POTENTIAL SPAM::Re: Re: Linux migration

Wed Nov 12 13:39:08 CST 2003

Are your uptime requirements for the machine or the application?  If you are using Linux HA you could be pretty close to 5.3 minutes of downtime per year (depending on how long it takes for your applications to stop and start).  To be safe I would stick with the 99.99% and still implement application failover with Linux HA.

Good luck,
	Jake

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-grand-rapids-pm-list at pm.org
[mailto:owner-grand-rapids-pm-list at pm.org]On Behalf Of Steve Scherbinski
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 2:14 PM
To: HEUSSERM at student.gvsu.edu
Cc: grand-rapids-pm-list at happyfunball.pm.org;
steve.johnson at missionindia.org
Subject: POTENTIAL SPAM::Re: Re: Linux migration

You would need to decide if you need four nines also.  The amount of downtime goes down dramatically for each nine.

99% uptime - 88 Hours down per year.
99.9% uptime - 8.8 Hours down per year.
99.99% uptime - 53 Minutes down per year.
99.999% uptime - 5.3 Minutes down per year.

These were quick, back of the envelope calcs.  I would consider 99% too low.  However you need to decide how much uptime you need.  What does routine maintenance on the server take, etc.  As stated in a lot of places, each additional nine takes a lot more planning, process and bucks.  You also have to get a good handle on change control for your server.  It's a common statistic that 75% of down time is due to inadequate testing and planning of changes on the system.

--

The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed yet.  - William Gibson

Steven Scherbinski
System Administration - Gordon Food Service     Office: (616) 717-7957   Fax: (616) 717-7550

>>> "Matthew R. Heusser" <HEUSSERM at student.gvsu.edu> 11/12/03 01:42PM >>>

>What would you use in a production 
>environment requiring 99.999 up time?

Find a way to get away with four nines.  Really, five is over-rated.  Very little bang for the buck. :-)

Matt H.
-----Original Message-----
From: "Matthew R. Heusser" <HEUSSERM at student.gvsu.edu>
To: steve.johnson at missionindia.org 
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2003 11:08:04 -0500
Subject: Re: Linux migration

I think Novell just bought SuSE.

You might want to look into how SuSE is going to change in the next year or two.  If you like what you hear ...

Otherwise, I'd stick with RedHat.

Matt H.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Steve Johnson" <steve.johnson at missionindia.org>
To: "Perl Monger's List" <grand-rapids-pm-list at happyfunball.pm.org>
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2003 09:49:44 -0500
Subject: Linux migration

I have a non-Perl (but open source related) issue.

I've used Redhat since before 4.x and have several servers
running 7.x and higher.  My primary applications are postgresql,
apache, postfix, and antivir (none are RH specific apps, per se).

Now the Redhat Linux line (more importantly to me, Redhat Network
support) is being discontinued and I'm being forced to migrate to
go to either the Fedora project or Redhat Enterprise, if I'm to
stay with RH (and/or I can just support my systems by hand).

I chose Redhat for three reasons:
1) I've got a lot of experience with it and basically like it.
2) I love the Redhat Network service--my cron jobs kept my
systems fresh and toasty for a nominal fee.
3) Redhat looked like a successful, responsible company that
understood the principles of open source and customer service.

Do I stick it out with RH (I get 50% off on the annual fee for
Enterprise for the first year) or move to something else?

I don't have plans to move to new hardware, so a simple app
migration to new boxes is not currently feasible (maybe in a year
or two)--it would have to be an upgrade/re-install.  I'm not
"just a sysadmin" (I have many other obligations), so I don't
have time to do everything by hand.

I'd like my new distro/OS to provide:
* A secure platform
* A reliable platform
* Automatic patches and updates
* Security issue notifications
* Free or reasonable fee for updates

I'm considering just about anything (except Windows or SCO):
* The usual big-distro suspects: Mandrake, SuSE, etc.
* Gentoo Linux
* Debian Linux
* BSD's various flavors (especially OpenBSD)
* Solaris

So at the risk of starting a flame-war:
* Who has experience with similar issues?
* What would you use in a production environment requiring 99.999
up time?
* Who else is looking at moving off RH and to something else?
* Has anybody seen an analysis on this issue in the press or the
web?

Regards,
sj

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