Expanding Choice: Moving to Linux and Open Source with Novell Open Enterprise Server [Paperback]

Jason Williams (Author), Peter Clegg (Author), Emmett Dulaney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0672327228 | ISBN-13: 978-0672327223 | Edition: 1

Expanding Choice: Moving to Linux and Open Source with Novell Open Enterprise Server is a concise, authoritative guide for IT professionals to help evaluate and implement Novell's open source technologies. You will be able to understand and assess the advantages of open source technologies through the discussion of specific, customer-tested implementation strategies for both open source and traditional software. You will also review the benefits and costs of both open source and closed source software systems. Find out how Novell's new Open Enterprise Server combines the choice and flexibility of SUSE Linux with the reliability of Novell's proven networking software in Expanding Choice: Moving to Linux and Open Source with Novell Open Enterprise Server.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jason Williams is the product manager for Novell Open Enterprise Server (OES) and the creator of the requirements document for OES. He joined Novell in 1999 and had been product manager for GroupWise®, WebAccess, and Wireless. He created Novell's Instant Messaging system, GroupWise Messenger. Previously, he has held positions in London for numerous financial institutions including the Bank of England and the BBC World service.

Peter Clegg is a freelance author and former technology editor for McGraw-Hill. He has been published in major trade and business magazines and specializees in evolving IT services. He has been writing about networking technology for over 15 years. He was Director of Marketing over NetWare and Internet services at Novell.

Emmett Dulaney is the certification columnist for UnixReview and author of Novell Certified Linux Professional Study Guide from Novell Press. He has earned 18 vendor certifications, written several books on Linux, Unix, and certification study, spoken at a number of conferences, and is a former partner at Mercury Technical Solutions.

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Introduction

"Open source" is a catch phrase that passes from lip to lip and from magazine article to magazine cover more times a day than can be counted. So many speak of it, yet you have to wonder if they really understand the depth of the topic they're discussing and the world of possibilities that it holds.

Looking for a Common Thread

Let's start with a pop quiz. Read the following three short case studies and try to ascertain what each organization has in common.

Golden Gate University

In the heart of San Francisco's financial district is the central hub of California's fifth-largest private university. Golden Gate University offers a variety of exceptional undergraduate and graduate programs in business management, information technology, and law, utilizing the most advanced technologies and learning tools available. Golden Gate's CyberCampus permits students to work and study on their own schedules using the Internet.

Golden Gate is 75% of the way through a major data center consolidation project, which replaces a cacophony of hardware platforms, operating systems, database applications, and web services with Linux, open source applications and networking services, Oracle databases, and Dell hardware. This five-year migration plan allows Golden Gate to simplify administration and consolidate hardware, software, and database content without sacrificing any functionality while providing students and faculty with easier access to more resources. In addition to quantified hardware, software, and management savings, Golden Gate has implemented data center technology that provides it scalability and choice, and positions it to take advantage of new and emerging open standards solutions.

CCOC

CCOC is a mutually-owned service bureau providing information technology services to community banks and credit unions in the northeastern United States. The company has more than 130 customers and nearly 300 employees. The company services 7,000 workstations and 500 ATMs, and processes more than seven million check images each month.

CCOC's solutions included a mix of Unix and Microsoft Windows applications and services. CCOC's dedication to customer support, security, and value led it to evaluate and select Linux as the platform of choice for its major applications, including email, Oracle databases, bank teller applications, back office processing software, reporting tools, and financial applications. With Linux, CCOC gets the same performance as Unix on less expensive hardware without sacrificing performance or reliability.

CCOC transitioned its business to Linux and established 99.999% uptime at a fraction of the cost of its previous Unix system. As a result, the company has reduced its overall hardware costs by 40%. Moving several of its Windows applications to Linux has also reduced administration time by 40%.

Hewitt Associates

Hewitt Associates is a global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm delivering a complete range of human capital management services, such as HR, payroll, benefits, and health care. Hewitt's client roster includes more than half of the Fortune 500, with more than 17 million participants. Hewitt deployed a grid of Intel-based Linux blade servers to off-load CalcEngine, an employee pension calculation program, from its mainframe. The result was that the number of pension calculations doubled (1.2 million to 2.4 million) with a 90% reduction in costs over the mainframe.

So what does each organization have in common? If you stated "open source," you have the main point. If you also picked up on the fact that each company was a migration in process, you're observant. If you noted that open source coexists with proprietary software or legacy applications, you did very well. And, if you deduced that open source is fundamentally altering the way these companies do business (both internally and externally), congratulations, you scored the maximum points possible.

Why This Book?

The purpose of this book is threefold. First, for those in mainstream organizations who are just coming to an awareness of open source, it provides a snapshot of what open source is, how the open source movement has evolved, where it currently is positioned, and what future possibilities might lay in store. The second purpose for this book is to provide information, tools, and a framework for analysis that will enable computer system professionals and IT decision makers to assess the benefits of implementing open source.

The third purpose for this book is to introduce Open Enterprise Server (OES)—the newest operating system from Novell. Once again, Novell has raised the bar for the IT industry by creating an operating system that is truly second to none.

Not only does OES offer all the services that you have come to know and depend upon in NetWare, but it also combines the best features of Linux and open source as well, to provide great value and a plethora of reasons to incorporate it in your environment.

