ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS WITH LINUX

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BusinessWeek recently carried an article that says: "Backed by technology titans such as Intel, IBM, HP and Dell, Linux is just now going mainstream. From DaimlerChrysler to Tommy Hilfiger- not to mention just about every major brokerage on Wall Street - Linux is gaining ground."

OSS/FS (Open Source Software / Free Software) programs are programs whose licenses give users the freedom to run, to study and modify, and to redistribute copies of either the original or modified program (without having to pay royalties to previous developers). The terms OSS and FS are mostly used interchangeably, but have a subtle difference in meaning.

There are many studies and researches that exhibit the growth of Linux and OSS/FS in the corporate arena. Linux started from the server and has now reached the desktops of major enterprises around the globe.

	If you buy a car, you get the right to repair it. You can repair it yourself or take it to any mechanic. Similarly, if you buy a software, you should have the right to repair it (modify the code as necessary), even if you don't know how to repair it yourself! Free software gives you that freedom. - Dr. Nagarjuna G. (TIFR)

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay has more than 5000 computers spread across a wide campus - academic area, hostels and residential complex. They already have the hardware and network in place - 10Mbps Internet connection, Gigabit L3 switches and fiber optic backbone.

IITB needs to provide email and web access to all the users. They also need to host their websites. There are numerous other requirements too - security, virus protection, bandwidth shaping, fault tolerance, ease of administration etc. The entire solution must be efficient and affordable. The solution must also be reliable and provide flexibility.

GNU/Linux running various services on load balanced plain vanilla computers.

The entire IITB network infrastructure is powered by open source solutions. IITB's critical services are handled by iptables (firewall), djbdns (name server), OpenLDAP (LDAP directory service), qmail (email), Clam antivirus, inn (newsgroup), Apache (web server) and Squid (web proxy).

The show runs on standard desktop machines pulled in together over a load balancer. They are no dual processor power horses, just cheap assembled computers. This gives hot swapping capability at computer level! If something goes wrong, they can simply replace a machine.

IITB has implemented content filtering on the web proxy (with SquidGuard) and bandwidth shaping. Smoke Ping and MRTG allow IIT to check the network status and Nagios does service monitoring - this even dials out a phone number to the admin - in case there is a problem!

IITB is very happy with the performance of this solution. Dr. G. Sivakumar, computer science department, says "OSS/FS is critical for us. We have built our entire solution ground up on OSS/FS. This has resulted not only in cost savings, but also time and other resources. This couldn't get any better!" They are even contributing some applications to the open source community to show the gratitude!

So why did IIT Bombay opt for OSS/FS?

Benefits of using Free Software

• Reliability: There are fewer bugs in OSS/FS. If any bugs / defects are discovered, they will be patched quickly. You can rely on the performance and quality of the software. GNU/Linux was also found more stable than Windows NT, in a 10-month ZDnet experiment.
• Performance: Many benchmarks have proved that popular OSS has outperformed their proprietary counterparts.
• Auditability: User is free to audit the source code in OSS. You have no option but to believe the vendor in case of closed source systems.
• Flexibility and Freedom: You are not locked into a particular supplier with OSS. You have the flexibility and freedom to do what you want with the software.
• Scalability: It is not true that Free software can not provide enterprise scale solutions. There are more than 50,000 projects on SourceForge - many of which provide enterprise solutions. RedHat Linux 7.1 is more than 30 million lines of code - something that would take about 8000 person years!
• Security: Evans Data Corp.'s Spring 2002 Linux Developer Survey found that GNU/Linux systems are relatively immune from attacks. CERT also mentioned that majority of security problems apply to Microsoft systems and not to OSS/FS.
• Support and Accountability: It's a big myth that you will not get support for Free software. You can get plenty of support.
• Cost: Even if you are paying for open source software, the cost is typically a one time fee - not based on the number of users. Cybersource's 2002 studies found Total Cost of Ownership savings of 24% to 34% with OSS/FS compared to Microsoft approach. Many studies even showed savings upto 65%.
  

Going further...

There are many applications for enterprise needs on OSS. If you don't find software that fulfills your requirements, Linux provides you development tools and platform to build it up.

There is good development going in embedded Linux. Another promising area is Linux based thin client computing. At a fraction of cost, you can setup thin clients talking to a single Linux server. These clients are suitable for typical office usage, call centers, insurance, banking, software development etc. Contact us if you are interested in this option, we could discuss it in detail.

Migrating to Linux

Migrating to Linux will depend on your existing IT setup. You will get a lot of software ready to use, and can ask a service provider to port your specific software to Linux for a fee.



Linux and the Open Source Software can satisfy most of enterprise computing needs. The Linux range of solutions encompasses servers, desktops and all kinds of other devices.

OSS/FS (Open Source Software / Free Software) is not only advantageous from the cost view point; it also offers significant quantifiable technical benefits that make it a promising alternative for any enterprise solution. There are no licensing issues associated with Linux and it also give you freedom with the software.

Linux is a great development platform too. If you do not find a ready solution to your business problem, you can easily get it custom developed. Government and Educational institutes have already taken big steps forward with Linux. We are sure that even your organization will benefit greatly from Linux!

What can MagNet do?

MagNet provides Linux based solution to various corporate clients. We do complete system integration for enterprise Linux solutions and can help you at each step!

If you are considering Linux and need some help/advice, do let us know!