UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

First off, I apologize for making my first post here a question that has probably been asked over a billion times... however with the ever changing nature of technology, it almost seems like yesterday's answers are no longer applicable.

Basically I am looking to start up a business and am trying to figure out what OS is best for me. I definately want to use Unix over Linux as I am more familiar with Unix. I am not an experienced Unix admin however I am reading as much as I can to try to get up to speed.

My business will be running its own servers for DNS/web/database/proxy-cache/email/etc. I would like if possible to use a single common OS throughout all the servers to make administration easier. I am prepared to buy Sun servers if necessary to run Solaris, or IBM servers to run AIX, etc etc... I also am willing to purchase servers and load FreeBSD/netBSD/OpenBSD on it. What it really comes down to though is power/stability/security/flexibility. I want whatever is the best OS for the job.

I was originally thinking of going with Sun servers running Solaris, however I have gotten many mixed messages regarding whether this is a good idea or not. Most people seem to say that FreeBSD is the best for my purposes and that Solaris's advantage is mainly the ability to run Oracle and to hot-swap CPU's, etc.

Being that I am fairly new to the Unix world, I don't have a preference, and am willing to learn whatever I get. I just am trying to make a more educated decision regarding which Unix is the best for me.

So any help that you guys could offer in aiding my decision would be much appreciated. What are the benefits of each OS, vs the cons of each OS? Is the main draw of FreeBSD that it is free? Etc etc.

Thanks

grrr... I can't seem to get my sig to show up... odd

yeah.. my signature definately seems to be having some type of problem.

It works on other vbulletin boards. I have the option to view signatures turned on. I have the box to "show signature" checked when I post... yet nothing. Odd

my signature is:

> man signature

NAME
signature - provide useless information to waste additional forum space

SYNOPSIS
signature [vbcode]

DESCRIPTION
signature is a convenient way to waste additional forum space, bandwidth, and reader's time by concluding each post by a linked member with pointless repetitive information, often-times which is meant to be humorous.

ERRORS
Not with MY spelling!
>

but nothing at the bottom of my posts

Bob, I am a semi-newb here, so, I cant go in to 'this OS' vs. 'that OS'. But, what I CAN tell you about is the hardware/OS combo that I work with. I am a jr. unix admin for a fairly large company that manages 44 servers running: DHCP, DNS, TFTP, Web Servers, Proxy Servers, etc... These machines are all mission critical to nearly 3 million people and many more devices that count on these servers. Obviously these servers have failovers should one of them go down, but in the 2 years that I have been working on these systems, I have not experienced a failure in either the hardware or the OS which prevented those who are dependent on these machines from accessing the needed services. Good luck on your choice!

could you possibly disclose what hardware/OS your company is using? that would really get more to the point of what I'm trying to find out.

IE: what Unix... and if it's not the associated hardware (ie: not Sun hardware with Solaris) what hardware? I know Supermicro is a common choice for Linux and BSD. I'm just trying to make the right choice here. The last thing I want to do is make an uneducated decision and regret it 10-15 grand later.

oh and by the way... my nick is "Verbose Bob" as a play on the character "Silent Bob" from "Jay and Silent Bob". My real name isn't Bob. However actually calling me Bob is just fine as it carries that generic anonymous feeling that I am trying to obtain by not using my real name anymore on forums. I used to use my real name on the forums that I use and the forums that I own/manage. I have since decided that given that many forums archive posts and there is in fact a public archive of the whole internet, it's probably not a good idea to use my real name in the case that some information might be used against me later on in life... for example should my business actually grow to a decent size... or if I ever got involved in politics.

While I never say anything online that I would ever feel could be used against me... you never know what people or the media can do to twist words

anyways.. I just wanted to point that out since these are my first posts here.

I've been a solaris admin most of my career, so obviously I'm biased. But if I were in your shoes I'd go with Sun hardware running Solaris. Here are the reasons.

Before getting to the specifics, the general hint I'd give is to figure out what you want out of your computing environment before buying anything. What levels of stability (24x7, or is some downtime ok), what software do you need to run, how important is vendor support (do you want them onsite if you have problems or is waiting for a part to be shipped for you to replace it ok) - and so on. Until you know the answers to those it is terribly hard to decide on the best platform for your company.

1. Overall to run a business I'd go with commercial over free. While Linux has made some big strides, it still isn't nearly as stable or well supported as the commercial Unix vendors. If I'm deciding what to run my business on that is the most important factor to me. Of course if you have minimal computing needs and having downtime won't affect your business too badly that isn't nearly as important. For example, if you're hosting your own website and having it down means customers can't contact you support and stability are critical, but if you just need to fire up the computer to process your month-end accounting and do some inventory stuff it really doesn't matter as much.

2. Solaris has the reputation of being the most stable of Unix variants. And when there is a problem Sun does a good job supplying needed patches for security and software fixes. In 4 years of working with solaris only once have I ever heard of a bad patch causing anybody problems. The guys I've talked to who admin other flavors of Unix (to say nothing of Microsoft!) have a much worse story to tell on that subject. . . .

3. Availability of software is better for Solaris than any other commercial Unix variant. I know of few packages which have AIX or HP/UX versions but don't have Solaris, while there are plenty which are Solaris only. Of course this one depends on what you'll need to run, you should decide that before your OS/Hardware decision is finalized.

4. Finally, Sun has been coming out with some good machines for small businesses lately. You can get 2-4 processor boxes dirt cheap compared to what a Solaris box (or other commercial Unix) would have cost just a couple years ago. Some of them are well under $10,000 and thus for only a bit more than some intel box running Linux you can get a Sun box running Solaris with the much better level of stability and support that gets you.

Like I said, just my opinion - but an opinion with some good reasons behind it. Take it for what you will.