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"Mainstream Linux deployments are on a steep upward trajectory. Although they will not replace Windows, co-existence will be the order of the day," says Laura DiDio, an analyst with Boston-based Yankee Group.
Nearly two-thirds of enterprises that run Windows as their primary server operating system also running Linux, according the results of a Yankee Group survey.
Sure, pure Linux and Unix data centers are out there, but they're not providing the "upward trajectory" of Linux. And now that the "is Linux ready for the enterprise?" argument has been pretty much retired, the question is, "are enterprises ready for Linux?"
As Linux finds its way into critical apps in the server room, it's increasingly important that Tux and Clippy get along. Or at least that the Exchange server and JBoss can coexist without creating incompatibility issues that drive admins over the edge and result in the CIO sticking with the status quo.
Centeris is one company looking to profit from this.
We initially met with the vendor at the OSBC show in Newton, Mass., last November and caught up with CEO Barry Crist early last week.
Its flagship product, Centeris Likewise Management Suite, is aimed at the midsize and enterprise market. It's designed to seamlessly integrate Linux servers in a Windows network. The product went gold this week and is available for immediate purchase.
For the server admin (or senior manager) gun-shy of Linux, Likewise may be the balm to soothe a transition, as it makes Red Hat or SUSE an easier sell. Likewise uses a Windows interface to configure and manage Linux servers. Admins can use Windows-based tools for day-to-day server management and have better compatibility between Windows and Linux.
This has two basic benefits: Admins get to stick with what they know, and they can manage a heterogeneous server room from a single console.
Likewise Management Suite's two components are the Likewise Console and Likewise Advanced Agent. The Likewise Console is a Windows-based application that's designed to make it easy to configure and manage server roles, join Linux servers to Microsoft Active Directory, and manage Apache Web services. The Likewise Advanced Agent runs on Linux servers, supporting management from either the Likewise Console or from the Windows' Microsoft Management Console.
Crist emphasizes that Likewise is designed to complement, not replace, monitoring tools like Tivoli and or OpenView. It's meant strictly to be a management and configuration tool.
The product is also available in a free-of-charge, open source version: Likewise Open Agent is available for download and development on SourceForge, but it receives nary a mention on Centeris' site — a choice that casts on obvious shadow on its open source intentions.
Since going into public beta, about 800 organizations have downloaded Likewise, a higher response than anticipated, Crist said. He describes it as covering a wide geographic range, with half of all downloads coming from Europe and one-third from Germany.
The Likewise Management Suite is priced $349 per server, with as many instances of the console free as needed. Thirty-day trial versions are available. The license is perpetual, but there is a support fee. At this time, it can manage up to 1,000 server, Crist said.
The commercial product is available for download from the company's Web site. Centeris is a first-level Microsoft partner, and as a result is able to offer better cross-platform support, Crist said.
Centeris is currently seeking partnerships with OEMs, and is furthest along with IBM and Novell. The possibility of a Windows-to-Linux management interface is under discussion. As is integration with other operating systems.
We'll save for another day the debate over which interface is better and which interface admins really want to use. For the time being, we'll acknowledge that Centeris is on to something: It recognizes that the heterogeneous server room is here to stay, and it sees value in everyone getting along. A fairly pragmatic business model in our not-so-humble opinion.
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