rb|it : blog

Beware Platform Fundamentalists

Normally I post blog articles based on useful technical tips, generally aimed at my client base of small and medium sizes businesses.  Today though, I received an interesting email which reminded me about a side of computing which is nothing to do with business IT, and all to do with people.

For those of you who don't know what the 'operating system wars' are, or understand the significance of the picture on the left, I'll paint the picture as I see it.

The History

Microsoft has been producing software for over 30 years, and came out with it's first version of Windows in 1985.  For various reasons I'm not qualified to research (but which I sum up as 'being good at business') Microsoft Windows became the dominant operating system in the world.  It currently holding a 93% share, so at least 9 out of every 10 computers you see will be running Windows.  It's success is largely cyclical, in that people are exposed to it at work, school or college, so they buy a PC or laptop with it, so their kids get used to using it, and expect to see it at school, and so on.

Linux is a free open source 'Unix like' operating system based on the Linux Kernel written by Linus Torvalds in 1991, which has historically been strongest as a server operating system (particularly web servers) but is also used by people whose job or hobby is in computing.  It's difficult to measure market share, but the Apache web server (which is normally run on Unix or Linux) currently runs 50% of all web sites (according to the Netcraft survey).

The Problem

'So what's the problem?' you might ask.  The problem is that a vocal minority of computer users (and the terms 'vocal' and 'minority' are very applicable) hate Microsoft. They despise it in the same way that some religious fundamentalists despise any who don't follow their religion.  This narrow minded attitude causes them to berate those who use Microsoft operating systems, criticise and belittle the software at every opportunity, and in some cases even gain illegal access to computer systems and deface websites just because they hate the platform on which it is running.

'So what?' you might say, and fair enough.  Fundamentalists are generally best dealt with by ignoring them, and the majority of users of all operating systems (Microsoft, Apple, UNIX or Linux) are broad minded and happy to debate the merits of their preferred option, calmly and with an open mind.  The problem is that some of the vocal minority work in IT.  They will tell customers "This is the only option", or "You should get rid of that and run Linux instead"; not because it is the best thing for their client, but because they're too narrow minded to consider any alternative.  They're wrong.  There's always an alternative, and any of these operating systems might be the right one for the job you need doing.

Beware the Computer Fundamentalist

So beware. If you run a business, and you engage an IT company who will only recommend one operating system (whether it's Windows or Linux) on the grounds that it is the only option, reject them.  If they say they can only advise on one operating system, fair enough.  If they say they don't have expertise in any other area, then that's fine.  If they can support their choice of operating system with sound business arguments, then that's all good.  However, if they can't communicate clearly to you a business reason why you should adopt one particular operating system, then they aren't doing their job.

Footnote: I don't subscribe to any one operating system.  I'm a Microsoft Partner, but I recently recommended an Apple Mac OS X Server solution for a client, and prior to that installed a Linux based ADSL router/firewall solution at a site, in both cases because they were the best business option.  I've also picked on Linux Fundamentalists here because they tend to be the most narrow minded and socially inept group when compared to Apple Fundamentalists, who tend towards the artistic, and Microsoft Fundamentalists, who don't really care and therefore rarely exist.

SME Disaster Recovery - Server Resilience

Your server is made up of multiple components, any one of which could possibly fail.  If you’ve ever found your company suffering because “the server’s down again” then something is probably wrong with the way it was setup.  Any server, even a low spec one, should have as few ‘Single Points of Failure’ as possible (i.e., as few places as possible where only one ‘widget’ is doing the job, and failure of that ‘widget’ brings the whole server down).

Here’s how to review your server components and make sure you’re protected against single component failure.  You don’t need to be a technical guru to check these things, the quickest way is to examine your original purchase records to check the specification of your server, if in doubt, ask the original supplier or the person who set it up.

1. Disks.  Disks are one of the most common points of failure on a server and one disk failing should NOT bring your server down.  You have choices on how to have the disks setup, but they all revolve around something called RAID (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID).  In a nutshell, you duplicate disks so they share the work, and if one goes down, everything keeps running.  There are two choices of disk type, SATA (cheaper) and SAS (faster), and there are two main types of RAID configuration; RAID1 (initially cheaper but becomes expensive as you increase your storage capacity), and RAID5 (initially more expensive, but cheaper for more disk space as you don’t need to buy as many disks).  All your servers drives should be provided using RAID so if one disk fails, your server keeps running.  Even better is ‘hot pluggable’ disks, which are much easier to replace (with care almost anyone can do it in five minutes), they just slot in, and slot out, and you can do this while the server is running.
2. Memory.  If you have only one memory module, then that module is a ‘Single Point of Failure’.  If it dies, so does the server.  A better option is to use two, or even four memory modules.  Ideally if one module fails you should still have the minimum required to run all server functions, so pad a bit (i.e. if your server runs OK with 2GB, buy 2 x 2GB modules, it will probably run faster, and if one fails it will still keep going).
3. Network card.  Most low end servers come with a network card built in, it’s wise to supplement this with another network card.  You don’t need to set up any technically complex or expensive configuration, it just means that if one fails, you (or your technical support provider) should be able to quickly configure it to replace the failed component, instead of waiting a day for a new network card to be delivered by your supplier.
4. Power Supply Unit (PSU).  The PSU failing will instantly bring your server down.  Add a second PSU which runs simultaneously with the first, so a PSU failure doesn’t even slow the server down.

