Timothy
Parker Consulting Incorporated
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Questions and Answers Part 4 Q: We’re moving to Linux and want a product that complements an office suite like the Corel or Sun products. What is available for the Linux server that provides more comprehensive features? A: The Corel WordPerfect Suite for Linux and Sun StarOffice Suite are often thought to be the only tools you need for a small or medium size business, but reality is that you need much more. I’ve recently played with (and liked) IBM’s Small Business Suite for Linux. The package includes the Domino Application Server, Lotus Notes, DB2 database, Lotus SmartSuite (the same tools as the SmartSuite under Windows), and a set of auxiliary tools and email packages. The WebSphere component is designed to provide Web hosting and development environments, but that component may not be widely used by many businesses. I was impressed by the integration and stability of the entire IBM Small Business Suite for Linux, and the price is right! Q: We’ve got a legacy Oracle database running on a minicomputer with a UNIX variant operating system. Can this be easily ported to a Windows, Linux or UNIX machine? A: Unless the Oracle version is
so old that it is not compatible with current releases, there should be no
problem moving the existing tables (databases) and scripts to any of these
operating systems. You’ll find
performance is better, too, on all three. If the legacy system uses SQL, then
you’re home free as the current release of Oracle (as well as many other
SQL-based databases) can import your existing tables and use the same SQL
queries. If the database is not
used much (just for the occasional query) you can use any PC for the database as
long as there is enough disk space for the tables and derivative tables, and the
temporary files created during queries. It
really doesn’t matter whether you choose Windows, Linux or UNIX, as Oracle is
available for all three. Q: After reading your Help Desk
articles on Gigabit Ethernet we bit the bullet and installed a small LAN using
this technology. Now we want to
expand to our connection to our ISP on the Gigabit network. Is there a Gigabit Ethernet firewall available?
I know I could load any software-based firewall on a machine with a
Gigabit NIC, but we want a turn-key solution. A: I know of only two Gigabit
Ethernet firewalls currently shipping as turn-key solutions. The first is the rack-mount Cisco PIX 535, which is really a
dedicated PC with 1GHz Pentium CPU and 1GB RAM with up to four Gigabit Ethernet
NICs (as well as four 10/100 NICs) installed at once. Configuration of the test
unit I saw was a pain in the butt, to be blunt, but the unit seems fast enough
to handle firewall tasks on several interconnected Gigabit Ethernet LANs at the
same time. The second firewall is based on my all-time favorite software
firewall software from CyberGuard. The
CyberGuard StarLord is a huge and heavy rack unit with quad Pentium CPUs and 1GB
RAM, running on SCO UnixWare. The StarLord can support a dozen 10/100 Ethernet
and dual Gigabit Ethernet NICs. Of the two, Cyberguard is the better package
both because of the well-known operating system and firewall software, as well
as its configuration options. Just
get a crane to lift the beastie into your rack. Q: When will Gigabit Ethernet network cards come down to a realistic price? A: That depends on what you
consider realistic. If you’re waiting for $19 NICs, you will have to wait a
very long time. However, 3Com
recently dropped the prices of their 10/100/1000 NICs to $219 MSRP (US dollars)
for Gigabit Ethernet over copper. Intel promptly did the same (or maybe it was
the other way around: it’s hard to tell with duelling press releases) and
dropped their prices to $219 too. Further price drops are likely in the near
future as volume increases, and bulk packs are already lower. Q: Someone told me that Java 2 is
actually the fourth release of Java. What’s
the real story? A: There have been several “official” releases
of Java. Java 1.0 was released in
1995 and it was intended for WWW programming only. In 1997, Java 1.1 was released and it had
improved interface creation and management routines. Java 2 v 1.2
was let loose in 1998 and had many enhancements to make Java a
general-purpose programming language, while the current release is Java 2 v 1.3
(released in 2000) which adds enhanced multimedia capabilities and faster
execution. This was also the first release to officially support Linux. So, yes,
Java 2 is the fourth release. Java 1 was designed for Web programming only,
while Java 2 is the full-featured programming language (Web and stand-alone
applications). Q: Is there a
video editing suite like Adobe Premiere available for Linux? A: No.
Adobe has expressed no interest in porting Premiere to Linux. There are
video editing tools available for Linux but they do not come close to the
flexibility and power of Premiere or other Non-Linear Editors (NLEs). For now,
you’ll have to stick to Windows or a proprietary NLE package. |
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