New to Linux

[edward_haigh]

Hello guys, I am fairly new to Linux but have used it a little bit in the past (as an end user).

What is the general distro used in an enterprise/SMB? If I was to learn Linux as a skill set, where would be the best to start so I could roll it out in a small business and manage it?

Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post this on, but I assumed it would still be classed as 'getting started'!

Regards

Edward

 

[ryanvade]

I believe that most users agree that RHEL based systems are in the enterprise environment though Debian is a close second.

 

[edward_haigh]

Okay, thank you very much. Is there also a server OS you can download, or is it managed on the same OS as the users would use?

Also, what is Linux like in the worlds of virtualisation and also for example Active Directory/Exchange?

 

[ryanvade]

Okay, thank you very much. Is there also a server OS you can download, or is it managed on the same OS as the users would use?

Also, what is Linux like in the worlds of virtualisation and also for example Active Directory/Exchange?

There are many Linux distributions designed for Server use. RHEL is both desktop/server. Fedora is working on a server distribution. CentOS is designed for servers as is debian. (though debian is used as a desktop a lot).

Linux has very active virtualization. KVM is built into the kernel and provides virtual capabilities. Virtualbox and qemu are available also. http://www.linux.org/threads/overview-of-virtualization.6373/

Active directory is available for Linux. Our university uses it and the Ubuntu computers in the lab can connect just like the Windows and OS X computers can.

 

[MikeyD]

From working with dbas on a regular basis, RHEL and SuSE are by far the most popular, but both require licenses and/or support packages so are not really geared for individual use.
As @ryanvade suggests CentOS and Fedora are rpm-based and very similar to RHEL. Most of the commands/software used on these distros can also be used with RHEL. SuSE offers openSuSE as an open-source alternative.

Although Linux is probably the most popular you'd be surprised by the amount of users using proprietary Unix systems as well (i see AIX and Sun systems about as frequently as Linux). AIX, HP-UX, Sun SPARC, Sun Solaris, etc. So unfortunately there isn't a single way to go, but it isn't hard to get your head around these operating systems if you have a grasp of Linux.

Bash shell is awesome, and the shell I regularly use, but make sure you try other shells csh, ksh, tsch, zsh, good ol' sh, etc. as many proprietary Unixes still don't have bash out of the box (HP!)