Welcome to Open Source Solutions
The classic debate: Mac versus PC. We’ve all seen the the propaganda from both sides, but what do these choices mean for the typical business? Simply put, with either you have unnecessary limitations and higher costs.
The recent issues with Microsoft’s Vista operating system highlight the Windows platform’s continual susceptibility to online threats such as viruses and malware. It's a side effect of being the most commonly sold operating system, but that is hardly an excuse for its other problem (poor boot time, overuse of system resources, and etc.). So why do people keep going with PC? One thing is the cost of the individual terminal. Compared to Apple, they are roughly half the price. Unfortunately this cost savings does not spill over into the realm of software, where licensing fees and network related costs can quickly get out of hand for a frugal business.
If you consider the MAC alternative, you end up spending considerably more money for your hardware. The advantages? You get a stable and resource-friendly operating system that is relatively virus-free (for now). That’s great for individual terminals, but what about your network? Going the Microsoft route for your servers is still going to cost as much whether you’re using Mac or PC terminals.
So here’s the problem. On the server side of your business, one of these (Mac) is not even an option, and, although Window-based servers are relatively stable and secure compared to their desktop counterparts, they are still cost prohibitive to many small start up businesses. In addition, if you go ahead and figure in the licensing fees for your most common applications (Office, for example), we’re easily talking at least $14,000 for a small business with ten terminals networked with a domain controller, mail server, and file server.
On a computer to computer basis, a business needs security from viruses and malware. The ball is clearly in Mac’s court here (once again,for now), but you can easily spend twice as much on the same hardware. Sure, it looks a lot cooler, but a 24x DVD burner made by Toshiba is going to be just as fast in your PC as any Mac.
So the question should be raised: Can a business find a way to have the cost and security advantages of both Mac and PC without breaking the bank?
In short, the answer is yes. Linux-based systems offer all of the innovation and security of the MAC operating system with none of the licensing issues related to using Microsoft applications. Using Linux either for your entire system, or just key network components can dramatically lower your costs, not only in the short run, but in the long haul.
If we've piqued your interest, drop us a line either by phone or email. We'd be more than happy to show you how Linux can solve your problems at home, or how it can save you thousands upon thousands of dollars in the business environment. Our goal is to help you make your business run as simply and effectively as possible, while saving you as much money as possible.
ESXI Followup Thursday, 19 November 2009 07:57 |  Author: Darrell Breeden |   
Hello everyone! I have some good news and some bad news about the ESXI work I had been doing recently. The bad news is that I could not find a "cheap" interface card or a "cheap" controller for ESXI to run on. After consulting with three different VMware specialists, it became apparent that a lot has changed since ESXI 3.5. During the last iteration, it was a lot easier to find affordable components to make your own "White" ESXI server, but the requirements for ESXI4 changed drastically to accommodate the move to the Vsphere architecture. If the only thing that's failing is your Network Interface Card, however, you can spend around $300-$400 on one of Intel's server grade cards, as Intel cards are the way to go. It is very probable that you can get an Intel card to work even though it's not on the approved hardware list. The good news is that I have gotten ESXI to run at the office, but I decided to go ahead and get a server for it. After purchasing a Dell Poweredge 2970, I had ESXI up and running in less than 20 minutes after completing rack installation. There is a drastic improvement in network switching on the VMnets as well as toll taken on the host. Since the operating system, the VMkernel is only around 32 megabytes, it's the only real RAM overhead. I have 16 gigs of RAM in the server and I'm not taxing 10% of it yet, leaving me plenty of room to setup my development and test instances so that I can begin designing my own Linux distribution, as well as customer's virtual machines. As ESXI is free, however, VMware has attempted to thwart using it as a sole replacement of Vsphere 4 by preventing associated 3rd parties from developing backup software. At the moment, I'm working on a plan to get around that by backing up the machines via NFS network shares. Once that is done, it will be the ultimate machine for running an infrastructure. More news to come!
Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 February 2010 01:37 ) Open Source Solutions University Saturday, 03 October 2009 13:21 | Author: Darrell Breeden |
Hello again everyone! As you are all more than likely aware, the one thing that can keep people away from linux is the fear of the unknown. For that reason, in the next few months we will be developing an online course curriculum called Open Source Solutions University. This wil cover a broad spectrum of topics from installing the desktop operating system to advanced server management and command line tools. This will be a complete system including a full 101-40X class arrangement system complete with online classes, quizes, and exams. The syllabus is still under development, but I will post a proposed one once completed. Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 February 2010 15:16 ) ESXi Investigation Wednesday, 30 September 2009 12:53 | Author: Darrell Breeden |
Hello everyone! As you all know our goal at Open Source Solutions is to save you money! One of the biggest pieces of advice we give our clients is to look at virtualizing their infrastructure. Not only does this allow you to perform a full image based backup of your machines, but it also allows you to really tap into the hardware potential of your machines. In most cases, clients are able to work off of one physical machine running VMware Server 2.0. Here at OSSFB, we're looking at kicking it up a notch. VMware Server 2.0 is a solid piece of software, but sometimes, the overhead of the operating system can interfere with your VMs. This becomes apparent as you really start to "push the limits" of your machinery. VMware has recently released a free version of it's ESX server called ESXI 4.0. The beauty about this system is that, once it's running, the only thing it does is run virtual machines, so you're not losing any overhead to random system processes. It's hard to find cheap hardware (Network Card / Raid Controller) that it supports, but we're looking into some Intel Network cards that we think can get around this issue. Once this is complete, we will start to work on moving our new customers to this environment. Helping our customers work with the ESXI environment will help everyone get the most out of their hardware. Also, community support for the ESXI platform is much more abundant, so most of your issues can be answered by the community itself! If you're interested in the platform you can check it out here. Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 February 2010 15:16 ) |
