Re: Intel vs Sparc

From: Tim X <timx_at_spamto.devnul.com>
Date: 08 Feb 2003 14:06:18 +1100
Message-ID: <873cmztqs5.fsf_at_tiger.rapttech.com.au>


>>>>> "DA" == DA Morgan <damorgan_at_exesolutions.com> writes:  

>> Presently, I wouldn't be too sure about that. Oracle is treating
>> Linux as almost the preferred platform of the future for Oracle
>> RDBMS. It's cheap, runs on Intel and no learning curve for someone
>> going from *nix

 -> Linux rather then *nix to Win*. Oracle definitely needs to compete

>> with Sql server in mid size companies and what better platform to
>> challenge Win* with then Linux.
>>
>> After all, I read spmewhere that no one from Sun showed up at the
>> OWC. So there must be something there.
 DA> I'm a great supporter of Linux. But I would still argue that
 DA> those administering Linux are not as well trained as those
 DA> supporting Solaris, HP/UX, or AIX. The Linux world just does not
 DA> off the depth of training and those working with in the depth of
 DA> experience.

 DA> Now please don't flame me if you know Linux so well you go in an
 DA> alter the source code when you get bored. I am talking about
 DA> .... "in general" ... meaning that if a company makes a hosting
 DA> decision and then needs to have available a pool of potential  DA> employees their options are very much more limited.

Daniel,

I think I have to agree with you on this point. I've been using Linux since the very first release of slackware. I've worked as a sys admin and a developer on a number of different platforms including solaris/sunos, dec osf and ultrix etc.

Something I have noticed in the last few years as Linux has become more prevalent in the commercial world is a drop in the standard of the average Linux sys admin. I think this is mainly because on the whole, unix admins are better trained and they have obtained their training in a commercial context. With early Linux, a large number of those who were sys admining Linux systems had come form the unix world. However, I'm now seeing more sysadmins who have essentially learned Linux at home and don't have the same training and knowledge.

However, I do find on average even those Linux sys admins I've worked with who don't have much training seem to have a better understanding than many of the windows sys admins I've worked with. I would have to admit I'm bias though - I've tried working in the windows world and I just can't hack it! To me, NT/2k seem to require way too much constant attention just to keep the darn things up and running - forget about trying to get your environment configured and tuned to get the best out of it - just be happy when its up and running!

On the sun v linux issue I had an interesting experience some years back. Where I was working had a sparc running solaris 2.4 (or 2.6, can't remember now). We were going to replace the system because performance was pretty bad and we thought we needed something with more resources. At this time, RedHat had just brought out a sparc version of Linux and I convinced everyone to let me have a go at putting Linux on this system, just for the fun of it and to see what it was like. Well, we were all blown away. Linux ran better, was more stable and actually handled the load better than Solaris. Admittably, this was early Solaris and it has probably improved since then, but we were all a bit shocked - despite all of us being very enthusiastic about Linux at that time, we still did not consider it solid enough for a production system - at least we didn't think it would be in comparison to a commercial unix.

I ran into someone from this company a couple of months ago and he told me the old sparc station was still running Linux. It wasn't a production box anymore, but it was still purring away in the corner, now providing a CVS repositry for the development team.

Tim

-- 
Tim Cross
The e-mail address on this message is FALSE (obviously!). My real e-mail is
to a company in Australia called rapttech and my login is tcross - if you 
really need to send mail, you should be able to work it out!
Received on Sat Feb 08 2003 - 04:06:18 CET

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