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Open. But is it popular?
Indian SMBs haven’t really capitalised on the potential
of open source applications. When properly implemented and maintained, these
can provide value and powerful functionality
 When
you buy a computer, if you are a power user, you will definitely prefer to have
access to its insides so that in case things go wrong or the computer is not
set up the way you like you can fix things. When it comes to software, SMBs
are more interested in a ‘non-accessible insides’ approach. This lack
of adoption is more due to misconception and lack of awareness about the advantages
that open source software can provide.
No free lunch
It is time to dispel some of the popular notions about open source. It is not
necessarily free to use, or developed by a bunch of geeky hackers, or devoid
of support, or without options to choose from.
Open source software (OSS) isn’t software that’s difficult to use
or maintain. It won’t leave your business in the lurch, at least the better
known applications won’t. While many OSS applications are free to use or
modify, they provide functionality and support that sometimes is superior to
that provided by their proprietary ‘closed source’ brethren. The open
source movement is as professional as any software company.
Today, many leading software vendors have open source versions of their software
with excellent, paid for, support levels. The range of enterprise OSS options
is also quite wide. Let us take a look at some of these.
Desktop Linux
When it comes to the enterprise desktop, Linux operating systems have started
making minor inroads. However, in the SMB segment, Linux flavours like Red Hat,
SUSE (now Novell) and Mandriva (Earlier Mandrake) are yet to catch on.
The prime reason behind desktop Linux’s singular lack of popularity is
the perceived lack of user-friendliness. While this might have been the case
earlier, Linux has evolved considerably. User interfaces such as KDE and Gnome
have become quite user-friendly. This is the right time for SMBs to pilot Linux
on the desktop, particularly for new desktops where the issue of data migration
from a Windows set-up does not arise.
All said and done, with Linux you get a full-fledged desktop OS for a price
that’s lower than the conventional option. Office productivity suites and
other common desktop applications come bundled with the OS. Club this with cost-effective
subscriptions to the support schemes offered by Linux vendors and the value
proposition becomes quite attractive.
Although 64-bit desktops are still not too common in the enterprise, this is
an area where Linux is strong. We will examine this phenomenon in detail as
we look at server operating systems.
Power to the server
Open source OSs have proved their forte on the server. Many organisations, particularly
telcos and banks, have started using Linux to run applications such as e-mail
and HR in addition to the traditional Unix.
64-bit RISC servers have been a stronghold for Unix. Sun’s recent action
of open sourcing Solaris will bear watching. IBM’s open source strategies
also promise significant action.
Linux 64-bit server OSs have been around longer than their Windows counterparts.
Linux was 64-bit from the launch of AMD’s Sledgehammer aka Opteron processor
in 2000. The Lintel (Linux on Intel) platform is quite strong on the server
front. 64-bit Lintel-based servers will further strengthen open source’s
hold in the SMB server market although Windows Server is still the dominant
platform.
Cut to the application
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Open source OSs have proved their forte on the server.
Many organisations, particularly telcos and banks, have started using
Linux to run applications such as e-mail and HR
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Open source applications have made their presence felt quite
unobtrusively. It is necessary to stress that these applications are not only
for the Unix/Linux platforms. Many OSS packages are available on Windows as
well.
The Apache Web server (the world’s most popular Web server), Tomcat application
server, the OpenOffice.org initiative, the MySQL open source database and PostgreSQL
open source database are all quite popular. Recent entrants to this league include
Mozilla’s Thunderbird e-mail client and the Firefox browser. Open source
ERP and CRM packages are also available.
On the security front, there are several open source applications such as firewalls
and IDSs (intrusion detection systems) that are popular in the enterprise. Firewalls
based on ipchains and IDS software such as Snort are also useful for SMBs.
Possible roadblocks
 The
biggest setback to the adoption of open source software by SMBs is the negative
mindset adopted towards it—both from the technology side as well as the
business or user perspective. This has to be resolved if OSS deployment is to
succeed.
It has to be understood that successful deployment of software
depends on how it is carried out. A good application deployed wrongly will fail
irrespective of whether it is proprietary or open source. This is why proper
evaluation of the various software options and functionality has to be done
before deciding on a solution.
The many risk factors associated with a deployment have to
be all scrutinised carefully. These include parameters such as availability
of required skill-sets or support for the application, possible standardisation
or inter-operability issues with existing or planned systems, ease of use, security
issues, ongoing costs, cost effectiveness and service levels.
Once the evaluation is completed and requirements have been
met, it does not matter if the application is open or closed. But many SMBs
err on the side of ruling out open source altogether.
