Draft linux Migration Criteria and Strategy Guidelines September 15, 2003
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- Summary of Key Issues
- Migration Criteria Guidelines
- Some Dell Suggested Hardware Equivalencies
- Migration Strategy
- Migration Methodology
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Linux Migration Criteria and Strategy Guidelines September 15, 2003 [Please send comments, suggestions and questions to dennis@stanford.edu] Overview This document discusses the migration of TSS applications to Linux, suggests some criteria to use in determining the suitability of an application for migration, and identifies short-term, medium-term, and long-term migration opportunities. This document also suggests a strategy and a migration methodology. Summary of Key Issues: There are four areas to consider: acquisition, migration, operation, and support. Acquisition: One of the biggest factors driving a Linux migration in industry is the cost savings associated with replacing expensive Sun proprietary hardware with cheaper Intel-based hardware. Not only are Intel platforms less expensive than Sun platforms, but they are much faster as well, resulting in fewer servers and fewer CPU-based software licenses. The software cost differential between Linux, Solaris and Windows is not clear and requires close analysis in each migration instance. Both Solaris and Windows cost money, and although Linux itself is free, many key applications like Oracle require Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is not free. Several industry studies have indicated that in general, Linux license costs are lower than Windows, but a lot depends on the specific application. Industry Trends to watch:
Migration: The two main considerations are the costs and the risks of the migration. There are one time costs associated with a migration to Linux and each potential migration must be considered carefully. One of the biggest expenses is the cost of retraining system administrators. Other costs include code that must be rewritten, data that must be migrated, integration work, licenses, and new software that may have to be purchased. However, these costs can be minimized if the migration to Linux occurs when a migration would have taken place anyway, such as the end of the amortization cycle when new hardware is acquired, or when a new application or a new release of an existing application is deployed. The risks to be considered include:
Operation: Operational savings depend on how extensive the migration is. The wider Linux is adopted, the lower the operational costs. Adopting Linux as just another OS and running it side by side with Windows, Solaris and AIX is the most expensive solution. The most effective operational setup would be to adopt Linux on a wide basis and deploy an enterprise Linux management package. This would enable management tools and personnel skills to be leveraged across a wider target, increasing efficiency and allowing a Sys Admin to support more machines. Support: We recommend using a mixture of purchased support for critical servers, using internet community help for other servers, and developing in-house Linux expertise. Future cost studies will determine the actual costs, but industry sources indicate that Linux support will be no more expensive in the long run than present support models. An additional factor is that Solaris and Windows are proprietary and problem solutions can only come from Sun and Microsoft, whereas Linux solutions can come from a wide variety of sources. See TSS Linux Support Options. Migration Criteria Guidelines The following are general criteria to consider when evaluating an application for migration suitability. The criteria are not exhaustive, nor do they cover unusual conditions or circumstances. The evaluator should gather as much information as possible, and try to understand the application - how it works and how it interacts in the computing environment. The ideal situation would be to follow the migration methodology (platform evaluation, pilot, test, pre-prod, production), and carefully evaluate the results from each step before proceeding to the next. Some ITSS applications that we already know run under Linux:
Criteria:
General questions:
General software questions to ask:
General hardware questions to ask:
Some Dell Suggested Hardware Equivalencies
Migration Strategy Our approach to incorporating Linux into our environment will be to draft a migration plan that includes a high-level work plan, training plan, and other considerations such as resource allocation. Phase One (Aug-Dec 2003): “low hanging fruit”: easy to migrate, low risk
Phase Two (Jan-June 2004): “climb the lower branches”: medium difficulty, medium risk
Phase Three (June-Dec 2004): “get out the ladder”: harder to migrate, high risk
Phase Four (2005 and on): “plant a new tree”: long-term candidates
Migration Methodology Business Justification: determine the business logic for the migration. Does the migration make good business sense? Platform Evaluation: do a cost comparison to determine whether it would be worthwhile to run the application under Linux. See TSS Migration Cost Comparison Guidelines. Crash&Burn/Pilot: install the application on Linux to see if it really works and what it requires. The Pilot does not have to be integrated in our environment. Test: if the pilot is successful, the next step would be to test the application in our Linux computing environment, integrating it with our infrastructure. Pre-Production and User Acceptance Testing: the third step would be to install the application in a copy of our production environment. This step would test the functionality of the application, performance, and would include user acceptance testing. Production Directory: dept dept -> Black Panther Party Lesson Plan Aligned to Grade 11 gles dept -> Black Panther Party Lesson Plan Aligned to Grade 11 gles Targeted Length: Two 90-Minute class periods created by Teresa Frizell dept -> Data Analysis (Math 206) Exam 2 Name Spring 2002 Hartlaub dept -> Engineering Library Reference Manual dept -> The tibetans october 7, 1950 dept -> March 2005 rough draft: Please do not cite without permission dept -> Megan andreas moreno, md, msed, mph dept -> New Media Power: The Internet and Global Activism dept -> Electric vehicle (EV), also referred to as an electric drive vehicle dept -> Catalog description Download 20.07 Kb. Share with your friends:
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