Server Configuration and Functionality Linux, Research Paper Example

Linux Today

Today Linux is operated by millions of organizations, developers, and desktop users. The success story of Linux is the immaculate fundamentals of design, powerful, inexpensive, stable, open source, in expensive hardware, and integrates nicely. According to Unix Update, The National Aeronautical Space agency of USA has selected Linux for computational sciences. The system is implemented to increase the throughput of the applications related to weather and climate variability and simulating astrophysics phenomena. Linux has now started to contribute to the cell phone industry. Motorola launched the modern mobile Linux development platform named “Motomagx”. This platform will facilitate the developers to build portable applications. Senior Vice President of Motorola, Mr. Alan Mutricy said “We know that software is just as important as hardware, through the introduction of our Motomagx platform, we are reinforcing our firm commitment to Linux,”

The community of Linux programmers has evolved in recent years making Linux more reliable, efficient and organized as time passes by. Linux has emerged to be a powerful and secure system for businesses and as well as high performance computing sector.

Linux Server Environment Advantages

Linux is widely implemented on a wide range of different purpose servers. The advantages of Linux, which make it a safe choice for the organizations, are:

• Security
• Open Source
• Legacy Hardware Compatible
• Stability
• Low Cost

 Linux Server Environment Disadvantages

Implementing Linux on server environments contains certain factors. These factors fall in the category of some of the disadvantages Linux has, listed as follows:

• Learning Curve
• Technical Ability required
• Not all hardware compatible
• No Variety of built in Utilities

Linux and Windows Comparison

Linux and Windows can be compared on various factors. The question is “What are the factors which influence the organizations to select the better operating system?” The comparison is conducted on enterprise servers.

Windows Platform (Software Applications)

Linux Platform (Software Applications)

The total cost for purchasing application in a Microsoft Windows environment = 6444 $

The total cost for purchasing applications in a Linux environment = 59.95 $

Cost saved by implementing Linux environment = 6384.05 $

Linux and Windows Hardware and Support Comparison

Linux and windows both can be installed on the same hardware architecture. The major difference between Linux and Windows hardware support is the drivers and devices compatibility issue. The manufacturers provide extensive support of their equipment and hardware on the Windows environment. Manufacturers also provide support of the devices on Linux platform as well, but many still not able to provide support of their equipment in the Linux environment.

Linux Compatibility with Existing Hardware

Linux is a prominent application platform. It provides enormous operational flexibility to the organizations. It can be implemented easily with the existing Windows or UNIX architecture. Linux has capabilities to operate on desktop users, server and cloud computing. Linux is a powerful and efficient system providing better security and at the same time saving cost for the organization.

Linux Installation

Figure 1.1 shows the startup screen when installing Red hat Linux. There are three options to start for installing Linux in graphical mode enter key is pressed once.

Difficulties Encountered and Lessons Learned

Linux does not represent the existing hard drive partitions and data in a proper way. It does not have any wizard which may create partitions and install Linux keeping the current operating system and data intact. There is no indication to the user regarding the hard drive space which will be left after the Linux installation. The rest of the wizard is unpretentious and easy to follow. The lesson learned is to be cautious while installing Linux on the existing operating system. If the user is not careful, all the data on the hard drive can be lost.

Linux Network configuration

After clicking the “Wired network connections” icon, the options appear as shown in Figure 8.1. User has to click “edit connections”

After clicking the “Edit connections” another dialogue box appears as shown in Figure 8.2 displaying all the network types and connections.

Difficulties Encountered and Lessons Learned

The network configuration is relatively easy. IP address, Net mask, gateway, DNS server IP addresses are the parameters for configuring the computer on the network. The user must enter the values correctly on order to connect the system to the network. There are other methods which can be configured. DHCP server can also be configured by giving the IP addresses range for clients to connect.

Linux IP Tables and Firewall

Linux IP tables provide the functionality to deny and allow websites and protocols. Following are the commands initialized to deny and allow different network resources.