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Large Scale Deployment of Linux for File/Print Services?
sgtrock asks: "I was
approached this week by a manager of the server support group at my
company. He says he and his boss are trying to figure out what
should host our file and print services for the company (read,
replace Netware). He asked me if I thought if it would be feasible
to do on Linux servers. Now, I was more than pleasantly surprised by
the question, because as late as last fall I couldn't get this guy to
take Linux seriously for companies our size. However, recent stories
about Microsoft plus some of their actions here have really soured him
on the idea of moving to Win2k services where he doesn't have to. I
told him that in theory we could do it: LDAP authentication to our
existing NDS on the back end, Samba file service and either LPR/LPD or
CUPS based printing. The big open question mark for me is archiving.
He then asked me if I knew of anyone already doing it." I'm sure
there are shops out there that are using Linux as such. If you are,
please raise your hand! Numbers on the size of the network
and how well the system has been holding up would be appreciated.
"This is a pretty conservative company. We HATE to be first if we can avoid it. Every time we are we pay in much pain and sweat. So, I'd like to know the following: Does anyone know of or can point to success stories for this kind of application in very large environments? Mind you, I'm talking about tens of thousands of desktops, as we have 60,000 users. University stories will be looked at with skepticism by this management team. I'll read the stories, but they probably won't be given much credence by anyone else. Thanks for your time."
This is an excellent question and I am very glad to see it on Slashdot. I'm always interested in real world scenarios at the enterprise level.
But, the posted answers and the derth of relevant answers is tremendously telling. I'll probably get modded to hel for this, hence the AC post.
The thing is that there are no responses that acknowledge the large-scale use of Linux in a large enterprise. There is one possible exception to this and that is Cisco's project. But, the fact of the matter is that even Cisco is heavily rooted in Microsoft.
When it comes to major corporations and very large numbers of users, Linux does not offer as good, or at least as scalable, a solution as Microsoft or Novell.
Make no mistake, there are countless MAJOR corporations out there that utilize Linux in their environment, for one function or another. But, none of them use Linux as their primary platform. It seems that ALL of them rely on Microsoft, definitely for workstations, and or Novell for file, print and directory services. Many also have mainframes, S390 using RACF, or high end Unix systems like Solaris or HP-UX or DG-UX but, beneath it all Microsoft is the prevelant solution.
Now, I personally think that Linux combined with Novell's eDirectory could be a reliable solution that would, in fact, scale to meet the requirements but, as yet no one has actually done it. And, unfortunately, very few will even try.
Great question, though.
As for the rest of you, flame away.