[Lias] Red Hat substitutes

[Roger Buck]

Some time ago on Lias there was a discussion about finding a stable 
Linux alternative for organizations that do not want to purchase RHEL Linux.

> On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 07:51, Paul Gear wrote:
> 
>>Please don't use the "switch to Debian" (or another
>>community-supported distro) answer.  :-) 

FWIW, I am currently evaluating some options and thought I'd post 
summary here and invite feedback.


The basis for evaluation (is this valid?) is:

RedHat offers something that "community distros" cannot supply - but the 
cost for RedHat in a production environment is prohibitive.


Q-1: Why RedHat rather than community supported distros?

A-1: To date, most Linux software and hardware vendors have standardised 
- they support hardware/software for RedHat only.



Q-2: Why NOT RedHat?

A-2: The cost for licensing under the new RedHat system starts at around 
AU$500 per server for the "Basic" version, through to around AU$4,000 
per server for the "Premium" edition.

  http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/purchase/index.html



Q-3: What about RedHat software without RedHat cost?

A-3: Legal "community" distributions are already available that will 
provide access to Redhat updates and errata for at least another five years:

  http://www.linuxmafia.com/faq/RedHat/rhel-forks.html


I intend to DL and evaluate both of these:

   Centos-3:  http://www.caosity.org/

   White Box Linux: http://whiteboxlinux.org/


I will report back here on what I find.

At the same time, I am doing a re-evaluation of debian, FreeBSD and 
several other distro's as a "reality check" :)

All feedback thoughts, comments and alternative suggestions are welcome :)


R.