Linux in Government: Linux Desktop Reviews, Part 3 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Unless you qualify as an enterprise class customer, you might find it
difficult to obtain a copy of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) desktop. Red Hat requires a minimum
purchase of 10 units, and the 10 unit starter pack costs $2,500. Individuals
might find this to be a steep price, especially when you can download most
Linux distributions for free, including Red Hat's own Fedora Core product.

However, enterprises find the Red Hat service model to be especially
helpful when they want to manage large numbers of desktop computers.
Even small- to medium-sized businesses find the Red Hat cost structure
to be comparatively inexpensive. In addition, the bundled services surpass
any other offering for enterprise class desktops, regardless of the platform.

In this article, we discuss how the RHEL desktop meets and exceeds
a maturity model for open source. We also discuss the design and
usability of the desktop product itself.
Business Model
When you log in to the RHEL desktop, you immediately notice a difference
in look and feel from other Linux desktops. Some might characterize the
difference as that between a stripped-down Chevy and a Jaguar. Figure 1
provides a look at the default login screen.
Figure 1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Default Login
Screen
In 2002, Red Hat chose to change its business model to one focused on
the enterprise model. In an article titled
"Defining
the Linux Enterprise", I wrote, "The enterprise market consists of software applications used by
corporations, government agencies, schools, not-for-profits, or other
organizations, regardless of size. The software differs from that used by
consumers. You will not likely find an integrated judicial case management
system on the shelves of your local computer store next to the games,
for example."

I also wrote:

You may recall the uproar that occurred when Red Hat discontinued its
retail product in favor of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Many of us,
as consumers, felt cheated. We wanted everything Microsoft offered on
[its] desktops and we wanted an alternative.

Red Hat probably made a reasonable decision, even though it displeased
many Linux advocates. Consider that the enterprise market represents
approximately $200 billion per year in potential revenue compared to
half of that for the consumer market. Additionally, enterprises provide
a plethora of revenue opportunities, ranging from service offerings and
consulting to intricate application and infrastructure products with
higher profit margins. Red Hat needed to position itself where it had
smaller competitors and more ways to make money.

Give Red Hat credit for tackling a tough market and winning. The company
has constructed an organization that creates high customer satisfaction,
furthers Linux acceptance and encourages many hardware OEMs to
provide support for open-source platforms. That OEM hardware support
probably would not have occurred from the Linux community alone.
Hard Questions
We are asking some difficult questions about enterprise support in this
series. In fairness, we asked each company the same ones (see Resources). Let's look at
how Red Hat answers those questions.

• What kind of support organization does Red Hat offer related to users? If
  you run into a problem, can you contact someone for help? How, over the
  phone or by e-mail?

  Red Hat has a global services organization comprised of support,
  professional and learning services. It bundles support and maintenance
  with the purchase price of the technology. Phone and e-mail support are
  available around the globe, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• How big is Red Hat's support organization? Does the company out-source
  its support?

  Red Hat has more than 100 people on hand globally in its support
  organization. Red Hat does not outsource support.

• Does Red Hat have a professional services organization? If someone wants
  to buy a large number of desktops, how would Red Hat handle a big order?

  Red Hat offers professional services globally. For large or complex
  deployments, Red Hat offers assessment and deployment services to match
  varying architectures. For a large desktop implementation, Red Hat assigns
  a technical account manager to manage the deployment and to handle post-deployment support.

• Red Hat historically has offered documentation for the user. How about
  technical documentation, is there anything for the administrator?

  Red Hat offers documentation to the administrator or person responsible
  for managing the systems. Also, Red Hat offers an on-line knowledge base
  that provides additional documentation, troubleshooting tips and support.

• What kind of solution/provider ecosystem exists? Does Red Hat have
  resellers? How robust is that reseller organization?

  Red Hat has a robust ecosystem. Top resellers include IBM, HP, Fujitsu
  and Dell. These companies offer tier-1 support for minor issues. More
  complex issues are transferred back to Red Hat.

• What is Red Hat's server strategy? Does the company provide back-office
  functionality and identity management?

  Red Hat Enterprise Linux began in the back-office datacenter. The
  company has experienced notable success powering some of the most computer intensive
  workloads in the financial and government sectors. As of October of 2004,
  Red Hat added identity management to its solution portfolio.

• What tools exist for rolling out and managing the desktops? Does the
  company offer on-site training?

  Red Hat sells its desktop as a bundle, with provisioning to aid in the
  deployment of consistent corporate desktops. Red Hat offers on-site
  training as well as learning services in 150 global locations.

• How can administrators and help-desk people learn to provide desk-side
  support in their own companies? Does curriculum exist?

  The Red Hat offers Certified Engineer and Certified Architect curricula
  designed for administering, maintaining and securing systems. Users
  have reported high levels of satisfaction.

The Product
Prior to using Red Hat's Enterprise Linux desktop, I gave Sun's Java Desktop System my
highest rating for look and feel, ease of use and administration. As of
this writing, Red Hat has pulled ahead as the "best of class" desktop.
One example of why RHEL took the lead can be seen in Figure 2; here, you can see
that Red Hat greatly simplified its launch menu and improved its desktop rendering.
Even compared with Fedora's design and the last RH public version, RH 9, the menu system
has become easier to use and the graphical presentation has improved.

