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Linux Support Services Shoot-out and Analysis
securitas writes: "ZDNet has posted a huge article comparing and analyzing 12 Linux support services. It's 19 pages long plus tables! Happy reading!" Useful stuff, since a lot of companies want to make sure they've got someone to call if things go wrong.
The company I work for does a small amount of work with Linux. As such I am supposed to support it. The training a group of us got was basically - here is Linux, play with it - oh and if a customer has any problems get them to reinstall it. Thye probably know what thye are doing anyway so they won't call you.
I love the smell of Karma in the morning
I think third party support services for Linux will be hampered by the variation of the various distros out there. Even strong distribution providers like RedHat will have trouble supporting non-pure RH installs. For instance, I always recompile a kernel from source at kernel.org, so that way I have a clean source tree to patch against if I want to apply patches. At that point, I no longer have a pure RedHat system, and RH might balk at supporting a system that I didn't use their kernels, their XFree86 RPMS, their package manager for everything, etc.
Otherwise, it will turn into a mess of finger pointing and unanswerable questions.
User: So I downloaded the latest ISC DHCP tarball and compiled it, and when I try and start DHCP, it fails with something about Netlink.
Tech: Netlink is compiled into our install and update kernels, what is the exact error message?
User: Um, yeah, well, I wanted to try the new USB2.0 stuff, so I downloaded kernel 2.4.17-ac23 and compiled it from source.
Tech: Ah, please hold.(Goes away, gets a coffee, reads Slashdot)
10 minutes later
Tech: Sir, still there? The first thing to do is reinstall our kernel RPM package, rerun LILO, and reboot, and then call us back.
User: %^$#@#*!!!
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Just looking over the the table of response times -- for some of these companies, they seem to be missing the big CLUE.
Yes, if something goes wrong at a company they will need support.. in fact that is the only way they would actually use linux as their workstation/network/etc -- but support should probably be replaced with "immediate support." If a network goes down at a Fortune 500 Company JoeBlowDrinksSoda Inc., they arnt going to take the chance of missing productivity for 2,3, even days (as some of the response times are.
For the companies that have immediate response to linux issues --> now these are what we need. Maybe they are more expensive, but if the figurative "bomb" hits your network and you have deadlines, missing a deadline is going to cost more in money and in respect for your company than having to shell out a few extra clams...
I work for a large multinational tech company, and there has been considerable resistance to Linux because of the support issue. If we install an RS/6000 with AIX, IBM will support the hardware and software issues. Same with Sun hardware and Solaris. But the management is not sure who we would go to if we built some Linux servers and we needed some critical patches. Worse still, if we uncovered a bug in the OS, who would fix it for us, and how long would it take.
This is a start. There are companies out there who will support Linux for corporate accounts. The fact that a fairly mainstream website is posting this sort of information is an aid in getting the PHBs to believe that Linux is supported and ready for the corporate environment.
All we need now, is a fork of Linux that is specifically designed to run on enterprise-class servers and scales to be able to handle the amount of memory and resources that these servers have.
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
Now, I understand feelings and tempers are running pretty high right now, but we must be logical and think about what we are doing here.
First, this article has nothing to do with the Horrid WTC and the Pentagon acts of war that were commited last tuesday against. I understand we lost many lives, I too had friends in the navy and other military that were endangered in that attack. I haven't heard from them yet. So, you see I feel your pain, but, Let's keep the comments out of here and posted to the patriotic stories where they belong. Please refrain from off-topic posts to make the moderators jobs a little easier.
Second, It's nice to see support for linux service growing. I was fortunate enough to have a desire to learn and work with *nix when I began working at my company. Many new-hire co-workers were thrust into it. Luckily later, we were given training books to help us teach ourselves as we went along.
The most common comment I hear when I sugguest a linux solution is that there is no support, therefore once it is broken, it is broken. While this is simply wrong, bug business thinks that tech support people are magicians, who are the only ones that can fix computers (and not only that: THEY FIX IT THROUGH THE PHONE, WHOA). This is a excellent way to show business that they can still get a great operating system real cheap, AND there will be a group that has their backs if something goes wrong.
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Crudely Drawn Games
Useful stuff, since a lot of companies want to make sure they've got someone to call if things go wrong.
Useful stuff, since a lot of companies want to make sure they've got someone to sue if things go wrong.
Those who would give up liberty in exchange for security and DRM should switch to Microsoft Palladium!
IBM has paid more in advertising dollars than Microsoft did, so we now get the report that is so badly needed...
Now, where's the same report on Microsoft Support?
-- You can't idiot-proof anything, because they're always coming out with better idiots.
