................................15Directoryandauthenticationservices..........................................................15

Proprietaryapplicationportinganddevelopment.............................................15AwordabouttheGPL..................................................................................15TheLinuxdevelopmentenvironment:CandC++.......................................16Thirdpartylibraries......................................................................................17RedHatDeveloperSuite..............................................................................17Specializedportingtools..............................................................................17Javaandscriptinglanguages.......................................................................18Softwarepackaging......................................................................................18

SupportingLinuxintheenterprise....................................................................18RedHatGlobalSupportServices................................................................18GlobalSupportServicesTechnicalAccountManager................................19RedHatGlobalProfessionalServices.........................................................19GNUProenterprisetoolsupport...................................................................20RedHatGlobalLearningServices...............................................................20RedHatNetwork..........................................................................................20

Migrationstrategies...........................................................................................21Suggestedmigrationplansandtimelines....................................................21

ISVapplicationsupport......................................................................................23Conclusion.........................................................................................................24

UnixtoLinuxMigration:AnIntroduction 2

IntroductionAsenterprisecustomershavebecomefrustratedwiththepriceandperformanceofproprietaryUNIXsolutions,theyhavesoughtawaytotakeadvantageofthemultivendor,lowcost,highperformanceenvironmentprovidedbyIntelandAMD

commoditypricedhardware.Historically,thelackofastable,secure,scalable,andhighperformanceoperatingenvironmentrelativetoUNIXhaskeptmanycustomersfrombeingabletojustifyamovetocommoditychipsets.EventhosecustomerswillingtoacceptthelimitationsoftheMicrosoftWindows

operatingsystemrunningoncommodityhardwarehavefacedaverytoughmigration,porting,andintegrationeffort.Suchcostandeffortposeasignificantbarriertoentry.UNIXvariantshavebeenreleasedforcommodityplatforms,butnoneofthemhavebeenabletoprovideadequatehardwaresupport,softwaresupport,orscalabilitytomakeIntelorAMDaneffectivealternativetoRISCbasedplatforms.Now,asaproductofthecontinualimprovementofcommodityplatformsandtherapiddevelopmentoftheLinuxoperatingsystem,thereisfinallyaviablealternativetoUNIXforrunningenterpriseandmissioncriticalapplications.Linuxisnowthefastestgrowingoperatingsystemintheworld,accordingtoIDC,anditismostoftenreplacingproprietaryUNIXinenterpriseITinfrastructure.ThispaperoutlinesthebasicdifferencesbetweenLinuxandUNIXandprovidesinformationtomakeinformeddecisionsaboutwhereLinuxmayreplaceUNIXintheenterprisetoday.

WhatisRedHatEnterpriseLinux?

PriortothereleaseofRedHatEnterpriseLinuxAS2.1,theLinuxmarketplacewasaverydifficultoneforIndependentSoftwareVendors(ISVs)ingeneralanddatabasevendorsinparticular.

Theopensourcedevelopmentmodelhashistoricallybeendrivenatanextremelyrapidpace.Forexample,injust18monthsRedHatreleasedRedHatLinux7.3,8.0,and9.Thismodelwasvastlydifferentfromthemuchlongerreleasecyclesprevalentintheproprietaryoperatingsystemspaceandwasnotinlinewiththedevelopmentmodelsmanyenterpriseapplicationsrequire.

RedHatdevelopedRedHatEnterpriseLinuxasthesingletargetplatformforallmajorISVsandtheirenterpriselevelserverapplicationstoalleviatetheburdenthepreviousdevelopmentcyclewasputtingonsoftwaredevelopmentcompanies.WithRedHatEnterpriseLinux,RedHatprovidesaplatformthatbothISVsandsystemadministratorscansupport.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxAS2.1firstbecameavailableinMay2002.RedHatalsoreleasedRedHatEnterpriseLinuxESandRedHatEnterpriseLinuxWSshortlythereaftertocompletetheproductlinewithdistributionsappropriateformidrangeserverapplicationsandtechnicalworkstations.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxisreleased


approximatelyevery18months,givingISVsmoretimetocertifyanddelivertheirproductsandseeareturnontheirinvestment.SubsequentreleasesofRedHatEnterpriseLinux,version3andversion4,werereleasedinOctober2003andFebruary2005.AllversionsofRedHatEnterpriseLinuxaremaintainedbyRedHatforsevenyearsaftertheinitialavailabilitydate.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxproductsareavailabletocustomersthroughannualsubscriptions,whichincludemaintenance,support,andupgrades.

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxisamorefocusedenvironmentthantheoldretailRedHatLinuxproductsorthecommunitydrivenFedoraProject.TheRedHatLinuxproductlineisnolongeravailableormaintainedbyRedHat,whiletheFedoraProjectpickedupwhereRedHatLinuxdevelopmentleftoff.TheFedoraProjectisanendeavorthroughwhichRedHatworkswiththeopensourcedevelopmentcommunitytobuild,test,andeventuallyintegratesoftwareintoitsofficialreleases.SoftwarepackagesthecommunitytestsanddeemsstablewilllikelyundergoextensiveinternalQAandbecomepartofRedHatEnterpriseLinux.WhiletheFedoraProjectprovidesavarietyoftechnologiesandapplicationsthatareeithernotbusinessrelatedorarestillintheprocessofdevelopment,RedHatEnterpriseLinuxpackagesareselectedfortheirstabilityandapplicabilitytoaproductionenterpriseenvironment.

ThelongerreleasecycleforRedHatEnterpriseLinuxdoesnotmeanthatsystemadministratorsmustsacrificethetimelyreleaseofsecurityandbugfixupdatestheyhavecometoexpectfromRedHat.Bugfixesandsecurityupdatesarereleasedonanasneededbasistoensurethatcustomershavethemostreliable,stable,andsecuresystemspossible.TheseupdatesaremadeavailablethroughRedHatNetwork,whichenablestheeasydeploymentofupdatedsoftwaretoalargenumberofsystems.TheintentofRedHatNetworkistoreduceadministrativeoverheadforcorporatesystemadministratorsbysimplifyingandcentralizingpackagemanagementandsystemmaintenanceatanaffordablecost.

MoreinformationonthecurrentRedHatEnterpriseLinuxproductlineisavailableathttp://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/.

Whatisopensource?

Thetermopensourcereferstothepracticeofdistributingthesourcecodeofanapplicationaswellasthebinary(compiled)version.Thisallowstheusertomakemodificationstothecodeandimproveitanywaytheyseefit.RedHatisfirmlycommittedtoopensourcebecauseitallowsalevelofinnovationthatislightyearsaheadoftheproprietarysoftwaredevelopmentmodel.Withthousandsofprogrammersabletocontributetotheoperatingsystem,includingdevelopersandsystemadministratorsinsideourenterprisecustomeraccounts,RedHatisabletofacilitaterapidenhancementsinfunctionality,


performance,reliability,andsecuritythattakeproprietaryvendorsyearstoachieve.Thereareanumberofpopularopensourcelicenses,includingtheGNUGeneralPublicLicenseandtheBSDLicense.Whilesomeproprietarysoftwarevendorshaveattemptedtopositionopensourcelicensingasaninhibitortoinnovationandapplicationdelivery,suchcriticismsdistortthemeaningoftheopensourcelicensesandexaggeratetheinstancesinwhichtheGPLimpactsthelicensingschemeadoptedbyapplicationvendors.Intheoverwhelmingmajorityofcases,suchastheOracledatabase,vendorssuccessfullysupporttheirapplicationsonRedHatEnterpriseLinuxundertheproprietarylicensingmodelfamiliaronWindowsandUNIX.ThesectionofthispaperentitledProprietaryApplicationsPortingandDevelopmentclarifiestheimpactthatopensourcelicensesinRedHatEnterpriseLinuxhaveonthelicensingofsoftware.

