Re: Question About Debian
On Tue, 23 Apr 2002, Jenny.Chou@bba00.bus.utexas.edu wrote:
> My business is considering the use of Debian, and I was wondering if
> someone could answer my questions about it. I have already hired an
> outside consultant, but wanted to research more myself.
You can find many answers to these questions at www.debian.org and
www.linux.com.
Basically, the current Debian OS (called Debian GNU/Linux) runs on top of
the Linux kernel.
> 1. What are the hardware platforms required by operating system?
Right now, you can use ia32 (i.e. Pentiums, Athloms, i386, i486); Sparcs;
PowerPC (macs, some IBM RISCs); ARM; hppa (from HP); Alpha; ia64 and a few
others such as IBM S/390x mainframes.
> 2. Variety (types and number) of processors the operating system can
> run?
See above for processor types. Usually one or two procesors. However, as
long as you get someone knowledgeable to do a proper kernel tunning and
apply the required patches, I think up to 16-way NUMA and 8-way SMP is well
supported. Ask in the linux kernel mailinglist, this is really a kernel
issue.
> 3. Does the system support live-swapping?
Ask in the linux kernel mailinglist. With patches, and the appropriate
hardware, it does (for most stuff).
> 4. Ability to connect to a wide variety of computers with a wide
> variety of operating systems and application software in use?
As long as said OS and Apps use open standards, yes. Otherwise, one gets
what one deserves for using/supporting closed standards (i.e. no wide
support for that file format/standard) if you are unlucky, or
it-sorta-works-sometimes support if you are lucky.
It has one of the best TCP/IP stacks in the world.
> 5. Type of multitasking OS uses? Preemptive or Cooperative
Both. Depends on app and kernel patches. Usually preemptive.
> 6. Is the OS compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
> --has different capabilities to support different disabilities?
Depends on the application.
> 7. Operating systems that support live installation or live swapping of
> hardware and software? Does OS provide support for remote
> administration? If it does, it allows a company to do more remote
> network administration and software loads.
Yes to all. But you'd better be ready to hire knowledgeable and responsible
people to do the setup. You have been warned.
> 8. Virus Scan Software Supported?
Yes. But there are very very few native viruses, so I suspect you mean
virus scanner software for Windows viruses (for which the answer is also
yes).
> 9. Failure Detection Supported? Able to detect and give early warnings
> of hardware failures?
Usually yes, really depends a lot on the hardware. You *will* need a good
consultant to properly select the hardware you are going to buy, to get one
that suits your needs and is properly supported by the OS.
> 10. Optimized for Business Applications? like databases?
As long as you get someone knowledgeable to do the tunning and select a
proper kernel VM strategy and patches (rmap, aa, vanilla...), yes. OTOH, if
you mean wimpy databases of a few-thousand records with a few requests per
second, out-of-the-box will be far more than enough. Unless you try to run
it on slow hardware, I suppose.
--
"One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
Henrique Holschuh
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