Linux Distros in Redhat Suse and Ubuntu, Essay Example

The Linux server and Linux workstation OS products are in a variety of favors and different companies does the work of distribution including the RedHat, SuSe and Ubuntu. Linux flavors are commonly addressed as distributions of distros and the ones that were released at around same period of time makes use of similar kernels in their OS. There is however some slight variations in their add-on software, the process of installation, technical support, documentation as well as pricing (Eckert, 2012).

The Linux distros must be able to account for the total cost of ownership, training, support, performance, reliability and application availability in addressing the business requirements and concerns. In this regard, the Linux distros must be in a position for providing stable software in consideration of the version that is applicable in an organization. In addressing this concern, it is recommended to make reference to the website responsible for distribution and ascertain that the latest software package version is by default an inclusion. And since there are constant changes in the list, it is prudent to consider making the OS decision. The prices of the Linux distros may also be confusing since the software is usually never paid for but the support and this differs with individual distros. For example, Ubuntu has free patches on offer but the other vendors usually charge some fee in this type of support. All the vendors however have a base package for support that is offered by full-scale premium support.

RedHat reserves a market share that is estimated at 65 to 80 percent in Linux distros. RedHat joined the majority of the data centers through deals of support with vendors in software as well as hardware which was the approach that the other vendors in Linux copied. RedHat has a crucial role in the open source projects as a result of the high number of developers that are employed as compared to other vendors. RedHat also has many products for offer for the provision of open source infrastructure. It is extremely difficult to access RedHat software for free thus the rip-off distributors are unlucky. CentOS is the OS of choice for the future of RedHat.

SuSe is the second largest distros that support Linux OS and it accounts for 25 percent of the total corporate user of Linux. The primary focus for Ubuntu involves particular verticals of a business as well as partnering with the rest of the major vendors in the industry such as VMware and the SAP. Technically, it is easier to access SuSe Linux as compared to other distros  and it is more administrator friendly. SuSe offers integrated YaST platform that makes the Linux management tasks that are commonly complicated to be performed easily. SuSe is the primary developer of the Pacemaker High Availability which is the most important tool in current Linux distros to facilitate high-availability clusters (Jones, 2006).

The starting point of Ubuntu was a free distro but later received professional services from Canonical concerning the process of distribution. Any company that intends to use an environment supported by Ubuntu are therefore required to consult Canonical first. However, software and updates are available freely from Ubuntu. Installation of Ubuntu as the chosen server platform requires the version of Long Term Support that will offer  seven year duration of Patches (Paul, 2007). The desktop with Ubuntu OS is relatively easy to use and it is usually based on the Debian Linux which is a distro bipolar that serve education environments as well as developers.

References

Eckert, J. W., (2012). Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification (Third ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning. p. 33.

Jones, M. T., (2006). “Inside the Linux boot process”. IBM Developer Works.

Paul, R., (2007). “Linux market share set to surpass Win 98, OS X still ahead of Vista”. Ars Technica (Ars Technica, LLC).