WhatisRedHat'sbusinessmodel?

RedHathasbuiltaprofitablebusinesswithopensourcesoftware.RedHat'sbusinessplanistoderivethemajorityofitsrevenuefromsubscriptionsassociatedwiththedevelopment,integration,deployment,support,andmanagementofLinuxinenterpriseenvironments.Additionally,RedHatworkswithmanyISVandOEMpartnerstoensurethatRedHatEnterpriseLinuxproductsenjoythewidestlevelofapplicationandhardwarecertificationsofanyenterprisefocusedLinuxdistribution.

Thelatestmarketanalysisindicatesthatthelinebetweensoftwareandsoftwarerelatedservicesisblurringasaconsequenceofthehighdegreeofconnectivityoftoday'ssystems.AdditionalinformationonthefullrangeofservicesprovidedbyRedHatisincludedinthesectionofthispaperentitled,SupportingLinuxintheEnterprise.

OperatingsystemdifferencesAlthoughLinuxisbasicallyaUNIXlikeoperatingsystem,thereareanumberofsubtledifferencesbetweenLinuxandUNIX.Fewofthesedifferenceshaveasignificantimpactontheenduserexperienceorapplicationfunctionality,butitisimportanttounderstandwhatdifferentiatesLinuxfromUNIXtohelpdeterminewheretoutilizeitintheenterprise.

BasicUNIXinfrastructure

WithabasicinfrastructuresimilartoUNIX,RedHatEnterpriseLinuxconsistsofakernelthathandlesallhardwareanddeviceinteractionaswellasalljobscheduling.Surroundingthiskernelarealloftheuserspaceapplications,manyofwhicharethesameorsimilartothosefoundinthebaseUNIXinstallations.LinuxcanberunintextorgraphicalmodeaswithUNIX,andthegraphicalmodeissuppliedbytheX.orgXWindowSystem.


LikeUNIX,Linuxcomeswithalargeselectionofbuiltinapplicationsthatcombinetoprovideahighlevelofstandardfunctionality.ToolsforworkinginanetworkedcomputingenvironmentsuchasBIND,NFS,FTP,Telnet,SSH,rsh,andanumberofotherapplicationsaredistributedwiththecoreoperatingsystemitself.

Opensourcetools

UnlikeUNIX,RedHatEnterpriseLinuxisdeliveredwithahugerepositoryofopensourcesoftwarethatprovidescomplementsto,ordirectreplacementsfor,thirdpartyISVapplicationsavailableonotheroperatingsystems.Formanyuserstheseapplicationshaveprovedtobeacceptablealternativestosomeofthetoolstheyhavepreviouslyhadtopurchase;othershavefeltmorecomfortablesimplyusingtheLinuxversionoftheirexistingISVapplications.ExamplesofsuchopensourceapplicationsincludeApacheforWebserving,Sendmailformailtransfer,CVSforsourcecodemanagement,andPHPfordynamicWebapplications.

Filesystem

AllversionsofRedHatEnterpriseLinuxuseEXT3asthedefaultfortheirnativefilestructure,whichisthenextgenerationoftheEXT2.EXT3isatunablejournaling;datamigrationbetweenEXT2andEXT3isseamlessandsimple,withbackwardsandforwardscapabilities.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxv.3includedEXT3updatesforsecurityandstoragemanagementwithACLsandabundledLogicalVolumeManager,whileEnterpriseLinuxv.4providessignificantperformanceenhancementswithBlockReservations,HashtreeDirectories,andimprovedSMPsynchronizationtechniques.

RedHatalsoofferscustomersaclusteredfilesystemthatcanbepurchasedtorunonEnterpriseLinux.RedHatGlobalFileSystem(GFS)isahighlystablesolutionforenterpriseandtechnicalcomputingapplicationsrequiringreliableaccesstodata.GFSallowsmultipleserversonaStorageAreaNetwork(SAN)tohavereadandwriteaccesstoasinglefilesystemonsharedSANdevices,deliveringthestrength,safety,andsimplicitydemandedbyenterpriseandtechnicalcomputingenvironments.

Performance

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxishighlyoptimizedtoprovideexceptionalperformanceoncommoditychipsets.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxhasbeenoptimizedforenterpriseIToperationsandiscurrentlydemonstratingworldclassperformanceincriticalenvironments.AnecdotalevidencefromenterpriseuserssuggeststhatRedHatEnterpriseLinuxrunningonIntelandAMDchipsetsareabletomatch,andinmanycasesexceed,the


performanceofSolariswhenrunningnativelycompiledC/C++code.Additionaloptimizationsinspecificincidenceshavebeenabletoachieve5to20timesincreasesinperformanceovertheapplicationperformanceonUNIX.ItisimportanttorecognizethatsignificantlycheapercommodityhardwaremakesitpossibletopurchaseasubstantiallyfasterandbetterequippedsystemthananequivalentlypricedRISCsystem,allowingadramaticleapoverRISChardwareincost/performance.Suchstatements,however,aredirectedonlyatrawprocessingperformance.IntermsofI/Oandnetworkthroughput,evidencesuggeststhatRISCandcommodityarchitecturesareclosertoparity.Fiberattachedstoragereads,forexample,willnotusuallybenoticeablyfasteronLinuxthanonUNIX.Again,thisimplicitlygivesLinuxacost/performanceedgebecauseofthelowhardwarecost.IncertainnetworkingcircumstancesLinuxisabletobeatUNIXperformance,althoughmoreattheapplicationlevelthanintermsofrawTCP/IPorUDPthroughputcapabilities.

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxisachievingoutstandingindustrystandardbenchmarkresultsthatcanbeusedtoassesscapabilitiesacrosstheentireproductline.Theresultscoverarangeofconfigurations,architectures,andperformancemetrics.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxhasbeenacorepartofconfigurationsthatoffersignificantperformanceandcostadvantagesovertraditionalRISC/UNIXenvironments.

TheTransactionProcessingPerformanceCouncilBenchmarkC(TPCC)hasbecomeahighlyregardedindustryreferencethatmeasuresonlinetransactionprocessinganddatabasebenchmarks.AsofOctober2004RedHatEnterpriseLinuxheldtheworldrecordTPCCperformancebenchmarkresult.Theauditedfigureswere1,184,893.38tpmCat$5.52/tpmC.Thisresultbeatthepreviousperformancerecord,achievedbyRedHatEnterpriseLinux2.1,byapproximately17%andwasthelowest$/tpmCofthefirsttenperformanceresults.TheresultsofthisbenchmarkdemonstratethatRedHatEnterpriseLinuxwithOracleinaclusteredenvironmentcanbeupto50%fasterthanthebestWindows2003resultand98%fasterthanthebestSolarisresult.