Costs

You might think this ‘big business IT’ stuff costs a lot of money, but it doesn’t.  Below are the costs¹ of implementing the redundancy measures outlined above on an HP Proliant ML350 G5 server (which purchased with one disk would cost £858 ex VAT).

1. Disks.  Adding 3 more disks to allow you to implement RAID1 would cost £221
2. Memory.  The server comes with one 1GB memory module.  Upgrading this to 4GB (2 x 2GB modules) would cost £120
3. Network card.  The server comes with one network adapter, adding a second adapter would cost £29
4. PSU.  The server comes with one redundant power supply, adding a redundant PSU to an ML350 G5 would cost £104

The total cost of all these options is £474, making the total server cost £ 1,332.

Think that’s too expensive?  Offset it against the cost of downtime.    Taking a model company² of 20 staff, the cost in salary alone (i.e. the percentage of computer-related productivity lost in terms of employee salary) is over £900 per day!  This doesn’t include any lost sales, the negative impact on customer relationships, the cost of the time taken to recover from the outage once it is over etc.

If you’ve had one outage in the last year, it’s well worth looking at these practices, because they will save you money, keep you more competitive, and possible make the difference between a good year, and a bad year.

Richard Bartlett offers expert and independent IT Consultancy Services to review your IT, help buy the right systems, install them, train your users to use them, and ensure you have appropriate IT Support. For more information on services including installation and configuration services which can give your systems resilience see http://www.rgbartlett.co.uk/services/

¹  All prices taken from ebuyer.com on 28th August 2008.
²  Based on a model using average salaries for the Cambridgeshire region supplier by Reed, and an algorithm developed to calculate downtime costs.  If you would like to know the cost of downtime for your business get in contact (see http://www.rgbartlett.co.uk/contact/).

Windows Vista and software in schools list published

The list is now up!  Just select the manufacturer from the dropdown list to see if their software is claimed compatible with Vista, and from which version (where that information is available).  If you are using software which is not listed here and would like to know whether it will work, please email me the name of the software and the manufacturer (if known) and I'll look into it.

Windows Vista and software in schools update

I've drawn a line under the survey of software OEM's to see how much educational software is compatible with Windows Vista, and the result is 95% of software reviewed was claimed to be compatible with Windows Vista. The only two packages confirmed not compatible where Adobe Freehand and PTC ProDESKTOP, which are legacy applications no longer under active development.  No response was received from CMC Group reference 'Visual Concept' and it has therefore been listed as 'not compatible'.

It's a pleasant surprise to see so many software houses staying up to date, though the vendors claims have yet to be tested.  This list is also incomplete, and I'm sure there is software that either isn't compatible, or requires 32bit compatibilty mode or other compromises which may cause problems for schools.  If you have any feedback on educational software, I'd be very interested.

The applications confirmed working (according to the vendor) will be published on the site later this week, including the versions where they've been provided.

Windows Vista and software in schools

After BECTA's cautious interim response to Microsoft Windows Vista (and Office 2007) and their equally critical full report in January 2008, the Education Sector looks set to stick with Windows XP for the foreseeable future.

Official policy or guidance aside, another concern which some schools have failed to address (fatally) has been the compatibility of their existing education software packages with Windows Vista.  To try and help, I decided to see how quick software OEM's had been to respond to the new platform.  Knowing that a lot of software used in schools is produced by small software houses with few resources, I was expecting a low success rate, but it's actually not too bad at first glance.

This is the picture as of May 2008 (15 months since the launch of Vista and 1 month since the release of Vista Service Pack 1) is;

1. Over 75% of applications checked (based on vendor documentation, not actual testing) were stated to work with Windows Vista.
2. Of the remaining 25% I am awaiting a response from the OEM as there is no information available on their site.
3. The only two packages confirmed as not working on Windows Vista are obsolete products no longer supported.

This list will be published on the rbit site once all OEM responses have been received and the list is completed

The question does remain for those applications which say they work with Vista, 'how well do they actually work'.  Some will no doubt depend on the Program Compatibility Wizard, and may not have been modified to work with Vista at all.  Some may also require you to run the application as Administrator, which may be an option not open to many users.

While I take pragmatic view of the Microsoft vs Open Source debate, and have an ambivalent view of the  'anti-competitive' argument, I  personally wouldn't suggest adoption of Vista in any school, or any business at this time.  The main reason from my point of view is the cost of adoption in user training and IT Support man hours, weighed against the meagre benefits of adopting the new system.

It appears that Microsoft still intend to stop selling Windows XP licenses on June 30th, though Dell for one is opting to sell systems with the downgraded Windows XP installed (and due to the laws of supply and demand I suspect most system OEM's will follow suit).

The critical point for all IT staff to look out for (in Education and Private Sector) is the day when your systems will only come with Windows Vista.  At this point, you have to adopt, or move elsewhere.  Maybe the Asus Eee PC is a sign of things to come?!