The Domino Chick

Domino on Linux

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004

During the View's Admin 2004 conference, I gave a talk on running Domino on Linux. It was a lot of material to cover. The session was geared towards Domino administrators who are used to working with Windows operating systems on their Domino servers. I covered a lot of similarities and differences between Windows and Linux, went over some basic terminology, then walked everyone through an install of Linux- what to expect, what operating system settings to choose to make it optimal for Domino, etc. Then I talked about doing the Domino install, ran through some configuration settings, and discussed some performance and troubleshooting tips. It wasn't an in-depth performance session - it was a session geared to get Domino administrators comfortable with Linux. I wanted to walk them through terminology, installation, and configuration, and get them familiar with where to look when things go wrong, so they wouldn't be so intimidated by the Linux platform.

There seemed to be a lot of interest in it, though - it was the first session of the day, at 8:30 a.m., and there were at least 50-60 people in attendance. In addition, a number of people stopped me in the hallways or around the conference to ask me questions about it. I know I'm really interested in Linux as a platform for Domino. I've been working with Domino on Linux since the mid-R5 codestream, around fall of 2000. It worked well then, but it works phenomenally well now. IBM/Lotus have really put a lot of effort into making the code available and stable for the Linux platform. They have put their money where their mouth is and demonstrated a commitment to developing enterprise-level products that work well with open-source operating systems. And this is where my question comes in.

What do you think of Linux as a platform for Domino? Have you tested it? Is your organization looking to alternatives to Windows as a server platform? I really want to know what's going on in real IT shops, with real administrators facing the challenges of running a Domino environment on a daily basis. What are your thoughts? Do you think Linux has a real shot as a platform for Domino in the enterprise?

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Posted by: Kathleen McGivney at: 10:34:07 PM
Location: Los Angeles, CA