ThebenchmarkwasachievedwithRedHatEnterpriseLinuxrunningona16nodeHPIntegrityrx5670Itaniumcluster(eachnodebeingquadCPUwith48GBmemory).ThedatabasewasOracle10gwithRealApplicationClusters.Thestoragecomprisedover2000diskswithatotalcapacityof93TB.Theapplicationservertierwascomprisedof80dualCPUXeonHPProLiantDL360G3systems.Thetotalconfigurationcostwas$6.5M.Thisbenchmarkprovestheoutstandingperformance,scalability,andcosteffectivenessofRedHatEnterpriseLinux.

OtherrecentlyarchivedRedHatEnterpriseLinuxperformancebenchmarkscanbefoundat:http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/benchmarks/


Stability

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxhasbecomewellknownforitsstabilityoverthepastseveralyears.Storiesofmachineslockedinclosetsrunningforyearsarecommon,andmostusersrarelyexperiencesignificantdowntime.Muchofthiscanbeattributedtotherobustarchitectureofthesystemitself.TheLinuxkernelisdesignedtominimizetheeffectthatapplicationcomponentswillhaveoneachotherandthekernelwithregardtoresourceallocation.Thismeansthatifsingleapplicationsfail,theywillfailinisolation,andleavetherestoftheoperatingsystemtofunctionasexpected.ButhowdoesaheavilyloadedRedHatEnterpriseLinuxsystemdeployedinanenterprisedatacenterenvironmentholdupunderthethetoughestworkloads?ResearchhasshownthatRedHatEnterpriseLinuxholdsupverywellindeed,onparwith,orbetterthanresultsforRISCbasedsystems.ThequalityassurancemeasuresRedHatappliestotheoperatingsystempriortoreleaseincludesignificanttestingofhighstressoperationalconditions,andweconsiderfailuresatthisleveltobeunacceptableinacommercialproductionoperatingsystem.

Scalability

Linuxhasprovenitselfinenterpriseenvironments,andscalabilityhasbeenapriorityforRedHatengineering.EachRedHatEnterpriseLinuxreleasehasofferedincreasedscalabilityoveritspredecessorwithsupportforlargerSMPsystems,morememory,andlargerstoragesubsystems.

AdditionallythearchitecturallimitsonLinuxscalabilityhavesignificantlyimprovedandcontinuetoevolve.PriortothereleaseofRedHatEnterpriseLinux,mostLinuxproductswerelimitedtox86architectures,whichinhibitedLinuxfromdevelopingasaverticalenterprisesolution.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxisavailableforsevendifferentarchitecturesandcanbedeployedonanythingfromanadministrator'slaptoptoacorporatemainframe.RedHat'sISVpartnershipsandOEMrelationshipsareverystrong,withRedHatEnterpriseLinuxgivingcustomerstheabilitytobuildacompletelyLinuxbasedenterpriseinfrastructure.

AsRedHatincreasesitsfocusonlargescaleremotesystemsmanagement,itisexpectedthatthecosttoaddnodesintermsofadministrationwillcontinuetodiminish,allowing,inatheoreticalsense,unlimitedscalability.Forthosescenarioswheresingleboxscalabilityisrequired,RedHatEnterpriseLinuxsolutionsbuiltaroundIBM'sS390andZSeriessystemsarealsoavailable.Inaddition,awholenewgenerationofdatacenterqualitycommodityarchitecturebladesolutionsfromsuchcompaniesasEgenera,IBM,HP,andDellhavealsopenetratedthemarket.TheseplatformsdeserveamuchlargerdiscussionthancanbeprovidedinthispaperandwillcontinuetobeanimportantcomponentoftheoverallLinuxmarket.


Security

ProvisionofahighlysecureenvironmentisacorefeatureoftheRedHatEnterpriseLinuxfamilyofproducts.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxhasfewerserioussecurityvulnerabilityreportsthaneitherUNIXorWindows,despitethefactthatRedHatEnterpriseLinuxcontainsmanyapplicationsnotincludedinotheroperatingsystems.WhilethisisnotscientificproofofLinuxsecurity,itisagoodindicationofrealworldexperienceforLinux.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxgivestheadministratorcompletecontrolovernetworkportsandservices,andmanysecurityandauthenticationapplicationsarefullysupported,includingKerberos,SSL,NIS,andPAM.RedHatEnterpriseLinuxsecurityupdatesareavailabletocustomersviaRedHatNetwork.RedHatpackagesaresignedwithRedHat'sGNUPrivacyGuard(GPG)keyssocustomersarecertainupdatesaredistributedsecurelyfromRedHat.

ThirdpartyfirewallapplicationssuchasCheckpointandmonitoringsolutionslikeBMCPatrolaresupportedandhaveprovenverystableonLinux.CustomersshouldnotethatsecurityrelatedproductsavailablefromISVsareonlycertifiedfortheRedHatEnterpriseLinuxlineofproducts.SecurityapplicationsmodifiedtorunontheFedoracodebasesarenotsupportedbyRedHatortheapplicationvendor.

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxhasachievedtheUSDefenseInformationSystemsAgency(DISA),CommonOperatingEnvironmentcertification.TheCOEcertificationmeansthatRedHatEnterpriseLinuxisapprovedfordeploymentattheUSDepartmentofDefenseandhaspassedthisagency'sstrictrequirementsforinteroperability,performance,andstandardscompliance,atruetestamenttothefederalgovernmentsconfidenceinRedHatEnterpriseLinuxasasoundsolution.CustomersinterestedinlearningmoreabouttheCOEcertificationshouldrefertothetheRedHatEnterpriseLinuxCOEwhitepaperat:

https://www.redhat.com/apps/webform.html?event_type=whitepaper&eid=100

Inadditiontotheapplications,managementtools,andcertificationsassociatedwithprovidingsecurityonLinux,itisimportanttounderstandtheroleoftheopensourcedevelopmentmodelinmakingRedHatEnterpriseLinuxsecure.OpensourcemeansthatallofthecodethatRedHatrunshasbeenthroughalargeamountofpeerreview.Opensourcedevelopmentalsomeansthatnewbugsareresolvedaccuratelyandmadeavailableinatimelymannerwithdocumentationforthenextroundofpeerrevieworfuturedevelopment.

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxcustomerswithaninterestintuningtheirsystemssecurelyshouldrefertotheRedHatEnterpriseLinuxSecurityGuideat:


http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

SecurityenhancementsfortheRedHatEnterpriseLinuxv.3productlineincludedAccessControlLists,ageneralpurposecryptographicAPIinthekernel,andkernelsupportforipseconIPV4.

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxv.4includesnumeroussecurityfeatures:

SecurityEnhancedLinux(SELinux),whichprovidesafullytrustedenvironment,withMandatoryAccessControl(MAC)andRoleBasedAccessControl(RBAC)

AnewAuditingsubsystemforstandardandSELinuxenvironments

PositionIndependentExecutablesandExecShieldfeaturesthatprovideprotectionfromBufferOverflowsecurityexploits

CompilerandLibrarybuffermanagementenhancementsfeaturesthatperformruntimecheckingofbuffersforerrorssuchasdoubledeallocationandbuffersizevalidation

RedHatprovidesseveralwhitepapersthatdiscussthesesecurityfeaturesindetail.Pleaserefertowww.redhat.com.

