Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Anatomy of a Successful Enterprise Linux Distro?

Posted by Cliff on from the what-pieces-do-corporations-drool-over dept.

phenix asks: "With the new release of Novell Linux Desktop, and the upcoming release of Sun JDS3, I am curious to hear how these two suites, and their underlying enterprise infrastructures (JES and OES) compare. Specifically, I am interested in their ease of management/deployment in these areas: directory services, productivity (office) applications, centralized application serving, centralized document storage, groupware, and remote application installation. All of these, of course, without the use of Windows products like Exchange and Windows technologies like Active Directory. Is there a better alternative?"

1 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. Not really important by ebuck · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most of these features you wish to compare are not part of a Linux operating system. Most are applications that are installed on top of a Linux operating system.

    So, among the Linux distributions, all of these features are roughly eqivalent, providing that you are using the same software to meet the need for the particular feature.

    Now in comparison between Linux and something else, Solaris, Windows, whatever... the ability to compare becomes much more difficult; because, you are comparing different products. In some platforms (Windows for example) the product can be part of the operating system, while in others it may require the purchace of "3rd party" software. In a few cases (Oracle, et. al.) you get lucky, you are really comparing the same product on two different platforms.

    When comparing different products, you are usually comparing different solutions, and such comparisons often break down to personal preference, familiarity, and comfort factor.

    As far as the base Linux operating system, a company can't go far wrong with either RedHat or SuSE. I'd pick RedHat personally, but Novell's backing of SuSE is not to be discounted. Both products support many of the solutions businesses will need, but neither will perfectly act as a Microsoft server clone.

    Lack of a feature is not a defficency, when the feature itself creates more problems than it solves.