PowerShell is a great tool for scripting. It is not installed by default on any Operating System, but will be the defacto scripting platform to come, at least in the Microsoft world. So start learning it! With Systems Administration, every vendor is trying to push their platforms. Sun is pushing OpenSolaris to fight Linux. Open Solaris certainly has many advantages over Linux. Linux has some advantages over OpenSolaris. This is a whole blog post in itself. In my opinion, OpenSolaris is better for a Server OS than a desktop OS. I will blog about that later though. Windows is another beast which definitely has a strong hold of the business software market. It is gaining market share on four socket systems beating Sun and Linux out, but not on the eight socket plus systems. Microsoft is not in that space yet as far as adoption goes.
Now, I mostly support Windows based systems. For the past five years, I’ve also been support VMWare products as well including ESX Server and now the Virtual Infrastructure 3i. I’ve always had some Linux distro installed on an old PC for tinkering too.
So what does all of this really mean?
This means that no systems administrator can really focus on one operating system anymore. (No, I’m going to qualify the various Linux Distributions as different, because the basic architecture is the same. Yet another blog post topic). We are living in a distributed systems world where one must learn all different operating systems, programming languages and above all be OK with it. Now I’m all for pointing out differences, strengths and deltas (delta is a management term for weaknesses) in different OSes, but the folks all tied to the idea that one operating system is great for everything are sorely mistaken. Yes, I’m talking about all of the Windows Systems Admins that think Windows should run Oracle on 32 processor servers. (I haven’t met one yet, but I’m sure they are out there). I am also talking about the Linux zealots that think Linux is then end all and be all for all computing applications because of it’s particular licensing scheme. It’s not. Get over it and move on. I am also talking to all of the creative types that think Apple will take over the world and aliens will pop out of Steve Jobs and run for President.
The fact of the matter is that most companies will use the best application running on the best OS/Platform for the job. Bar none. If Oracle runs better on AIX than Solaris. Companies will make the move because it’s more reliable and cost effective. In the Windows world, IIS 6.0 was a huge win over IIS 5.0. Folks upgraded to Windows Server 2003 and IIS 6.0 in record time because IIS 6.0 was a very compelling upgrade. PHP is a programming language that is gaining adoption everywhere. Microsoft is now fully supporting PHP, because the company wants to make sure that when people deploy PHP, they don’t deploy it on Liunx. They deploy it on Windows. There are some good arguments to running it on Windows now. (Hey another great idea for a blog post).
If you are a startup, sometimes cost is the large issue, so you may opt for more open source solutions. Just bear in mind that there are programs out there to use Solaris and Windows very cheaply. Believe me when I say that Microsoft, Sun and other vendors want adoption to their platforms over cost any day. There are many programs out there that can get startups commercial software at reasonable prices or a very delayed billing timeframe. (Yet another good idea for a blog post).
Well, I hope you got the drift that Systems Administration in the future will not be about which OS kicks the other OS in a kung fu battle. It’s about making applications work in a heterogeneous environment and understanding the underlying technologies that run everything. You will be more valuable as a Systems Administrator by understanding more Operating Systems, programming languages and platforms.