EnterpriseoperatingenvironmentThosewhowereinvolvedintheITindustryasSunandMicrosoftbecamethedominantplayersintheirrespectivemarketswillrecallwhatadifficulttransitionitwastointegrateandsupportthosenewplatforms.RecognizingthatthebarriertoentryforLinuxmigrationscanbehigh,RedHathasworkedtomaketheprocessaspainlessaspossible.BelowyouwillfindinformationonthecommontasksthatRedHatEnterpriseLinuxisbeingusedforandonhowenterpriseclientsareabletointegrateLinuxintotheirenvironmentswithouthavingtodiscardtheirexistinginfrastructureandknowledge.

TypicalLinuxusages

AlthoughLinuxisaveryflexibleoperatingsystemthatisbeingusedeverywherefromembeddeddevicestomainframes,themajorityofenterpriseusersaredeployingRedHatEnterpriseLinuxoncommodity32bitand64bitIntelandAMDmachinesinoneofthreeprimaryconfigurations:ITinfrastructureandinterdepartmentalservers,applicationserversforcorebusinesscomponents,orasadesktop/workstationsolution.RedHathasalsoestablisheditselfasamajorplayerinthedatacenterfordatabaseconnectivityandinnumerousotherareas,suchasCADdevelopmentandgraphicsdesign,butthesecanbefairlyspecializedsolutions.Wewillfocusonthemoregeneraldeploymentscenarioshere.


ITinfrastructure

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxhaslargelymadeitsnameinsuchapplicationsascustomerfacingebusinessoperations,internalrouting,firewalls,fileserving,printserving,interdepartmentaldatabases,anddozensofotherstandardITinfrastructurefunctions.Here'saquicklookatthespecificsolutionsthatarecommonlyseen;additionalinformationcanbefoundattheendofthedocument:

Table1:ITinfrastructure

ForbusinessapplicationsdesignedtorunonUNIX,theporttoRedHatEnterpriseLinuxisrelativelysimple.ThisincludesC/C++applications,Javaapplications,scripts,andseveralotherlegacyornewerlanguages.Linuxwasoriginallyconceivedofasaserveroperatingsystem,andithasbeenconfiguredtoworkoptimallyinthatenvironment.PerformancehasprovedtobecomparabletoorbetterthanthatofUNIX,andscalabilityandreliabilityaremorethanacceptable.SosavingmoneybyswitchingtoIntelorAMDhardwareisaneasychoice.AdditionalinformationonportingapplicationstoLinuxisgiveninSection4ofthisdocument.


Function Details

Webserver Apache,TUX

Routing/DNS BIND8/9 Fullroutingcapabilitiesaresupported.

Fileserver

Firewall

NISserver NIS

Mailserver

CVS

Webcaching Squid

SoftwareComponents

Apacheistheworld'snumberoneWebserver.LinuxoffersafullsuiteofWebhosting,applicationhosting,andproxycapabilities.TUXisathreadedLinuxWebserverforhighperformanceWebserving.

NFSv4inRHEL4,openAFS,GFS,NDS,openLDAP,

Samba

AnothercoreareaforRedHatEnterpriseLinux;consistentcommunicationwithallplatformtypesisoneofRedHat'sprimarygoals.

Iptables Iptablesisincludedfree.Simplenetworklookupservicethatprovidesinformationtoallmachinesonanetwork.

Databaseserver

Postgres,MySQLPostgresandMySQLareveryrobustopensourcedatabases.

Sendmail,Postfix

SendmailisthemostwidelyusedMTAontheInternet.Postfixisafast,secureopensourceMTAalternativetoSendmail.

Sourcerepository

CVSoffersafreeandwidelyusedrepository.SquidisaWebproxyserverthatshipswithRedHatEnterpriseLinux.

Desktop

TraditionallyUNIXhasnotplayedamajorroleintheenduserdesktopspace.Ithasbeenlimitedtospecializedusagewithinanenterprisefortherunningofspecificbusinessapplications,applicationdevelopment,orasapowerfulworkstationenvironment.RedHatDesktopandRedHatEnterpriseLinuxWScanactveryeffectivelyintheseenvironments,andinmanycompaniesarebeingusedasareplacementforexistingWindowsdesktopclients.LinuxusestheX.orgXWindowSystemasitsgraphicalinterface,withvariousdesktopenvironmentsavailabletoprovideaconsistentuserinterfaceandallofthebaselinetoolsadesktopOSuserexpects.Additionally,thereareanumberofofficeproductivitysuites,Webbrowsers,graphicalmanipulationtools,andpersonalproductivityapplicationsavailable.TherearealsoanumberofISVmanagementtools,suchasOracleEnterpriseManagerthatcannowberunfromLinux.Table2illustratessomeoftheapplicationavailability.NotethatinformationonLinuxasadevelopmentenvironmentisgivenindetailinSection4ratherthanhere:

Table2:DesktopAvailability

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxdesktopfeaturesinclude:

X.orgwindowingsystem

Bluecurvegraphicaluserinterface(UnifiedGNOME/KDElookandfeel)


Function Details

GNOME,KDE

Webbrowser

Officesuite

SoftwareComponents

Desktopenvironment

GNOMEisthedefaultdesktopinRedHatEnterpriseLinux.ItprovidesallofthebasicfunctionsWindowsuserswouldexpectfromabasedesktopinstallation,includingfilebrowsing,desktopconfigurationtools,basictexteditors,calculator,etc.SunhaschosenGNOMEastheirnextgenerationdesktop.

Firefox,Mozilla,Konqueror

FirefoxisthedefaultbrowserinRedHatEnterpriseLinux4.Allarefreeandopensource.

OpenOffice.org,Koffice,

StarOffice

OpenOffice.orgisaleadingcommercialofficesuiteforLinux.Itincludeswordprocessing,spreadsheet,graphicaldevelopment,slidepresentation,andwebpagedevelopmenttools.AllthreesupportMicrosoftfiletypes.

Messagingclient

Evolution,Mozilla,

Thunderbird,textreaders

TraditionalUNIXmailreadersareavailable.

OpenOffice.orgofficeproductivitysuite

Evolutionmail&groupwareclient

Firefox&MozillaWebbrowsers

Numerousmultimediaapplications(HelixPlayer,RealPlayer,etc.)

Microsoftinteroperabilityfeatures(ActiveDirectoryauthentication,ExchangeServerconnectivity,NTLMauthentication)

MicrosoftFileandPrintsharing

ISVapplicationsupport

OneofthebiggestchallengesLinuxhasfacedmovingintotheenterprisehasbeenthesupportofIndependentSoftwareVendors.Byearly2005theoverwhelmingmajorityofleadingISVshadproducedversionsoftheirproductscertifiedforuseonRedHatEnterpriseLinux.CompanieslikeOracle,BEA,VERITAS,IBM,andSAPviewLinuxasstrategicallyimportanttotheirfuturesuccess.RedHatworkscloselywiththesevendorstoensurethattheirproductsarefullyintegratedwithRedHatEnterpriseLinux,andtohelpthemgettomarketfaster.ForacomprehensivecatalogofcertifiedapplicationsforRedHatEnterpriseLinux,visit:http://www.redhat.com/apps/isvcatalog.

Ifyourequireanapplicationnotlisted,contactthevendororRedHattocheckonitsavailability.OneofthemajoradvantagesofselectingRedHatoverotherLinuxvendorsisthatwewillworkwithavendortogettheirapplicationstomarketifthereisacustomerneed.

