I’ve run into a lot of customers who are concerned with how to convert CD’s to ISO files and copy them over to an ESX server. Therefore I thought I’d share a little tip that makes this process extremely simple:
1. Place the CD you want to create an ISO from into the CDROM of an ESX server.

2. Log in to that ESX server’s Service Console as ‘root’.

3. Type in the following command:

cat /dev/cdrom >”filename.iso”

That’s it!

This is another fake RedHat ad…

Technorati Tags: RedHat

This is not a real RedHat ad.. but it should be.

Technorati Tags: RedHat Linux

On November 6 2006 Microsoft and Novell signed their “agreement”. This ad was release prior to that.

Funny what $348 million can do…

Technorati Tags: Novell, Microsoft

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer recently told analysts:

“I would not anticipate that we make a huge additional revenue stream from our Novell deal, but I do think it clearly establishes that open source is not free,” he said, “and open source will have to respect intellectual property rights of others just as any other competitor will.”

Intellectual Property Rights? Microsoft screams about IP rights when they think theirs are being infringed, but never when they are the ones infringing. They seem to think that having a monopoly that allows them to squeeze out competition is fair. They also forget that in all this, they are attempting to trample on the GPL and all IP developed under it. This has in fact, delayed the latest version of the GNU Public License (GPL).

Free Software Foundation President and co-author of the GPL, Richard Stallman, recently weighed in on this:

“The GPL was designed to ensure that all users of a program receive the four essential freedoms which define free software. These freedoms allow you to run the program as you see fit, study and adapt it for your own purposes, redistribute copies to help your neighbor, and release your improvements to the public.

He continued: “The recent patent agreement between Microsoft and Novell aims to undermine these freedoms. In this draft we have worked hard to prevent such deals from making a mockery of free software.”

Technorati Tags: GPL, Richard Stallman, Linux, Microsoft, Steve Ballmer

I ran across a great article on HP’s website that discusses Sun Microsystem’s constant flip flop over Linux:

- February 2002: Sun CEO Scott McNealy dons a penguin suit and says, “We love Linux, and I hope there isn’t any doubt about it…”
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-832463.html

- September 2003: Sun Executive (now President) Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying, “Also, let me be really clear about our Linux strategy. We don’t have one. We don’t at all. We do not believe that Linux plays a role on the server. Period. If you want to buy it, we will sell it to you, but we believe that Solaris is a better alternative…”,”
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1274623,00.asp

- August 2004: The Sun executive vice president for software, is quoted in a Sun press release saying, “Sun’s commitment to Linux and the Linux community is stronger than ever,…”
http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2004-08/sunflash.20040803.4.html

- September 2004: Sun President Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying, ”We are absolutely targeting Red Hat specifically” as a competitor.
http://news.com.com/Sun+Weve+turned+over+a+new+leaf/2100-1010_3-5375931.html?tag=nl

- September 2005: Sun President Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying, “Stay tuned on the Red Hat-Sun relationship,” … “We think there’s ample opportunity to work together out there.”
http://news.com.com/Sun+extends+olive+branch+to+Red+Hat/2100-7344_3-5860897.html?tag=cd.hed

- September 2006: Sun releases its “Replace Red Hat” campaign saying “Give the Hat the boot”.
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/hatsoff/sys_admin.html

The fact is, Linux is here. Almost every customer I talk to has some production Linux. It’s just a fact of the modern data center. The problem that companies like Sun have is that Linux erodes the value of their proprietary version of UNIX.

I was cleaning out some old directories when I ran across this. It’s an old Gartner report focused at helping customers choose an “Enterprise” class version of Linux.

Since this was from 1995, it only focuses on RedHat and Novell/SuSE Linux, only mentioning other flavors such as Debian and Gentoo.

I’m sharing this because I think it still has some relevance in today’s market.

Let me know what you think.

You can download the pdf here.

Last October, Gartner weighed in on Oracle’s Linux Support offering.

Oracle has announced that they are offering support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux stating “less than half the cost, Oracle’s Basic Support is equivalent to Red Hat’s best service level”.

Gartner’s report seems to agree that Oracle’s offering is better. Gartner’s report recommends:

“Red Hat customers:

* Undertake compatibility testing of an “all-Oracle Linux world” in data centers. As part of this, consider piloting one or two mission-critical systems, especially maximally loaded ones. Ensure that independent software vendors confirm, in writing, that they will keep their software synchronized with Oracle’s distribution or how they will address variances
* If you are content with Red Hat’s quality of support, renegotiate contracts with Red Hat. Large accounts should expect 50% to 70% discounts on list prices.
* If you are not content with Red Hat’s quality of support or require indemnification — which Oracle’s Premier program can supply, assuming that Oracle’s terms meet your legal requirements — and have no compatibility issues with Oracle, consider Unbreakable Linux.”

On February 2nd, http://www.linux-watch.com/ released an article titled “Unbreakable Linux?“. The article states that Oracle’s offering hasn’t gained much momentum.

For more information on Oracle’s support offering, here’s the link.

KVM has officially been released in Linux Kernel 2.6.20 as of Feb 4. The inclusion of KVM in the Linux kernel instead of Xen doesn’t seem to bother Xen project leader Ian Pratt according to http://www.devxnews.com/.

“Xen is a true hypervisor, whereas KVM is a legacy virtualization solution akin to VMware Workstation, VMserver and Microsoft Virtual PC,” Pratt told internetnews.com. “It lacks the benefits of para-virtualization performance enhancements that have been pioneered by Xen and are now being copied by VMware and Microsoft.”

Ian also stated that he isn’t looking for Xen to be included in the Linux kernel anymore stating:

“Putting Xen into Linux doesn’t make sense: hypervisors are different beasts from operating systems, so they share little code.”

Of particular interest are the comments about VMware copying Xen’s para-virtualization techniques. Although I doubt VMware will comment, I’d love to hear what they have to say about that.

You can read the Devx article here.

Alessandro Perilli has a great interview with IBM on virtualization on his site http://www.virtualization.info/. It’s definately worth a read.

You can read the interview here.