Go read the license agreements for software you buy. They disclaim any and all responsibility if things go bad. When you buy a piece of commercial software, e.g. MS Office, you get no warranty that it will even work as advertised. It can delete all files on your hard drive, email they out to anyone, cease to function, whatever. You can't sue anybody.
Tough.
There is no documented case of anyone ever winning a lawsuit because commercial software sucked.
I have never run into something that Google, linuxdoc.org, or time on IRC wasn't able to fix. MS may have the "knowledge base." (A horrid tangled nest of pages loosly grouped by, as near as I can tell, md5 hashes), but Linux has a dedicated, knowledgable, sometimes prickly, and definately motley following of people who have it in their best interest to see this operating system thrive. This means that, by and large, they're more willing to help.
Andrew
I posed the question to my company "What the difference between a 3rd party Linux support contract, and Microsoft support (who contracts out their first 2 lines of support 3rd parties)?!?!
you have to beg and plead for 2 days if you want to talk to somebody that actually works for microsoft when you call in. and those two days are going through various people that have probably never written a line of code in their lives (Ummm... ok, did you click or double click on File? CAREFUL, Double click CAN BE TRICKY!)
so what if we have to purchase a support contract for FreeBSD or Linux, with MS, you have to pay for the product AND THEN pay for a support contract. And the frontline support at Redhat has been shown to be a bit more knowledgable about the product than the frontline support at MS for windows..
Separating vendors like Dell from Linuxcare is a bit misleading, since Linuxcare IS Dell's Linuxcare support arm. Linuxcare answers the phones on behalf of Dell and Sun's Helpdesk for Linux and Solaris calls. You can merge those two together in the table shown on that page.
It sucks.
They are responsive, I'll give them that, but they assume you are an idiot and treat you as such. They would rather tell you how dumb they think you are than help you fix your problem. They are polite about it - meaning they don't call you an idiot to your face - but their condescending tone gives them away.
They shut up real fast, though, when it turns out they were wrong.
Example: When I loaded 2.2r3, the thing wasn't seeing my hard drive. The Debian community (for free and in no time after my request) showed me how to work around the problem.
Should I be impressed? I've seen teenage overclocker sites devote that many pages to a review of a fan. Including a table, with entries like Noise: Yes.
Obligatory BBSpot link: Video Card Review Sets Page Record
Whenever I call tech support I say right up front that I know what's up.
If you're calling Suse for tech support, they're assuming your not a "l33t Linux d00d" who can use the net/IRC/etc to solve the problems, but rather some dumbass who bought the CD at CompUSA.
They won't provide standard support for this sort of thing. However, many companies may be willing to consult with you about it. Hire a consultant at a high fee to help you customize your system.
This is the only way real support works anyway, and Linux is no different than any other product in this way. Some people just expect way too much.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
I think people think that support programs are put in place by companies to help fix their products. This is not true. The real value of support is in the fact that it makes CEO's, CTO's and CFO's more comfortable about using a certain piece of software in their companies.
In general, most problems of most products are resolvable by a little research. However, companies like to know that they are not putting money into a system which will not be supported. This is also how Red Hat makes their money...
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Our India office works with an Indian company that supports their Linux server. It is so much more reliable than our horrible (yet brand new) w2k one. The company they use (I think it's called starcom or something similar) also has services in the US but they prefer to deal with hosted servers (in farms) and that was too complicated and costly for our small office. I wonder if the experienced and educated people they have in India are enough to overcome such a large geographic divide. I know they also send people to the US but I bet that then it is economically equivalent to a US firm, and then why not hire locally...
I recently began working for them (about a month ago). We do quite a bit of things, from free work via volunteers, to paid enterprise solutions, as well as custom software design. Give us a look at the link posted above.
http://www.linux-support.net/
Peace,
Rob
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Rob Flynn
Pidgin
Reading manuals is great until you find yourself in a situation that the manual doesn't cover and only a real expert in the program knows how to fix it. The experts aren't the ones writting the manuals in most places. Making RTFM suggestions ridiculous. Besides when you ask for help the first replies are always "RTFM asshole" assuming them anual holds all information. It'd be more helpful if they asked "hey asshole did you RTFM?". At least then they're have an open outlook so you could ask more questions.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
Definitely check them out! Rob and Mark are turbo studly and they smell good too. Don't forget to hassle Mark about when Asterisk is going to go into production. :-)
Minimum of 3 huh? For 24x7? So I guess they're assuming 7 day weeks then, because three people can cover 24 hours in 8 hour shifts, but unless you're working them 7 days a week you'll have to hire 3 more for the weekend. Sheesh. Sorry, but I've had this argument 2x over the last 2 jobs.
Ctimes2
Sorry I'm late...
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