LargescaleLinuxdeployment

LargeenterprisesworkingwithUNIXhaveofteninvestedatremendousamountintodevelopingaglobaldeploymentstrategy.Thismayincludeanautomatedbuildandinstallsolution,asetofISVmanagementsoftwarecomponents,systemadministratortrainingandskillsdevelopment,anddocumentationoftheentireprocess.AlthoughtherewillcertainlybecostsassociatedwithaddingLinuxtosuchanenvironment,RedHathasdevelopedtheknowledgeandtoolstomakeitaspainlessandquickaspossible.TheprimarygoalinsuchascenarioistoprovideaLinuxdeploymentmethodologythatallowsenterprisestoleverageexistinginfrastructureinvestmentsandinhouseadministrationanddevelopmentskills.Thisbeginswiththedeploymenttechnologies;UNIXsystemsareoftendeployedusingthebootpprotocol.IntelandAMDfullysupportremotebootandinstallfunctionalitywithbootpandPXE.AllthatisrequiredistomakesuretheEthernetcardshavethePXEcapableonboardeprom.RedHatprovidesatftpbootserverthatcanbeusedtoperformtheinstallations.Iforganizationshaveawebpageorcustominterfacetoconfiguretheinstallprocesson


apersystemorsubnetbasis,therearetoolsavailableonLinuxforthataswell.Forthoseusingsystemimagingtoolsratherthanrelyingontheactualnativeinstallationtools,itmaybepossibletousethesametoolsforRedHatEnterpriseLinux,ortherearealternativesavailable.Regardlessofthespecifictechnology,thegoalistobeabletoinvestinsomedevelopmentworkupfronttoconstructasystemthatworksjustliketheexistingUNIXbuildsystemtothoseinstallingthenodes.ThisallowstheLinuxmigrationtooccurwithminimalnewinvestmentinskillsdevelopment.BeyondthebaseOSthereisgenerallyasetofISVapplicationsusedtomanagetheinstalledsystems,aswellasasetofcoreapplicationsneededtoaddfunctionalitytotheenvironment.Asmentionedearlier,RedHathasbeenworkingtoensuresuchasoftwarestackisfullyavailableonLinux.Totheextentthatitiscurrentlyavailable,youareabletosimplydropLinuxsystemsintoyourexistinginfrastructurewithoutchanginganyofthemanagementcomponents.Hereisaquicklookatsomeofthemanagementtoolsandoperationalapplicationsthatareavailable:

Table3:Deployment

Remotemanagementcapabilities

OnceLinuxisdeployed,itistypicaltosupportitfromacentralizedmanagementlocation.Thesoftwarecomponentsjustoutlinedareapartofthatsupport.Inaddition,thestandardrangeofUNIXremoteadministrationtoolsareavailableunderLinuxsuchasTelnet,FTP,SSH,scp,andrsh.Althoughtheseserviceswillneedtobeselectedwithintheboundsofyoursecuritypolicy,theyareinvaluabletoolsinmanagingdeployedLinuxsystemsandwilllikelycontinuetobeintegraltothesupportprocedureinmanyenterprisesituations.


Function SoftwareComponent

Assettracking

Systemmonitoring

Eventmonitoring RHNMonitoringModule,TrendSNMP

Backup

JobschedulingStorageconnectivity VERITASFoundationSuite

Softwarepackaging RPM

Clustering

TangramAssetInsight,RedHatNetwork,Tivoli,ComputerAssociatesUniCenter

RHNMonitoringModule,BMCPatrol,Tivoli,CAUniCenter,HPOpenview

Amanda,Legato,VERITASNetBackup,BRU,CAUniCenterCAUnicenterAutoSysJobManagement,ControlM

FilesystemsandLogicalVolumeManager VERITASFS(VxFS),VERITASVM(VxVM),GFS

RedHatClusterSuite,RedHatGlobalFileSystem,Oracle9iRAC,VERITASClusterServer,Legato,PowerPathv3.0.2b069,GFS

Skillstransferandtraining

AsaresultoftheclosekinshipUNIXandRedHatEnterpriseLinuxenjoyintermsofcommandlineinstructions,administrationtools,developmenttools,andtheoveralloperatingenvironment,theinvestmentrequiredtotrainexistingdevelopmentandadministrationstaffisusuallyfairlylow.TheskillsmigrationforUNIXadministratorsanddeveloperstoRedHatEnterpriseLinuxismuchsimplerthanasimilarmigrationtoWindows.RedHat'scomprehensiveskillsdevelopmentandcertificationcurriculum(suchastheRHCT,RHCE,andRHCAprograms)providesITmanagementwithacompleteprogramforskillstransferwhenmigratingfromUNIXtoRedHatEnterpriseLinux.AdditionalinformationonRedHat'strainingandcertificationprogramscanbefoundinthesectionofthispaperentitledSupportSolutionsforLinuxintheEnterpriseandatwww.redhat.com/training.

Directoryandauthenticationservices

LinuxhasbeenrunninginsecurityandfileservingcapacitiesforquitesometimeandisverycapableofintegratingintothetypesofinfrastructurescurrentlyinuseinUNIXproductionenvironments.Kerberos,NIS/NIS+,PAM,NFS,openAFS,LDAP,OracleInternetDirectory,OpenLDAP,SAMBA,andmanyotherauthenticationordirectoryrelatedservicesarefullysupported.

ProprietaryapplicationportinganddevelopmentTherearethreeprimarytypesofapplicationsRedHatistypicallyengagedtohelpenterprisecustomersmigratetoLinux:nativeC/C++code,Javacode,andscripts.ThelevelofcomplexityofdoingsuchamigrationfromUNIXtoLinuxisnotveryhighrelativetoaUNIXtoWindowsport.ThissectionprovidesmoredetailonthespecificsofmigratingapplicationstoLinux.

AwordabouttheGPL

OneofthethingsthatconfusesenterpriseclientsmostaboutmovingtoLinuxistheGNUGeneralPublicLicense,whichhasbeencharacterizedbymanyasavirallicense.Thissinistermonikersimplymeansthattherearecertainconditionsthatrequirethatthelicensebeextendedtorestrictthebehaviorofthosedevelopingcodethatutilizesthecomponentsofthelicensedsoftware.Nearlyallstrictsoftwarelicensingschemesareviral,includingthoseusedbySolarisandWindows.InthecaseoftheGNUGeneralPublicLicense,thatconditionexistsonlywhenyoulinkyourcodeagainstcodedevelopedundertheGPL.However,theC/C++librariesandmostoftheotherlibrariesandtoolkitsavailableonLinuxaredevelopedundertheLGPL,orLesserGPL.Thislicenseallowsdynamiclinkingofthesecomponents,meaningproprietarydevelopmentisperfectlyfeasibleonLinux.Agoodexampleofanapplicationthathas


beenbuilttorunonLinuxwithoutneedingtobecomeopensourceundertheGPLisOracle.NearlyallISVapplicationsareproofthattheGPLandLGPL,thoughrestrictiveinrarecases,donotrealisticallypreventorganizationsfromportingtheirapplicationstoLinuxandcontinuingtobethesolecopyrightandlicenseholderofthoseapplications.RedHathashelpedhundredsofcompaniesportclosedsourceapplicationstoRedHatEnterpriseLinuxthroughourservicesandisabletofullyinformcustomersofanyGPLrelatedissuesastheyarise.

