Each day, the drumbeat for Ubuntu Server Edition is getting slightly louder. In recent weeks, a growing list of ISVs (independent software vendors) has vowed to support Canonical’s Linux server operating system. The latest example involves Mailspect launching antispam and email archiving solutions for Ubuntu Server.
First, some background: Canonical faces an uphill battle as it tries to push Ubuntu Linux beyond desktops, notebooks and netbooks. One way into the server market will surely involve private Ubuntu clouds. Another path to server success requires more ISV support.
That’s where Mailspect enters the picture. The New York-based software developer says its antispam and email archiving solutions are now available for Ubuntu Server Edition. And yes, Mailspect has a channel partner program.
Within the announcement, Mailspect founder Michael Katz even takes a shot at Red Hat:
“Ubuntu has been surging in popularity with our customers, at the expense of Redhat solutions. One of the biggest advantages of Ubuntu is the APT package manager and our customers are very happy about the ease of installation that APT provides.”
Hmmm… The VAR Guy must concede: He hasn’t heard about customers defecting from Red Hat Enterprise Linux to Ubuntu Server Edition. But Katz and Mailspect seem to be claiming otherwise. And a growing number of ISVs seem to be showing Ubuntu Server Edition some love. The most recent example involves Groundwork Open Source. And Canonical is working hard to further strengthen the ISV story ahead of Ubuntu 10.04′s anticipated April 2010 launch.
Reality Check
Still, The VAR Guy doesn’t want to hype Ubuntu Server Edition. Red Hat and Novell continue to dominate the Linux server software market. Novell’s SUSE Studio launch has triggered a flood of Linux application appliances. And Red Hat has evolved into a triple threat — pushing beyond its Linux and JBoss middleware heritage to finally gain some virtualization momentum.
Like The VAR Guy said: Canonical faces plenty of server competition. But recent ISV wins for Ubuntu Server Edition seem promising.
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Still hasn’t got the level of hardware support as RH, though, which still makes it a bit of a risk when compared – maybe 2010 will change that? Its not only apt – the support of the community is a big plus. To the point where even if I’m looking for Rh help, I often google with ‘ubuntu’ keyword because I’m less likely to get a ‘well submit a patch for it then!’ kind of answer.
I’m waiting for Spaleta to ask the exact same questions he asks every single time there are news even remotely related to either Ubuntu or Canonical. Where is he?
The showstopper for me is the fact that Grub2, the default bootloader, doesn’t do RAID! Otherwise, it’s a GREAT server distro.
Prometheus@1: Agreed, Red Hat has tight relationships with the hardware players. Canonical, so far, has reasonable server relationships with folks like HP. And niche players like System76 and ZaReason. But The VAR Guy hasn’t heard much Ubuntu Server chatter from most of the server players…
Simplicius@2: Careful what you ask for… Kidding aside, Jef’s perspectives are always welcome. Healthy debate keeps The VAR Guy honest (hopefully…)
Jimmy the Geek@3: Who you pickin’ in the Super Bowl? The VAR Guy will check in with Canonical about Ubuntu and RAID.
-TVG
Probably Ubuntu server will hit a different market than Red Hat and SuSE. The full product can be used totally for free and basic single server support is only $750 per year. Our company has used it for free on six servers for the past year (files, backups, database, web server). Knock on wood, it had worked perfectly.
Seth: Please get in touch with The VAR Guy if you have a moment. Our resident blogger would like to hear more about how you’re leveraging Ubuntu Server.
TheVARguy [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com
-TVG
I’m in Antarctica…but that’s beside the point.
Like all ISV announcements, this is good news for Ubuntu “users”.. but is this a good thing for Canonical or for the Ubuntu ecosystem as a whole? At some point ISV’s who are trying to leverage the popularity of Ubuntu to make a buck are going to have to start sinking resources in sustaining Ubuntu. This company isn’t putting resources into Ubuntu developmnent. They aren’t even making use of Launchpad or the PPA infrastructure it provides to host software. Eucalyptus is a far stronger ISV partner for Canonical in that respect.
And I’m suspicious of the comment about people moving off RHEL. I can see people moving off CentOS or other RHEL-alike distributions..but _paying_ RHEL customers…doubtful.
It’s also interesting that they are not setting up a Debian Lenny or Squeeze apt repository side by side with the Ubuntu one. Makes me wonder…are they not seeing that much Debian server usage in their userbase? I would imagine that Ubuntu server competes more directly with Debian in terms of deployments than it does RHEL.
-jef
Is Michael Katz taking the mickey? I remember using Redhat 7.3 where one of the first pieces of software I installed was apt (I’ve never liked yum).
Surely Ubuntu’s biggest competition on this front is Debian. Generally speaking, given that every Debian release is a LTS version, it makes sense to stick to Debian. The things that have made Ubuntu popular on the desktop aren’t quite as compelling in a server context.
Re GRUB2 and RAID—while I haven’t used GRUB2, it should still work the same as GRUB1 in one respect, namely it can boot off either half of a software (mdadm) RAID-1 container.
If you’re using RAID on Linux, I would recommend sticking with mdadm software RAID. It has good, reliable, hardware-independent admin tools and container formats. And the individual disks still remain directly accessible, making it easy to do things like run badblocks diagnostics on them.
There’s no problem using GRUB2 with a RAID array. I have set this up on machines with SCSI RAID 5 built in to the motherboard, on Adaptec cards, and with RAID 1 on SATA, all with no problems whatsoever.
I fear that “Jimmy The Geek” at number 3 may be a geek in some other discipline such as accountancy.