Solaris advantages vs Linux
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| tbuskey Feb 28, 2006 7:41 AM EDT |
I've been using Linux since 0.95 and was using SunOS at that time. I've been primarily a Sun & Solaris admin during since then but I've professionally used Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, MacOSX server and a few other unixen. 1st off, I'll have to say that Solaris 10 is the 1st Solaris (IMHO) that offers real feature benefits over Linux. I'd still rather run linux on my desktop, but on the server side Solaris has some advantages. 1) zones. Yes, Linux has xen and uml. Right now, they're more of an addon. I think Sun wants zones and xen to be similar so everyone uses the same virtulization. Hopefully zones will become more like xen. 2) dtrace. Someone port this to linux! 3) zfs. Well, not yet. It's not in Solaris 1/06. Sun's UFS with logging is comparable to linux journaling for reliablility and has been around since solaris 8 (7, 6, 2.5 maybe?). ZFS is a whole new way of looking at storage. Someone port this to linux! 4) hardware. Sun hardware works. Replacement parts are available years down the road. You can get documentation decades after they stop selling them. There are real advantages to Sun hardware vs generic PC hardware. I don't have to worry that the system I buy from sun will work w/ Solaris. If they swap out the ethernet chip, there's a patch that ensures it works already in Solaris. 5) dual boot? I don't care if my server boots something else. My test system might want it though. Good that Sun ababndoned thier setup for Grub. They also get the advantages of Grub. 6) install difficulties? I install stuff for a living. It ain't that bad. I just installed Solaris 10 on a v240 Sun w/o a graphics card. Serial port consoles rule! Jumpstart is awesome. Kickstart is nice too. Again, I'm doing servers, not desktops. 7) patch updates. Linux is **all** over Solaris here. Sun is improving, but in general Solaris sucks here. Buying generic hardware to run Solaris? Linux will always win there. Compare to Apple w/ OSX on intel. At least Sun isn't trying to prevent Solaris from running on non Sun hardware. |
| tadelste Feb 28, 2006 7:52 AM EDT |
tbuskey: Thank you for your testimonial for Sun. I think we agree on almost every point. Since I have worked with Sun starting with 2.4 and have developed on it, I agree with your accessment about 10. I run my servers in the text mode and there I don't notice much difference amongst distributions. Do you think that Solaris10 is a better Linux than Linux? That's actually the question. Then, we have to adress the other issues related to licensing costs, Sun's culture, etc. |
| tymiles Feb 28, 2006 9:06 AM EDT |
Come on tbuskey: Quoting:zones. Yes, Linux has xen and uml. Right now, they're more of an addon. I think Sun wants zones and xen to be similar so everyone uses the same virtulization. Hopefully zones will become more like xen. I don't know about the rest of the Linux versions but Suse has included UML in their default install since Suse Enterprise server 8 (And 10 is about to come out) Setting up Zones in Solaris is like fighting Ninjas! TOUGH! LOL! While XEN and UML are pretty easy to set up. "hardware. Sun hardware works. Replacement parts are available years down the road. You can get documentation decades after they stop selling them. There are real advantages to Sun hardware vs generic PC hardware. I don't have to worry that the system I buy from sun will work w/ Solaris. If they swap out the ethernet chip, there's a patch that ensures it works already in Solaris." True. But Sun can't compete against Linux on that front cause in the past if you could not afford Solaris HD then you might as well count Solaris out! Which is why Sun is trying to push Solaris on all HW, and get R&D for free by "Opening" Solaris. But in reality I can run Linux on anything! From top end Solaris hardware to my IPOD! "install difficulties? I install stuff for a living. It ain't that bad. I just installed Solaris 10 on a v240 Sun w/o a graphics card. Serial port consoles rule!" LOL! My Grandmother can install Linux these days. "Buying generic hardware to run Solaris? Linux will always win there. Compare to Apple w/ OSX on intel. At least Sun isn't trying to prevent Solaris from running on non Sun hardware." That is because Apple is not on their death bead because of Linux, Sun is. Unix is going away fast and being replaced by Linux. Apple is not so worried yet (IPOD has changed their focus for now) That is why Sun opened Solaris to lower R&D and make it almost free to compete against Linux. |
| tadelste Feb 28, 2006 9:20 AM EDT |
That reminds me. BS on Sun having hardware years later. I use to buy used Sun boxes - 100's of them. I had to get parts on the resell market. I called once to order a part for an Ultra 60 like three years ago and was told that part was discontinued. When I asked for a replacement, the answer was, we don't have a replacement. |
| cjcox Feb 28, 2006 10:54 AM EDT |
As I mentioned in another thread, the world isn't moving to Solaris 10... HOWEVER, Sun is. That is to say, with every new piece of hardware released, it is harder and harder to have support of the older versions of Solaris. While Sun likes to brag (sorry that's the best word for it) about their backward compatibility, the fact is that vendor drivers are stuck and many have left Sun behind and only a few are keeping up with Sun in the OS version department. So... I need a new Sun box to run Solaris 2.6... why, because my customer base requires that.... oh well... time for ebay. Shoot, we just got rid of 2.5.1!! It would be nice if the world upgraded their infrastructures every year... but it simply isn't that way. That's why that old Red Hat 7.2 box you have in the field is still going strong. Not saying that this isn't true of other vendors as well.. but Sun knows they have a Solaris 8 migration headache on the way... that's why support for Solaris 8 has been extended for such a long period. Sun really doesn't know what to do. At least with Linux, you get (or don't get) what you pay for (and Solaris really does cost money... don't let Sun tell you otherwise... who wants Solaris with NO support??... not even free community support.). |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!