TheLinuxdevelopmentenvironment:CandC++

ThedevelopmentenvironmentmostUNIXdevelopershavecometoexpectislargelyavailableunderLinuxaswell.Let'slookattheC/C++environmentfirst,asthatiswherethemajorityofportingworkoccurs.ThefundamentalframeworkforthisenvironmentarethetoolsusedtobuildC/C++code:theClibraries,compilers,buildutilities,anddebuggers.ThisisaquicklistofthosetoolsastheyexistforLinux:

Table4:Development

ThereareacoupleofdetailedpointsthatshouldbemadeaboutdevelopmentforLinux.First,ingeneral,RedHatstrivestoachievebackwardcompatibilityforallcompiledprograms.ThisisABIcompatibility.Unfortunately,thisisnotalwaysmaintainedasthecompilersandClibrariesprogress,soitisimportanttounderstandwhichversionsofthecompilerandClibrariesareacceptabletouseforspecifictargets.ForeachreleaseofRedHatEnterpriseLinux,theABIwillbestableasupdatesarereleasedforthelifespanoftheproduct.

Beyondsupportforthestandarddevelopmenttoolchain,RedHatcanprovideEnterpriseToolsSupportfortheGNUPro


Functions Softwarecomponents Details

Buildutilities Linker,make,Eclipse

Debuggers

C/C++librariesC/C++compiler

GCJ

glibc2.2,glibc2.3.2,glibc2.3.3,gcc2.96,gcc3.2,gcc3.4.2

FullyANSIcompliantlibrariesandcompilers.RedHatEnterpriseLinux4shipswithglibc2.3.3andgcc3.4.2GCJisajavacompiler.

Linkerisacategoryindexingprogram.Makeisacompilationtool.EclipseisanIDEtoolplatform

gdb,ddd

Gdbisthedefaultdebugger;severalgraphicalorotherwiseenhancedversionsofgdbhavebeendevelopedsuchasddd.

compilerandtoolchain.GNUProisRedHat'scommercialversionofthegcccompilerandtoolchainthatcanbecustomizedandmaintainedforyourenvironment.

TechnicalfeaturesintheRedHatEnterpriseLinuxdevelopmentenvironmentinclude:

gcc3.4toolchain

gcc"ssa"(4.0)toolchainincludedasatechnologypreview

gcj/libgcj(Javagcccompilerfrontend)

gdb5.3.90includingmultithreadedcoredumpandgcore

glibc2.3.3withRHEL4

Thirdpartylibraries

ThereareanumberofopensourcethirdpartyC/C++librariesavailableforLinuxforperformingarangeofoperationsfromsecuritytomathematicalfunctions.Commerciallibraries,suchasmanyofRogueWave'slibraries,areavailableaswell.Thiscanbefairlydetailedinformation;pleasecheckwithRedHatformoreinformationonspecificneeds.ThelibrariesforgraphicaldevelopmentforGNOMEandKDEarebothincludedwithRedHatEnterpriseLinux.AlthoughveryfewstandardUNIXapplicationshavemanygraphicalcomponents,thiscanbeappealingifyouaremigratingapplicationsfromWindows(althoughmovingfromtheMSFCcanbeabittimeconsuming).

RedHatDeveloperSuite

RedHatDeveloperSuiteisamemberoftheRedHatApplicationsproductfamily.RedHatcreatedtheDeveloperSuitetosimplifythemigrationofdeveloperskillsandapplicationstoRedHatEnterpriseLinux.ItprovidesafullyfeaturedIntegratedDevelopmentEnvironment(IDE)basedontheopensourceEclipseprojectforapplicationdevelopers.EclipseisanopenextensibleIDEthatprovidesrealvaluebecauseofthetoolplugins.ThetoolpluginsgivetheplatformtheabilitytoworkwithmanyformatsincludingJavafiles,Webcontent,graphics,video,etc.Eclipseadditionallygivesthedevelopertheabilitytoindependentlydeveloptoolsthatcanbeeasilyintegratedwithothertoolsorapplications.FormoreinformationontheRedHatDeveloperSuite,pleasevisit:http://www.redhat.com/software/rha/developer/.

Specializedportingtools

Insomecasescustomershavewantedtodevelopspecializedportinglibrarysetsfortheirenvironmentstofacilitaterapidmigration.RedHathastremendouscompilerandlibraryexperienceandisabletohelpfacilitatethedevelopmentofsuchtools.Formoreinformation,visit:www.redhat.com/support/offerings/developer.html.


Javaandscriptinglanguages

AfterCandC++applications,themostcommonportstoRedHatEnterpriseLinuxareJavaapplications.Thisisaverysimpleport,asRedHatEnterpriseLinuxcurrentlysupportsversionsofJavathrough1.4.Also,middlewareserverssuchasOracleApplicationServer,BEAWebLogic,anddevelopmenttoolssuchasOracleDeveloperSuiteandJDeveloperarefullysupportedonLinux,meaningitisveryeasytobringJavaapplicationsdevelopedforuseonthoseplatformsoverjustasquickly.Scriptinglanguages,suchasPerl,Bash,awk,sed,etal.arealsoafairlyeasyport;therealchallengeisthatthescriptsthemselvesareusuallyreferringtoobjects,files,ordevicesthatarenamedsomethingslightlydifferentinLinux.Globalsearchandreplaceiscapableofresolvingsomeofthese,butoftenthesetypesofapplicationsneedalotmoreattentionforathoroughport.Insomecases,simplystartingoveristhebestidea.

Softwarepackaging

LikesomeUNIXplatforms,Linuxsupportstheconceptofsoftwarepackages.InthecaseofRedHatEnterpriseLinux,thefacilitythatsupportsthisiscalledtheRedHatPackageManager,orRPM.MuchlikeSolarispackages,thesearesimplyCPIOarchiveswrappedupwithsomeassociatedinstallationanddeinstallationscripts.ThedevelopmentofRPMpackagescanrangefromfairlysimpletofairlycomplexdependingonthenatureoftheapplicationbeinginstalled.TheinfrastructureRedHatEnterpriseLinuxusesasanoperatingsystemisheavilybuiltonRPMs,andmuchofourfuturesupportinfrastructurewillrelyonRPMasadeliveryandmanagementcomponent.Assuch,westronglyencourageclientstouseRPMastheinstallmethodfortheirapplications.AswithSolarispackages,therearedefiniteongoingsupportandmanageabilitybenefitstodoingso.

SupportingLinuxintheenterpriseOneofthebiggestconcernsforITmanagersconsideringRedHatEnterpriseLinuxfortheirenterpriseisensuringcomprehensivevendorsupportforgloballydeployedsystems.Inthiscontext,vendorsupportencompassestheresponsibilityforthefunctionalityoftheoperatingsystemaswellasformigration,deployment,andongoingusage.RedHat'sbusinessmodelisbuiltaroundthedeliveryofendtoendservicesforallstagesofthesolutionlifecycle,fromconsulting(assessment,benchmarking,planning)throughdevelopmentandontosystemsandmanagement.

