Linux/UNIX certification

[Koobi]

Sometime, in the near future, I hope to become certified in either Linux or UNIX because I think it will complement my chosen career.

although i'm a linux user, i don't really move around the linux community so much so i was wondering if you guys could possibly advice me on something.

the things is, i can't decide if i should go for Linux or UNIX certification. i see a lot of Linux hosts out there but as far as i know, UNIX is far far more flexible and robust for a server than linux is so why are there so many linux based hosts? is it to do with licensing issues?

what do you think will be the most common web hosting OS in the future? Linux or UNIX?

[SharkBait]

Linux = open source :P  Well not all of it, but there are hundreds of (well maybe not hundreds) flavours of Linux in the world.

I don't know many places where Unix is still used.  I am sure they are out there but Linux prices (licensing) is FAR more cheaper.

I tend to see RedHat in most web hosts I have ever seen.  At work we use RedHat, Mandrake, Slackware, Ubunto, Fedora and whatever else we get our hands on.

I would also say because of the costs of obtaining a distribution of linux, most people won't choose Unix as an OS for web hosting etc.

Why pay hundreds of dollars for licensing when you can do pretty much the same thing for free?

[Koobi]

[quote author=SharkBait link=topic=104003.msg414635#msg414635 date=1155406402]
Linux = open source :P  Well not all of it, but there are hundreds of (well maybe not hundreds) flavours of Linux in the world.

I don't know many places where Unix is still used.  I am sure they are out there but Linux prices (licensing) is FAR more cheaper.

I tend to see RedHat in most web hosts I have ever seen.  At work we use RedHat, Mandrake, Slackware, Ubunto, Fedora and whatever else we get our hands on.

I would also say because of the costs of obtaining a distribution of linux, most people won't choose Unix as an OS for web hosting etc.

Why pay hundreds of dollars for licensing when you can do pretty much the same thing for free?
[/quote]


pretty much the same thing? I think UNIX is far more robust and definitely more flexible and scalable than linux.

linux is awesome, i love it/ been using nothing but linux for the last 2 or more years but UNIX is definitely a lot more stable and can do many things linux can't do as well.



but yeah i guess price is the issue due to the licensing.



also, why is RedHat so big? frankly, i hate RPM based distros. is RH big in commercial hosting because they have a dedicated support staff for RHE? i mean, you would feel easier about using a linux if you have someone to blame when things go wrong, if at all :)

i believe gentoo (minus X) is a more suitable server OS

[jcombs_31]

I think a cert in either one would mean you could get around both.  After all, linux is based on unix.  I've been using slackware for my home server and played with ubuntu at work.  I definitely think slackware is a great server and I like it.  Ubuntu makes a great desktop.

[Ninjakreborn]

Getting cirtified in all of them

[effigy]

I think UNIX. Here's why:

Even though I use Linux (RedHat) and UNIX (Solaris), I don't know them in detail. From my perspective, Linux is simply UNIX with (1) more GUI stuff; and (2) updated commands. In keeping with that statement, if you're only concerned with sever-like duties, that only leaves the differences at #2. In my opinion, if you're operating a server and you [i]really[/i] know what you're doing, you're on the command line for the majority of your time. I think--again, this is speculating--that more often than not, you can go from UNIX->Linux without things breaking, whereas Linux->UNIX would cause more trouble. There's always [b]man[/b] to learn new commands or new switches.

I don't know how accurate [url=http://leb.net/hzo/ioscount/data/r.9904.www.txt]this[/url] is, but a lot of companies, including mine, are still running pre-Linux UNIX, like Solaris. Again this is a guess, but since a servers job is more about storage, speed, and security, rather than bells and whistles (like Linux has with the GUIs), I would guess that companies are going to stick with what they have. Besides, if they did want to move to Linux, they would have to undergo rigorous testing to ensure a smooth transition, which costs money and time. You might think Linux has the advantage since it's free, but [url=http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/binaries_program.xml]things may change[/url].

Do they have "general" UNIX certifications? In other words, you learn about the I/O, process handling system, etc., rather than a slew of commands and customizations?

[b]Disclaimer:[/b] These are ramblings from 6 years of experience on Solaris, and a few on Linux (RedHat). I've set up Apache, MySQL, PHP, Samba, etc. and programmed (PHP, Perl, Shell) on both boxes and I haven't noticed any major differences. I'm not a system administrator who knows the guts of UNIX.