Computerworld - There are some issues that might seem worrisome to an IT administrator who's new to Linux, but they're really no problem once you look more closely. Among the areas you don't have to sweat, say customers, analysts and vendors, are backup and restore tasks, clustering and fail-over.
When it comes to data protection, most major vendors have ported their premier backup-and-restore tools to Linux. Examples include IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager, CA's ARCserve for Linux running on Intel systems, and CA's Brightstor for Linux on the mainframe.
To build clusters of Linux servers for instant fail-over in the event of a server crash, customers can use configuration scripts offered at Web sites such as that of the High-Availability Linux Project (www.linux-ha.org).
They can also use tools from distributors, such as the Cluster Manager Package for Red Hat's Advanced Server, or third-party tools such as LifeKeeper from SteelEye Technologies Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., and Matrix HA from PolyServe Inc. in San Francisco.
Some customers are finding that they can get faster fail-over and less of a performance hit when clustering Linux servers than when clustering Windows servers, says Vincent Re, chief architect at CA.
Read more about Operating Systems in Computerworld's Operating Systems Topic Center.
Free Insider GuideCopyright © 1994 - 2012 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Computerworld Inc. is prohibited. Computerworld and Computerworld.com and the respective logos are trademarks of International Data Group Inc.