RedHatGlobalSupportServices

RedHatGlobalSupportServices(GSS)providestelephoneandWebbasedtechnicalsupportforRedHatEnterpriseLinux


customers.AllGSSservicesareavailableasannualsubscriptionsonly.TherearethreelevelsofProductionGSSservicesavailablefortheRedHatEnterpriseLinuxproductline.Basicsubscriptionsmostlyaddressinstallationandhardwareconfigurationissuesduringstandardbusinesshours.Standardsubscriptionsaddresseverythingassociatedwiththebasicsubscriptioninadditiontotypicalserviceconfigurationissuesfrequentlyusedinproductionenvironmentsduringstandardbusinesshours.PremiumsubscriptionsarethehighestlevelofGSSservicesavailableandinclude24x7support.

SupportforRedHatEnterpriseLinuxisavailableforthebaseoperatingsystemandtheservicesandpackagesoutlinedinthecorrespondingServiceLevelAgreementforthesubscriptionthecustomerpurchases.EachannualsubscriptionforRedHatEnterpriseLinuxproductshasaspecificSLA.FormoreinformationonRedHatGSSServiceLevelAgreementspleasesee:http://www.redhat.com/support/service/sla.

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxAnnualSupportsubscriptionsareintendedtosupportindividualsystemsandsystemadministratorswhoaremanagingproductionsystems.RedHathasworldwidecallcentersopen24x7,staffedinsevennativelanguagestoensureLinuxusersarefullysupported.ThislevelofsupportrangesfrombasicinstallationandusagequestionstocomplexLevel2configurationandusageissues.Level3support,includingbugfixes,workarounds,andsecurityfixes,areincludedundertheseannualServiceLevelAgreementsaswell.

GlobalSupportServicesTechnicalAccountManager

RedHatGSSTechnicalAccountManagers(TAMs)provideaconsistentsupportinterfacebetweenorganizationswhilebuildingaproductive,proactiveservicepartnership.TheTAMisahighlyskilledengineerassignedtoprovidetechnicalaccountmanagementandtoassureyourtechnicalissuesaredealtwithquicklyandeffectively,ensuringthehighestlevelsofperformanceonyourServiceLevelAgreement.TheTAMalsoactsasyourchampionwithinRedHatEngineering,providingvisibilitytothetechnicalroadmapandensuringthatyourprioritiesandrequirementsforRedHatEnterpriseLinuxareconsideredduringthereleasecycle.Formoreinformation,visit:http://www.redhat.com/support/offerings/technical.html.

RedHatGlobalProfessionalServices

RedHatConsultingServicesprovideconsultingresourcesandexpertisetoassistinLinuxplanning,development,ordeploymentonsite.ServicesareintendedforcustomersrequiringtechnicalassistancebeyondtheServiceLevelAgreementsassociatedwithGSSservices.Servicesrangefromreadinessassessment,infrastructureplanning,andbenchmarkingtosystemadministration,developmentwork,andinstallationanddeploymentassistance,allthewaythroughstaff


augmentation.Ourconsultantsoffermultiplatformskillsandexpertise,acknowledgingthatmostenterpriseITenvironmentsareheterogeneous.

GNUProenterprisetoolsupport

BundledwithRedHat'sGNUProToolkitisRedHat'sannualcompilerandtoolchainsupportforengineeringdevelopmentteams.ThissupportensuresanongoinglinktothemaintainersanddriversoftheGNUsoftwareviaupdatesonthelatestversionsofGNUProToolkit,accesstotheRedHatWebbasedsupportportal,andpatchlevelbugfixes.

RedHatGlobalLearningServices

RedHatofferstrainingandskillsdevelopmentrangingfromintroductorycoursestoadvancedsystemadministrationanddevelopment.TheRedHatCertifiedEngineer(RHCE)programisthemostwidelyacceptedLinuxtrainingstandardandisavailableintrainingfacilitiesworldwide.TheRedHatCertifiedTechnicalEngineer(RHCT)isanidealtechnicianlevelcredentialforpersonssupportingLinuxsystemsthroughoutanorganization.Meanwhile,RedHatCertifiedArchitect(RHCA)offersthehighestlevelofcertificationintheindustrytoday,providingproofofextensive,indepthsystemdesignandimplementationskills.

RHCTisagoodchoiceforthosetransitioningtoLinuxfromnonUNIXoperatingsystemsorwhowanttoprovetheircompetenciesatamidwaypointonthewaytoRHCE,oneofthetenhottestcertificationsintheITindustry.TrainingcanbedeliveredinRedHattrainingcenters,onsitethroughourmobileclassroom,orforcertaincurriculum,throughdistancelearningonline.Customizedtrainingcoursescanbedevelopedaroundspecificrequirementsanddeliveredthroughanyofthesemethods.Formoreinformationvisit:http://www.redhat.com/training.

RedHatNetwork

RedHatiscommittedtoreducingtheoverallcosttoadministerLinuxsystemsintheenterprise.TodothisRedHathasdevelopedseveralsolutionsthatenabledeliveryandmanagementofRedHatEnterpriseLinuxsystemsaspartofanoverallservicesubscription.RatherthanhavingtomanageeachinstanceandapplicationonyourLinuxsystem,youcanuseasingleintegratedWebinterfacetomanagethecomplexityofinstallationonhundredsorthousandsofmachines.ThebackendforthisworkcanbehostedandmanagedentirelybyRedHat,furtherreducingoverhead.

CustomersthatwishtomanageandmaintaintheirowncustompackageshavetheoptionofelectingtheonsiteProxyorSatelliteRedHatNetworkarchitectures.WiththeProxysolution,


thecustomer'sindividualsystemsconnecttoalocalRHNProxythatsitsbehindthecustomerfirewall.TheProxyaggregatesallnecessarydataincacheandcommunicatesviaadedicatedSSLconnectionwiththeRHNserversatRedHat.AllinformationstoredintheRHNdatabaseiskeptontheRHNservers.ISVandinternalcustomerapplicationscanbepackagedasRPMsandadministeredtoclientsystemsviacustomchannels.

TheSatellitearchitecturediffersfromtheProxyinthatallRHNfunctionalityisonthecustomerpremise,allowingthecustomergreaterfunctionalityandcustomization.TheSatelliteserverdoesnotrequireadedicatedSSLconnectiontotheRHNserversatRedHat.ErrataandupdatesarestoredinanembeddedOracledatabasethatispartoftheSatellitemodel.TheSatellitesolutionallowscustomerstotaketheirRHNsolutioncompletelyofflineifdesired.TheSatellitealsoofferscustomersmoresophisticatedmanagementtools,channelpermissions,erratacloning,theabilitytodoPXEbootprovisioning,andconfigurationfilecustomizationforspecificsystemssets.

InadditiontothearchitecturalvariationsofRHN,RedHatofferscustomersamodulechoice.TheUpdatemoduleisincludedwithallRedHatEnterpriseLinuxsubscriptionsandincludesupdatesviaRHNforindividualclients.TheManagementmoduleallowsthecustomertogroupandmanagemanysystemsviaacentralWebinterface.WiththeRHNProvisioningmodule,thesystemisabletoreplacekickstartimageinstallation,rollbackRPMstoreturnsystemstotheirpreviousstate,distributeconfigurationfilestogroupsofsystems,etc.Inthefuture,RHNwillincorporatemuchofthefunctionalityofassettrackingsoftware,eventandmonitoringsoftware,andotherremoteadministrationtools.ThisisanareaofstrategicinvestmentforRedHat,andtheservices,withover1.2millionregisteredclientnodes,arealreadyprovinginvaluabletomanyofourlargestcustomers.

