[wplug] (no subject)

[Vanco, Donald]

Ed Stuart <mailto:estuart at sgi.net> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm looking for some advice here.  I want to segway my carrier over
> to the management of Linux environments and I am thinking of
> purchasing 2 Compaq 1850R's (PIII) that have RAID controllers and
> loading Linux on them to gain experience.  Eventually, I'd want to
> experiment with clustering.  Red Hat's website offered Enterprise 9.0
> that runs DNS & DNCP costs $350.  This is more than I want to spend. 
> Now, if I purchase a Red Hat Professional Server 
> 7.0 from Cheap Bytes for $17.  Can I download updates and eventually
> get my Linux installations up to Red Hat Enterprise 9.0?  What is the
> best path for me to take?

	Your version numbers are all screwed up.  Red Hat is currently
offering two "Product Trees":

	A "consumer" product:
	Red Hat 9
	You can download the ISO from numerous sources, or purchase it at
even more.
	There is a "free" update channel (aside from the traditional FTP
methods)
	It has a short life expectancy, and is aimed at the desktop user.


	"Enterprise Class" products:
	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 (Advanced Server, Advanced Workstation,
and ES - pick your definition)  For details see:
http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/
	It has a 12 to 18 month life cycle, and is aimed at the Enterprise
class user.

	There is no public channel (i.e. "free") for pre-compiled binary
updates of the Enterprise line - but the sources are always available via
FTP.  You can compile your own updates, but it's less that fun / easy and
not really conducive to a "slim install".  As of June 19th there were 232
updates to AS.

	Advanced Server has a couple of different types of clustering
available - the HA clustering formerly known as Piranha, and a 2-node
application failover clustering that is based on a modified Kimberlite code
(see Mission Critical Linux).  The latter REQUIRES shared storage to
function - either SCSI or Fibre Channel.
	While clustering is possible on the "lesser versions" (ES and AW)
it's not supplied or supported.


	You can do all this for free with downloadable software (e.g. RHL9
and Kimberlite) - but the Advanced Server will be supported, more stable,
and easily updated.  A purchase now will also entitle you to the next
release (likely 3.0) that will, among other things, contain a native
clustered filesystem (and support for LVM, which was still unstable at the
release of 2.1).

	If it were me I would not consider Professional Server 7.0 - it's
ancient, and support for it died in March (no more updates via RH)


	IMHO - you might consider doing a bit more investigation before
buying anything,,,,, get the hardware, hold off on the OS until you're clear
what your objectives are.
Don
FYI - Death Dates of RHL:
Red Hat Linux 8.0 (Psyche) December 31, 2003 
Red Hat Linux 7.3 (Valhalla)  December 31, 2003 
Red Hat Linux 7.2 (Enigma) December 31, 2003 
Red Hat Linux 7.1 (Seawolf) December 31, 2003 
Red Hat Linux 7.0 (Guinness) March 31, 2003 
Red Hat Linux 6.2 (Zoot) March 31, 2003