Introduction to Linux

Hemo Infrastructure, Uncategorized
Picture of Linux mascot
Linux mascot “Tux”

As a tech worker, one of the skills that is a must is ability to use Linux. I won’t give you a walkthrough on how to write your first command or how to install it. However, I will talk about what do you need to know about Linux before using it. It is because Linux is not just an operating system. It is a philosophy and an interesting story in a form of an operating system. 

What is Linux? 

Linux is an open source operating system created by Linus Torvalds for x86 architecture and then for other architectures. Linux is greatly seen and used in data centres due to its performance, stability and flexibility. 

Open Sauce ?!! 

No not open sauce but open source. In software development world there are two different philosophies. The first believes no one should ever see how a certain application is made and nothing of its source code is open to public. This philosophy is called closed source or proprietary code.  The other school believes that the source code must be open for public and they have the modify the code for their need, as long as they give credit to the original author. 

Linux History

In 1991 when Linus Torvalds was still as student he found out that there isn’t a free and open sourced operating system that available for the public. So, he decided to build a new operating system that free and opensource. 

Linux in depth… slightly

Over the years Linus is pretty much different than what it was in 1991. Also, due to availability of its code for the masses, there are many flavors of Linux. Each flavor is called a distribution. Each distribution differs from other by having different collection of application that are added to the system.  

Distributions are split into two families; RedHat and Debian. Each family has its own characteristics. RedHat is a commercial Distribution that is free but you have to pay for it for its support. RedHat is also known for its stability and production ready. However, its update cycle is usually slower than the Debian family. Debian family is entirely free and tend to update every 6 months. Moreover, it is equipped with the latest technologies and applications. 

Hemo’s Take

There isn’t the best distribution of Linux, because each distro has its benefits. As a result, you should choose the distro that matches your needs. Thus, I advise you to play with various distros until best fit is found and chosen.

Consumer Hardware VS Server Hardware

Hemo Infrastructure

One of the mistakes some novice IT pros do is suggesting using high-end consumer hardware instead of Server grade hardware. They suggest using high-end consumer grade hardware because it has better performance with the price range. However, price tag is just a factor in calculating overall cost of a certain asset. In this post, we will see why server-grade hardware is more beneficial than high-end consumer hardware.

 

Designed to last longer and more reliable!!

Server hardware is designed to have a longer time span that consumer hardware, because servers in general stay in production for a longer time than consumer hardware. Moreover, servers are designed to be on 24/7, unlike personal machines that most people turn them off for hours daily.

Mean time between failure or MTBF is a unit that measure the average time a component will take to failure under optimal operation conditions. As an example, according to western digital WD Gold MTBF is 2.5 million hours.  On the other hand, consumer hard drives do not come with MTBF, however they tend to fail after 500 thousand hours.

Any enterprise will have more profit if they used their equipment for a longer time and less down time, because their ROI will be higher.

Fault tolerant

The other reason IT pro choose servers grade hardware over consumer grade hardware is its high fault tolerant and redundancy. As an example, servers come with two PSUs, to prevent downtime because of a dead PSU.

Fault tolerance allows devices to run even if one or more of its components is faulty. As a result, no service will be interrupted and sysadmins will be happy.

Support

Support provided to server grade hardware is often better than consumer grade hardware. Server grade hardware comes with better support packages, such as 24/7 support and on-site equipment replaced done by support representative. Moreover, vendor dedicate a certain specialist to large customers to ensure the representative is familiar with production environment and provide faster and better service.

 

Hemo’s Take

“It depends” is what is answer should be. As a system administrator, you should evaluate the value of each service and decide does it worth the support it comes with or not. Also think about the time and resource wasted from the down time.