ForcompleteinformationonRedHatNetworkofferingspleaseseehttp://www.redhat.com/software/rhn/.

Migrationstrategies

Suggestedmigrationplansandtimelines

RedHatEnterpriseLinuxhasproventobeaneffectivereplacementforlowtomidrangeUNIX/RISCsystems.ClientsmaychoosetodevelopahorizontalLinuxsupportstrategybeforedeployingLinuxormaytakeaverticalsnapshottoprovethatLinuxcanworkinselectedenvironmentsandgraduallylettheinfrastructureevolve.Somethinginthemiddleistypical,asorganizationsneedtoprovethatLinuxisaneffectivesolutionfortheirenvironmentbeforetheycandeveloptheentireinfrastructuretosupportit.

ThefollowingisahighleveloutlineofamigrationplanRedHatdeployedforFortune100customers,whichwebelieveisafairly


realisticpath.Thisisintendedtoprovideacursoryoverviewandsomegeneralguidanceforconsideration.Theseprojectthreadsmaybecompletedconcurrently,reducingtheoveralltimetomarket.Additionally,selectedapplicationsmayberolledoutalmostimmediatelywhileworkonthelargerinitiativecontinues.Thisallowsthecostbenefitstoberealizednowandnotjustatthefinaldeployment.

Phase1:PilotProject(3Months)KeyGoals:

Determinestatusofrequired,thirdpartyISVapplications

PerformbaselineOSbenchmarkcomparisonsforperformanceandfunctionality

Developinitialpassofacustomizedinstallation

BegindocumentationonanoverallLinuxdeploymentmethodology

BegindevelopmentoftechnologiescentraltothewidespreaddeploymentofLinux

Portandtestaninitialinternalapplication

BegindeterminingwhichinfrastructurecomponentscanquicklybeswitchedovertoLinux

BegindeterminingwhichproprietaryapplicationscaneffectivelybemigratedtoLinux

TestLinuxasacomponentoftheexistingUNIXinfrastructure

GaingeneralworkingskillswithLinux

DevelopoverallcostmodelforthemovetoLinux

Phase2:RolloutPreparation(3MonthsKey)Goals:

Finishconstructionofdeploymenttechnology

BuildoutinfrastructureneededtodeployLinuxworldwide

FinalizethecustomizedinstallofLinux,includingISVcomponents

Produceenduserdocumentation

PerformfinaldeploysystemQA

Beginwidespreadapplicationporting

Beginrolloutofinfrastructurereplacementcomponents

Begintrainingofsystemadministratorsordevelopers

Phase3Production(3Monthrampup,thenongoing) Beginworldwiderollout


Producesecondcutofcustomizedinstallwithbugfixes

ContinuetoportanddevelopnewapplicationsforLinux

ISVapplicationsupportBylate2004therewereover1000ISVapplicationsavailableforRedHatEnterpriseLinux.TheRedHatSolutionsCatalogisalistofRedHatCertifiedandRedHatReadyapplicationsthataresupportedonRedHatEnterpriseLinux.CustomersdeployingtheseapplicationshavetheassurancethatthesoftwarehasbeentestedonRedHatEnterpriseLinuxandiscompliantwithRedHat'sguidelinesforinteroperability.RedHatCertifiedmeansthatRedHatandtheapplicationvendorhaveapartnershipinplacebywhichjointcustomerscanbesupported.RedHatCertifiedApplicationsarereservedforRedHat'sPremierSoftwarePartners.RedHatReadyapplicationshavebeentestedbytheapplicationvendoronRedHatEnterpriseLinux,andthevendorhasagreedtocomplywiththeRedHatReadyGuidelines.RedHatwillusebesteffortstosupportcustomersusingtheseproducts.ThistablegivesaquickviewintowhatISVapplicationsarecertifiedonRedHatEnterpriseLinux:

Table5:ISVpreview


Note:Theinformationintheabovetableissubjecttofrequentchange.ForcompleteandcurrentofISVapplicationsupportforRedHatEnterpriseLinux,visit:https://www.redhat.com/apps/isv_catalog/ .

ConclusionRedHatEnterpriseLinuxhasmadesubstantialleapsinscalability,functionality,andenterprisesupportabilityinthelastseveralyears.WiththereleaseofRedHatEnterpriseLinuxv.4andtheexpansionofRedHat'sglobaltechnicalservicescapabilitiestohelpenterprisesnavigatethechallengesofmigration,Linuxiswellpositionedasacompellingalternativetoexpensive,proprietaryRISC/UNIXsolutions.Throughongoingcustomerfeedbackandincreasedenterprisedeployment,Linuxcontinuestoimproverapidlyinprocessorscalability,


ISV SupportedApplications

BEA

BMC

IBM

Oracle

RogueWave

Synopsis UFoundation2003.03,2003.06,2003.09

BEAWebLogic7.0SP1andSP2,BEAWebLogic6.1SP4andSP5,BEAWebLogicPlatform7.0,SP1,SP2,BEAWebLogicJRockit7.0J2SE1.4.1,BEATuxedo8.1,VariousBEAWebLogicAdaptersforWebLogicIntegration

PatrolforMSPerceiveWebServer7.1.01,PatrolforMSPerform7.1.01,PatrolforMSPredlct7.1.01,PatrolforUnix9.0.00,PatrolforUNIXPerceiveManagedNodes7.1.01,PatrolforUnixPerceiveWebServer7.1.01,PatrolforUnixPerform7.1.01,PatrolforUnixPredict7.1.01

DB2UniversalDatabaseEnterpriseServerEdition8.1,InformixDynamicServerEnterpriseEdition9.4,RationalClearCase5.0,TivoliEnterpriseConsole3.8,TivoliStorageManager5.2,WebSphereApplicationServer5.0,WebSphereApplicationServerEnterprise5.0,NumerousotherIBMApplicationsOracle10gServerEnterpriseEdition,Oracle9iRAC,OracleBiServer,OracleExpressServerwith8.1.7,Oracle9iApplicationServerEnterpriseEditionwithBior9iServer,Oracle11ieBusinessSuite,OracleCollaborationSuitewithOracleServerEnterpriseEdition9i

RogueWaveApplicationTuningSystem,RogueWaveLightweightEnterpriseIntegrationFramework,RogueWaveXMLObjectLink,SourceProC++Core,SourceProC++Net,SourceProC++Analysis,SourceProC++DB

Sybase

AdaptiveServerEnterprise(ASE)12.5.0.3,ReplicationServer(RS)12.5,Planned:AdaptiveServerEnterprise(ASE)12.5.1(32,64),Planned:ReplicationServer12.6,Planned:OpenClient/Server12.5

performance,andfunctionalitythroughtheavailabilityofmissioncriticalenterpriseapplications.ManyRedHatclientssimplywantanalternativetoproprietaryUNIX,whilesomeactivelyfearthatspecificflavorsofUNIXarebecomingmarginalizedintheconsolidationofUNIXsoarelookingforafuturemigrationpath.Whateverthereasonsforconsideringamigration,onceRedHat'shavebeguntouseLinux,theyhavenotlookedback.

IfyouwouldlikemoreinformationaboutRedHat,besuretovisit:http://www.redhat.com,orcallusat1888REDHAT1.


Documents

Unix to Linux Migration Whitepaper