[ Tigerheart @ 01.09.2002. 22:23 ] @
| Tekst sa lokacije http://www.sap.com/community/week35_1.asp Objasjava neke od razloga zasto bi prelazak na linux bio dobro resenje .... ovako nesto bi se bez problema moglo i primeniti kod nas .... da neki ljudi u vladi imaju malo vise otvoren pogled .... :) Good Reasons for Switching to Linux By Heike Link IT journalist, signum pr, Germany More and more established companies and organizations, such as Hilfiger in the USA or the German Bundestag’s Administration Section, are changing over to Linux. And a growing number of these companies are also SAP customers. The triggers for this change include tremendous stability, security and a generally lower Total Cost of Ownership. Added to these are a wider range of hardware and enhanced support provided by the partner companies in the SAP Linux Lab. Linux, or mySAP.com on Linux, is proving popular among large companies and organizations. The latest convert is the German Bundestag’s Administration Section. From 2003, the Section will run the SAP e-government solution, mySAP Public Sector, under Linux. But this migration to the open Linux operating system isn’t an isolated case. Companies in the financially-restrained public services sector and firms who need to keep a tight rein on their budget are also migrating to Linux. By making this switch, these companies are looking to achieve two things: Firstly a reduction in the Total Cost of Ownership, and secondly increased security and independence – either from licensing models or selected manufacturers’ updating policies, for example. Maximum Security at Minimum Cost ith the mySAP Public Sector e-government solution running under Linux, Federal Secretary of the Interior Otto Schily can sign in green ink, as is fitting for a Federal Minister. But meeting this requirement naturally wasn’t the crucial reason behind the Bundestag’s decision to migrate to the open operating system. The non-proprietary solutions and the security that Linux can offer play a vital role in the public administration sector. Political institutions in particular must take care not to become dependent on one manufacturer and thus restrict their maneuverability. And so it was that Federal Secretary for the Interior Schily demanded that all components for the applications used in the German Bundestag’s Administration Section be linked via open protocols, so as to ensure future interoperability between services, particularly in security-related or strategic sectors. This ensures only one freely-visible source code. This is essential, since if a manufacturer changes the encrypted coding of his operating system, the software normally needs to be updated in order to keep links to archived data live, or to maintain compatibility between document formats. Publication of the source code is also one of the main reasons why Linux can offer greater protection against unauthorized attack from outside than is possible with proprietary software – however paradoxical this may at first seem. While customers with proprietary operating systems are supplied with a kind of ‘black box’ and have to trust that there are no security loopholes or errors in the coding, "Linux enables every user to inspect the code and thoroughly examine the quality of its functions. This means that any security errors that may exist in the coding can be discovered and eliminated”, explains Andreas Hahn, Product Manager at SAP’s Linux Lab. This is one factor which, in the light of repeated virus attacks on e-mail systems, for example, is growing in importance among companies and public institutions for both security and cost considerations. The generally lower costs or Total Cost of Ownership of open source software are without doubt one of the main reasons in favor of migrating to Linux. Because Linux is available free of charge, there are no licensing fees to pay. Instead, companies pay for service and support from a Linux distributor. Companies with Linux can also use their existing Unix expertise on inexpensive Intel servers, while at the same time retaining the solution’s same level of reliability. "This option is especially ideal for SAP customers that already operate a UNIX system environment and are looking to move up to an inexpensive hybrid system – for example because they need more server capacity and hardware as a result of an upgrade. This is because SAP also supports heterogeneous system environments that comprise both UNIX database servers and Linux application servers”, explains Andreas Hahn. Smaller companies or new SAP customers will also profit from the fact that, when they buy a new UNIX or Itanium server, they have the option of switching to larger machines only when they need to, thus keeping the investment costs low. First-Class Support and High-Performance Hardware Despite the cost and security advantages outlined above, many companies have hitherto put off migrating their mission-critical applications such as SAP to a Linux platform. "But this wasn’t due to the availability of mySAP.com solutions, since almost all of them are supported by Linux anyway. The main reason was the framework conditions. Linux first had to prove to the market that it could compete effectively with established providers not only in terms of reliability, high availability and performance, but also in terms of service, support and an adequate range of hardware. After all, companies believe security for their investments is paramount”, reports Hahn. The local open source development model, which features an open community working constantly on the code’s further development, was initially regarded by companies as a hindrance, much in the sense of ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’. For many outsiders, for example, it was difficult to understand why there wasn’t just one version of Linux. To create clarity and security of investment for these issues, SAP certifies the Linux kernels of the distributors represented in the SAP Linux Lab. By doing this, SAP ensures that the entire system runs without error, with top performance and with maximum stability. "For this reason, we carry out extremely tough certification tests on Linux in our SAP Linux Lab”, says Andreas Hahn. These involve stress tests, where the SAP system is "run at high load and all input and output channels are put to work simultaneously”. The special feature of this is that the load is not increased sequentially, as in the case of most benchmarks, but is instead increased randomly. This achieves a load that would never even occur during the productive operation of SAP customers’ systems. SAP is also working with its partners to extend its range of hardware. Particular focus in this sector lies partly on memory capacity and the multi-processor capability, so as to ensure that the system is totally scalable. Other factors include the cost element, since it is important to make sure that existing expertise can continue to be used. One milestone in this project is the availability of the zSeries from IBM for mySAP.com on Linux. This enables Linux to create a link to the Unix high-performance processors using an address bus width of 64 bits. Because of the large main memory and the multi-processor capabilities, for example, the SAP-APO-Live-Cache can also be run on the zSeries for mySAP.com on Linux. Added to this is the fact that all the latest SAP developments that support Linux are now available for the servers in the zSeries. SAP customers that have previously used IBM z/OS also profit from the fact that they have to build up virtually no new expertise when migrating to Linux, since they can continue working in their familiar mainframe systems environments. Linux as a SAP Reference Platform SAP is progressing the availability of mySAP.com solutions under Linux. The First Customer Shipment of the SAP Web Application Server was dispatched exclusively on Linux and Windows NT, for example. The J2EE engine was also developed mainly on Linux. Linux is also the reference Unix for all new SAP developments. At the moment, the SAP Linux Lab is developing a simplified management strategy for complex SAP system environments that will control all components from a central location. If the customer needs to increase his capacity, he can simply buy new hardware and boot it. The rest is taken care of automatically. With regard to the SAP GUI, which is available on all platforms as a Java implementation, its integration into the Star Office suite is currently being analyzed and implemented in the Linux Lab. Further informations: http://www.berlecon.de/en/index.html |