IT Manager's Handbook: Getting Your New Job Done (34 page)

•
Operating systems:
There are now essentially three main operating systems: Windows, MacOS, and the family of Linux/Unix variants. For a full discussion of operating systems, see the section
“Operating Systems”
on
page 137
later in this chapter.

•
Business applications:
This is a catchall term to refer to those software packages that allow the users and the business to do their job(s). This might be a warehouse inventory system, the payroll application, or a simple application that allows administrative assistants to print mailing labels.

•
Enterprise applications:
These applications are those that are used by virtually every part of an organization and act as a way of integrating systems, users, and functions. Enterprise applications may include business applications (such as an ERP system from SAP or Oracle), as well as something like companywide e-mail. They're discussed in detail in the section
“Enterprise Applications”
on
page 152
.

•
Middleware:
This software connects other software. This type of software can encompass everything from formal middleware products (such as Oracle's Fusion, IBM's WebSphere, and Red Hat's JBoss software) that are packaged, sold, and installed as distinct units, to a few hundred lines of code custom written to connect one proprietary piece of software to another. Middleware is sometimes referred to as an “interface” or a “hook.”

•
Client/server:
This is a reference to an application's architecture, not to its function. A client/server application has two pieces of software associated with it: one that sits on the server and does the vast majority of the processing and the other piece that the user (or client) accesses that serves as the user interface. E-mail (such as Microsoft's Exchange or IBM's Lotus Notes) is an example of a client/server. The client portion is the software that allows users to read, write, and manage their e-mails. The server portion is the part that moves mail along between users, provides administration tools for the IT staff, controls security, allows for the creation of policies (such as mail retention), etc. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications are also examples of client/server-architected solutions. It should also be pointed out that very often the “client” is only a browser.

•
Productivity tools:
This industry-accepted term refers to common desktop applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation. Productivity tools are either sold in suites or as stand-alone components. Microsoft Office is the best known of these, but alternatives include Corel's WordPerfect Office, Apple's iWork, and the free
open source software
from OpenOffice and KOffice.

•
Utility tools:
This large category can include items for tasks strictly associated with the IT staff (e.g., backup, monitoring, management, and administration), as well as those that might be used by the end users (e.g., file compression, file conversion).

•
Security:
This category of software can refer to a variety of solutions that protect the environment (firewall, antivirus, anti-spam, user authentication, encryption,
VPN
).

•
Development tools:
These items include all elements of software used to create other software, such as compilers, linkers, debuggers, source code control systems, and languages.

As you can see, some of these categories overlap. A solution such as Oracle Financials could be simultaneously categorized as an enterprise application, a business application, and a client/server solution.

5.2 Operating Systems

Without an OS, a computer isn't much more than a door stop. Operating systems have a long and interesting history that includes some familiar names (Unix, Windows, Linux, Mac OS) and some forgotten ones (DOS, CP/M, VMS, Netware, TRS-DOS, OS/2). A particularly exciting new area of the OS market is the handheld industry with offerings from RIM, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Nokia, and Google; these are covered in
Chapter 11, Connectivity: Social Media, Handhelds, and More
on
page 287
.

There are three major offerings for desktop and server operating systems: Windows, Mac OS, and Linux/Unix variants.

Windows

Microsoft's offerings dominate both the server market (Windows Server 2003 and 2008) and the desktop market (Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7). Windows has also made inroads in the smart phone market with Windows Phone, but has not been as successful here. The lion's share of the workstations on the planet are using some version of Windows. Version 1.0 of Windows was released in 1985 and there have been many versions released since. Because it's so popular, most application vendors will first write their software to support Windows; many won't even consider writing their application on any other OS platforms. However, because of its prevalence, it is also the preferred platform for hackers and virus creators to go after.

Mac

The long-time, though distant, runner-up to Windows for the desktop is the Macintosh operating system. This operating system has many die-hard adherents; its demise has been predicted unsuccessfully for many years. Mac is the de facto OS used by certain industries, primarily those associated with audio/video media, design, graphic arts, and so on. Since 2001, with the release of version 10 (code-named “Cheetah”) of the Mac operating system, Apple has been using Unix as the underlying foundation of its graphical user interface. Although mostly known as a desktop operating system, there is a server version of the Mac-OS as well.

The Mac platform's percentage of market share has always been in the single digits, but it has been growing steadily. IDC Research showed that in 2010 Apple's shipment to enterprise customers was only 2 percent of all enterprise PC shipments. In addition, many people look to Apple as the leader in hardware, software, and user-interface design and innovation. Some of Apple's challenges with making further inroads into the enterprise environment include:

•
Lack of tools for managing in large environments

•
No product roadmaps to help IT managers make decisions

•
Mac versions of enterprise applications may not exist, or lag behind the Windows versions

Apple has also produced the iOS operating system, which is for its handheld and tablet devices. See
Chapter 11, Connectivity: Social Media, Handhelds, and More
on
page 287
for further discussion on the Apple OS (iOS). The success of the iPhone and the iPad have radically changed the discussions about which is the dominant operating system.