Novell has been providing enterprise customers with networking solutions for over 20 years. With OES, Novell continues to provide you with additional choices and flexibility options that you might not be getting from other solution vendors. The following are the top 10 reasons why Novell Open Enterprise Server belongs in your environment:

1. You can achieve greater choice and flexibility by deploying Linux and other open source technologies into your environment.

2. You can minimize training costs by leveraging your current infrastructure, skill sets, and technology investments.

3. OES allows you to use Linux—the leading open source application development platform—to run your line-of-business applications.

4. With OES, you can install the foundation for additional industry-leading network resource- and identity-management services available for your enterprise.

5. You can achieve enterprise-class scalability for applications, collaboration, file, print, security, and storage.

6. You can build the foundation for a complete Linux-based server-to-desktop alternative to current proprietary offerings.

7. You can partner with the leading network vendors and gain access to the Novell global ecosystem for technical assistance, consulting, training, certification, and development services.

8. OES allows you to mitigate business risks through proven high-availability, service-failover, and disaster-recovery solutions.

9. You can manage your mixed environment of NetWare and Linux through a single web-based management interface and simplify IT staff workload.

10. You will realize a solid return on investment by lowering ongoing system-management and hardware costs by moving to an Intel-based platform.

OES is the future. Novell has been recognized in the press and by analysts for its clear commitment to making Linux better for enterprise-level customers and for continuing to offer choice and flexibility. Key partners such as IBM, Dell, HP, Computer Associates, and Veritas are supporting Novell's strategic move to support Linux and offer customers a choice.

OES is a complex product, but its complexity is all behind the scenes. From the standpoint of an implementer and administrator, there is no other product offering the same features that is easier to work with.

Open source is and will continue to be a significant factor for companies of all sizes, but particularly for enterprise sites in which greater degrees of information exchange and collaboration are required between employees, customers, partners, and suppliers. Open source cost and capability factors will increasingly influence the dynamics of IT, which, in turn, will affect the overall competitiveness and viability of an organization.

It's worth noting that most analysts (including strategists at Novell) believe open source will never completely displace proprietary software. In general, open source is a commodity resource available to accommodate common, mass-market IT needs. The spread of open source will advance, filling mass-market needs while moving from general to specialized applications. In the foreseeable future, however, the demand for proprietary software with specialized function and custom utility will always exist.

IT solution providers, including independent software vendors such as Novell, can continue to be profitable by meeting specialized application needs and by providing a support and service ecosystem around the complete stack with support and management for both open and proprietary solutions. Open source, while revolutionary in many ways, will in the long run serve as an evolutionary catalyst for greater IT capability.

How This Book Is Organized

This book removes the mystery surrounding open source and walks you through various elements of OES. When you finish reading this book, you will have a much better understanding of the open source movement and Novell Open Enterprise Server and be better prepared to incorporate it in your environment.

Chapter 1, "A History of Linux and the Open Source Movement," introduces you to the history and basics of Linux. Knowing the background of both Linux and open source is crucial to understanding how OES has come to be.

Chapter 2, "The Open Source Solution," moves beyond the history and into the theoretical advantages of implementing open source as an answer to your implementation issues.

In Chapter 3, "Open Source in the Real World," you will learn about the major institutions that have tried open source and embraced it wholeheartedly. Taking from their experiences, you can evaluate its suitability for your environment.

In Chapter 4, "A Brief History of NetWare," you will be introduced to the organization behind the best network operating systems on t...

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Novell Press; 1 edition (March 17, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672327228
• ISBN-13: 978-0672327223
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,952,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A review of the benefits and costs of both open source and closed source software systems, July 5, 2005

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Expanding Choice: Moving to Linux and Open Source with Novell Open Enterprise Server (Paperback)

Expanding Choice: Moving To Linux And Open Source With Novell Open Enterprise Server by the team of Jason Williams, Peter Clegg, and Emmett Dulaney provides a detailed, hands-on guide to all of the technical and business benefits of implementing open source software in an enterprise environment, particularly when combined with select proprietary technologies. A review of the benefits and costs of both open source and closed source software systems is provided, as well as an analysis of the benefits of an approach that blends the choice and flexibility of open source with the reliability of Novell's proven networking software. This is an essential core addition to the Linux reference user's reference shelf.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good discussion of linux, June 13, 2005

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W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Expanding Choice: Moving to Linux and Open Source with Novell Open Enterprise Server (Paperback)

You probably know that the major unix vendors, IBM, Sun and HP, are migrating their unixes to linux. But the smaller players are also doing so. Notably Novell, as described in this book.

The first 3 chapters are a good, vendor-neutral explanation of open source and why you might want to go with it. The advice is commendably objective. For these chapters alone, you may want to seriously consider getting the book.

The remainder of the book explains Novell's proprietary offerings. It suggests possible advantages in adopting their Open Enterprise Server. The level of discussion is moderately technical. Seems mostly directed as an overview for management.

En passant, I have to remark on a list of 10 reasons, given in chapter 4, claiming that Novell "is the best choice as a partner". One reason is "Novell has more resources and talent focused on delivering enterprise class linux and open source technologies than any other vendor". I am very dubious about this. IBM is much larger and has been offering this type of linux support for several years.