| Vendor |
Product |
Features |
Architecture supported |
Contact |
| Mandriva |
The Mandriva Linux Desktop |
Performance Kernel 2.6NPTL, Web browser - Mozilla, Office
Suite-OpenOffice 1.1, fully compatible with Microsoft Office; available
in more than 20 languages, Personal Information Manager - Evolution, support
for Microsoft Exchange, Instant Messaging-Kopete, Media Player-Totem |
x86 and x86-64 architectures, SMP and hyperthreading architectures,
support for USB2 and IEEE1394, Most Serial ATA controllers supported in
non-RAID mode, heterogeneous environment support with Samba, tool for easy
migration from Samba2 to Samba3, NTFS partition resizing without data loss |
www.mandriva.com |
| Novell |
Novell Linux Desktop 9 |
Novell evolution2,Instant Messaging, Open Office.org, Mozilla
Firefox, Novell iFolder, Adobe Acrobat Reader,Citrix ICA client, Macromedia
Flash Player, RealPlayer,System core, Centralised configuration support,
Thin- and thick-client support, Auto YaST Auto installation tool, Novell
ZEN Works Linux Management |
x86, AMD 64, Intel EM 64T |
Tel:022-28342244
Fax:022-28342223
www.novell.com
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| Red Hat |
Red Hat Desktop |
System capacity - 1 CPU, Memory - Up to 4 GB, mail - Evolution,
document processing - OpenOffice.org 1.1, browsing - Mozilla, instant messaging
- GAIM, professional quality fonts - Agfa Monotype. Integrated third party
applications, including Adobe Acrobat Reader and plugin, Macromedia Flash
plugin, Java (IBM and BEA) and plugin (IBM), Citrix ICA Client, and Real
Player |
x86, AMD64, EM64T |
Red Hat India Tel: 022 3987 8888, Fax: 022 3987 8899, Website:
www.in.redhat.com |
| Vendor |
Product |
Features |
Architecture supported |
Contact |
| Mandriva |
Corporate Server 3.0 |
Kernel 2.6, NPTL, Samba 3, Apache 2 |
x86 and x86-64 architectures, SMP and hyperthreading architectures,
Support for USB2 and IEEE1394, Serial ATA: Most controllers supported in
non-Raid mode, heterogeneous environment support with Samba tool for easy
migration from Samba2 to Samba3, authentication on LDAP, NIS or Windows
servers, LSB 2.0 certified |
www.mandriva.com |
| Novell |
SUSE Linux Enterprise 9 |
Kernel 2.6.x general enhancements (exclusive) Common UNIX
Printing System(CUPS), Samba3 (SMBand NMB), Netatalk, Network FileSystem
(NFS), SMBFS and CIFS, file systemsupport, Non-UniformMemory Access(NUMA),
NUMA development tools, hyperthreading, flexible I/Oscheduler (exclusive),
class-based Kernel Resource Management(CKRM) (Exclusive), asynchronous I/O,
multipath I/O, raw I/O |
x86, AMD64, Intel EM64T, the Intel Itanium Processor family,
IBM POWER, IBM zSeries and IBM S/390 |
Tel: 022-28342244 Fax: 022-28342223 www.novell.com |
| Red Hat |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS |
Supports high-end and mission-critical Systems. Used for data
base and corporate applications. |
Supports x86 systems, supports Itanium2 systems, supports AMD64/EM64T
systems, Supports IBM POWER, zSeries & S/390 systems |
Tel: 022-39878888
Fax: 022-39878899
www.in.redhat.com
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| Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES |
Serves small to mid range servers. Maximum memory 16GB.
Targetted at applications like Red Hat Network Proxy Server, DNS, Web, FTP,
NFS. |
x86, AMD64/EM64T, and Itanium |
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Manufacturer
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Product
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Description
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Tripwire
www.tripwire.org |
Tripwire for Servers |
Tripwire for Servers is targetted at small to medium-sized
IT organisations. Able to detect and pinpoint changes to system and configuration
files, Tripwire for Servers enables IT staff to determine what changed,
when it changed, how it changed, who changed it and to roll servers back
to a known and trusted state if the change was not authorised or desired |
| Tenable Network Securitywww.nessus.org |
Nessus |
Remote security scanner for Linux, BSD, Solaris,
and other Unices. It is plug-in-based, has a GTK interface, and performs
over 1,200 remote security checks. It allows for reports to be generated
in HTML, XML, LaTeX, and ASCII text, and suggests solutions for security
problems |
Sourcefire
www.snort.org |
Snort |
Lightweight network intrusion detection system,
capable of performing real-time traffic analysis and packet logging on IP
networks |
OpenSSH is affiliated with the OpenBSD project
www.openssh.com |
OpenSSH |
OpenSSH encrypts all traffic (including passwords)
to effectively eliminate eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and other
network-level attacks. Additionally, OpenSSH provides a myriad of secure
tunneling capabilities, as well as a variety of authentication methods |
Insecure.org
www.insecure.org/nmap |
Nmap |
Nmap ("Network Mapper") is a free, open source
utility for network exploration or security auditing. It was designed to
rapidly scan large networks, although it works fine against single hosts |
TCPDUMP
www.tcpdump.org |
TCPDUMP |
Text-based network packet analyser ("sniffer").
It can be used to print out the headers of packets on a network interface
that matches a given expression. This tool can be used to track down network
problems or to monitor network activities |
Netfilter
www.netfilter.org |
Netfilter |
Packet filter which is implemented in the standard
Linux kernel. The userspace iptables tool is used forconfiguration. It now
supports packet filtering (stateless or stateful), all different kinds of
NAT (Network Address Translation) and packet mangling |
GnuPG
www.gnupg.org |
GnuPG |
Open source implentation of the PGP standard to
secure files and communication with advanced encryption |
ntop.org
www.ntop.org |
ntop |
Network traffic usage monitor |
Ethereal
www.ethereal.com |
Ethereal |
A free network protocol analyser for Unix and Windows. It
allows examination of data from a live network or from a captured file on
disk |
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