Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Red Hat Advanced Server Gets DoD COE Certification

Posted by timothy on from the buncha-cud-chewin-hippies dept.

DaveAtFraud writes "CNET is reporting that Red Hat Advanced server has been certified as a 'Common Operating Environment' (COE) when running on an IBM server by the U.S. Department of Defense. Red Hat Advanced Server is the first version of Linux to receive this certification. The certification clears the way for broader use of Linux in governement computer systems. Its interesting to note that the certification effort was made for the more proprietary (and costlier) Red Hat Advanced Server and not the basic Red Hat distribution." This despite the best efforts of certain lobbyists.

6 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. From the Red Hat site by sczimme · · Score: 4, Informative


    Read the RH press release here.

    --
    I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
  2. Sorry to be a spoilsport, but... by TheMidget · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... isn't that the same certification than the one we scoffed at when Windows 2000 got it?

    1. Re:Sorry to be a spoilsport, but... by nemaispuke · · Score: 4, Informative

      You are talking about two different things, Common Criteria is about security and Common Operating Environment is a military standard for mission critical applcations (Command and Control, Intelligence, etc). What it means is that if you use applications designed for Motif/CDE and use COE as a standard, they can run on RedHat Linux Advanced Server. This is more about functionality than security.

  3. Re:How to get it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nonsense.

    Anyone can download it for free from Red Hat.

    You just don't get the support for free.

    Mirrors: http://www.redhat.com/download/mirror.html

    Check the "enterprise" directory.

  4. Re:Of course they certify the expensive version by salimma · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not to mention that the certification is only valid for a specific version of the OS (what Microsoft neglected to say back when they were selling NT 4.0 was that it's NT 3.5 that is C2-certified).

    The Advanced Server is released every one and a half year or so - the desktop OS every six months. Personally I find it a very agreeable deal - the free users get faster releases and contribute towards bug testing, the paying customers get what they want, slower but longer-supported (and now certified too) releases.

    --
    Michel
    Fedora Project Contribut
  5. Re:Of course they certify the expensive version by ewilts · · Score: 4, Informative
    RHAS does not have only a 3-year lifecycle. It's 5 from initial release, based on this official document: http://www.redhat.com/apps/support/errata/rhlas_er rata_policy.html

    Comparing that to Solaris, I have no idea where you pulled out the 11.5 year life cycle. According to Sun's web page, it's 5 years from last ship date. Reference this page: http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/fcc/lifecycle .html

    I will admit that 5 years from last ship is greater than 5 years from initial ship, but there's no way in hell it's an 8.5 year delta like you're trying to claim.

    Ya know, "gobs of system management tools" and "a kernel many tricks up it's[sic] sleeve" don't exactly add to much of a review :-). I believe I can honestly claim that Red Hat Linux Advanced Server has "gobs of system management tools" and "a kernel with many tricks up its sleeve". Of course, this claim holds true for Windows too.

    How you got moderated to 2 on your post is beyond me...

    --
    .../Ed