Comparison of Community Linux Distributions for the Enterprise

“Looking for ways to save money on your computing
infrastructure? Heard about Linux uptime but need to do more
research? You’re not alone. Community Linux distros have become
increasingly popular within the enterprise as organizations look to
cut costs without compromising on functionality and reliability.
But it can be tough to determine which distributions are best
suited to different uses within the enterprise and how to approach
a migration from a commercial Linux distribution like Red Hat
Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

“Today there are many good options available, including multiple
distros and many third party support options. This article will
help you set criteria, ask the right questions, and narrow your
options so you can make an informed decision.

“Background

“To give a short historical perspective, it was actually FreeBSD
— not Red Hat, as many believe — that was the original
popular, free and open operating system. FreeBSD made the first
inroads into the enterprise with a multitude of appealing features,
an enthusiastic community of developers, and an unbeatable price
point. Because it appealed to technologists, it typically came in
through the back door, starting adoption at the grass-roots level.
It could be deployed on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware,
reducing costs radically, and it had excellent support for SCSI
drivers and RAID systems, which were originally lacking in Linux.
In addition, BSD had the best networking speeds for many, many
years. BSD was a quick, cheap fix that just plain worked.”

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