Unix Variants and Linux

Unix and its variants have quite a history, which started in the 1960s and 1970s at AT&T's Bell Labs. Big names in this market include HP-UX from Hewlett-Packard and AIX from IBM, but it's Linux that has made real headway in gaining market share. Both IBM and Hewlett-Packard now sell and support Linux running on their hardware and with many of their application offerings.

Linux is an open source operating system developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The system is a Unix variant and has been distributed freely since its creation, although “free” in this context is a complicated concept. For a further discussion of free software known as Open Source Software (OSS), see the section
“Open Source”
on
page 141
later in this chapter.

Choosing an Operating System

You probably already have multiple operating systems in your environment. Although it would be nice to standardize on one, it is rarely possible anymore. It's important to keep in mind that you really don't “choose” operating systems directly. It's a decision that is made almost indirectly based on other factors and issues. Specifically, which applications your company uses, which hardware (workstations, servers, handheld, and mobile devices) you need to support, and what the specific needs of your users are often determine which operating system(s) you're using.

Applications in Your Environment

Many major desktop business applications are now available on all three platforms. There are equivalent open source applications for Microsoft's Office suite, as well as applications available “in the cloud.” MS Office itself has a version for the cloud, known as Office 365. (For more about
cloud computing
, see
Chapter 11, Connectivity: Social Media, Handhelds, and More
on
page 287
.) Server applications may run on only one or two platforms, though. For example, the server software for SAP is available to run on Unix or Windows, but not Mac. However, the client front end for SAP
is
available for Mac desktops. Sometimes you hit brick walls like Apple's iOS not supporting Adobe Flash, or Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 not supported on Windows XP.

The key issue here is which
nonstandard
applications are you going to run? Many companies run large collections of custom software applications to run their business. Situations like these make keeping the previous operating system preferable because changing to a new operating system, or adding another one to the environment, can be a significant undertaking.

Typically, most of the operating system choices you face will be related to the server side of the environment and will come about when consideration is given to bringing a new application into the organization. Factors to consider here include:

•
The skill set of your staff, along with the cost, effort, and time involved to develop expertise in a new OS.

•
Which business applications you will be running and which operating system(s) they run on.

•
Performance/cost concerns: The application may run faster on one operating system as compared to another, but that performance difference could be mitigated with the choice of hardware.

•
Compatibility with the rest of your environment: If the tools you use to maintain your environment (backup, antivirus, encryption, monitoring, etc.) are operating system specific, the cost and effort of having to support another operating system could be enormous.

A 2011
InformationWeek
survey of IT professionals showed that the top criteria for choosing an operating system were:

•
Support for existing applications

•
Security of the operating system

•
Specific functionality of the device and operating system

•
Integration with existing security and management tools

Customers' Needs

As discussed in
Chapter 1, The Role of an IT Manager,
in the section
“Determine Who Your Team Members Are”
on
page 11
, determining who your users are (and who
their
customers are) will make you a much more productive IT Manager. Choosing operating systems is no exception to this rule. Consider what the de facto standard is for your customers. If a user community (e.g., the graphic arts department or the elementary school you are supporting) runs on the Mac platform, it will be much more efficient in both the short and the long term if you choose Macs for everyone. This will eliminate problems with sharing files, compatibility, and so on. It will also radically cut down on your training and equipment costs, as users can share their knowledge and their machines among each other.

Multiple Operating Systems

It's common now to have multiple OSes in one company, despite corporate efforts to keep everyone on one platform. A 2011
InformationWeek
survey showed that 85 percent of IT organizations officially support more than one OS (with the average supporting three), and 65 percent of IT organizations allow one or more additional OSes that are not officially supported. A big part of this has been the growth of mobile devices with their own operating systems. Users sometimes go their own way. Supporting three platforms in one environment, of course, can be a difficult task. Here are some ways of dealing with mixed environments.

Operating System Emulators

A number of tools and products have been developed to allow applications developed for one operating system to run on another operating system. This can help eliminate the need for users to have two different workstations. While emulators are very convenient, they can create additional challenges for support. Just as there are nuances and idiosyncrasies with applications and operating systems (version, components, setting, hardware, etc.), an emulator can complicate things further by adding another layer into the mix. For example, when an application isn't working right, is it because of the application, the core operating system, or the emulator? Perhaps it's how these are configured or how they interact with each other.

Virtual Machines

Virtualization allows you to take a single physical device (e.g., one workstation or server) and run multiple instances of operating systems. Each of these instances looks and operates as its own device, but because they coexist on a single physical device, they are considered to be
virtual machines
. Even if one of the instances should crash, the remaining operating system instances will continue to run. With virtual machine technology, all instances of the various operating systems run simultaneously, and switching among them is fast and easy.