Additionally, the default desktop install reduces the number of unnecessary
applications and options often found in less professionally designed
distributions. When a customer buys a RHEL desktop, Red Hat's deployment
team configures it to the specifications the buyer wants. Thus, the
functionality can become even tighter.
Figure 2. Launch MenuEase of Administration
Red Hat has integrated the Red Hat Network (RHN) into its RHEL desktop
products. For those who used RHN in the past, you may find the new
functionality surprising. For example, you now can utilize RHN's Web services
to provide a number of tightly controlled management functions.
Figure 3 allows you to see a portion of the management section of the
RHN Web site. Although this view provides only a small section of the tools
available, you can see that administrators remotely can manage
individual desktops or groups of desktops.
Figure 3. Section of Red Hat Network's Management Page
Depending on the service offering an enterprise customer selects, one can utilize
the RHN from Red Hat's facilities or bring the support infrastructure
in house. Red Hat also offers hosting services for desktops.
Figure 4. Installing an Application with RHN
As show in Figure 4, I used RHN to install a graphical secure copy tool
to the desktop. Red Hat provided an application called gftp in the packages
available for the desktop. This version of gftp provides for visual
secure shell access (SSH). I found it useful for moving files between two computers.

Interestingly, I logged in from a separate computer to manage my RHEL
desktop. I could install software, change system preferences, schedule
updates and perform a variety of other tasks. The management functions
allow one to administer a large number of desktops from a single
desktop, without having to visit each workstation physically.

Obviously, the services Red Hat provides for deployment and administration
of enterprise desktops do not come free. Consider the infrastructure
required, number of trained professionals involved and continuous monitoring and
testing of applications needed. For large desktop infrastructures,
Red Hat removes a significant amount of overhead from the enterprise
and provides an extra layer of security, reliability and continuity.
Interoperability
Enterprises have started embracing the notion that they have overbought
IT functionality in the past. Most organizations utilize 10% of the available
features they purchase. This realization has allowed enterprises to
shuffle resources and reduce overhead dramatically.

Red Hat has provided enterprises with the ability to maintain the 10%
of usable functionality while reducing unused and redundant functionality.
The Red Had desktop provides several ways to interoperate with Microsoft
desktops, servers and applications.

Let's first discuss how Red Hat's desktop can work with Active
Directories. Gerry Riveros, Product Marketing Manager - Client
Solutions, explained the process to me as follows:

Red Hat has made it easy to plug a Red Hat Desktop into an Active
Directory environment. It's a one-time setup that a system administrator
would perform. After that, the user would be able to log in to his system
and automatically authenticate with Active Directory.

The system administrator uses a Red Hat tool called
Authconfig. Authconfig is used to configure winbindd. Next, the
administrator creates user home directories and restarts the GNOME
display manager. Now, Active Directory authentication works. To add
Kerberos authentication for single sign-on to network services, the
administrator uses Authconfig again and modifies a config file setting.

Red Hat provided us with a detailed process for setting up Active
Directory configuration. Unfortunately, we do not have the space in
this week's column to provide that information. Suffice it to say,
enterprises wanting desktop interoperability with Microsoft can have it.
Other Interoperability Options
In addition to authentication in Microsoft networks, the RHEL desktop
easily can browse and share folders with SMB/CIFS clients, such
as Windows NT/2000/XP. Figure 5 illustrates a small workgroup as seen
from the desktop's network browser window.
Figure 5. RHEL Network Browser Window
As a footnote, Linux desktops represent two of the desktops in this
workgroup.

The RHEL desktop also provides support for the Windows Terminal Server
and Citrix. In addition, you can run Win32 applications from an individual
PC. For example, we installed several Windows applications during our
pilot. Figure 6 shows us installing a Win32 application using CrossOver
Office.
Figure 6. Installing a Windows Application
In Figure 7, we installed a popular Windows application using CrossOver
Office.
Figure 7. Installed eFax Messenger for Windows on RHEL
DesktopOther Considerations
CIOs may want to begin rethinking their options when it comes to
deploying desktops now and in the future. Although some say that Linux
isn't ready for the desktop, you might discover that it's ready for your
organization. You can maintain your current infrastructure and provide
seamless integration. In the meantime, you can provide your users with
outstanding applications, including productivity suites, groupware, Web
browsers, graphics and multimedia. If you still need Windows in some
areas, then use it where it's needed. Meanwhile, you can cut costs and
provide a safer environment for your enterprise.
Resources
"Linux in
Government: Linux Desktop Reviews, Part 2 - Novell Linux Desktop"

"Linux in
Government: Linux Desktop Reviews, Part 1 - Xandros Business Desktop"

Tom Adelstein works as a Distinguished Analyst and open-source
software consultant with Hiser+Adelstein, headquartered in New York City.
He's the co-author of the book Exploring the JDS Linux
Desktop and author of an upcoming book on Linux system
administration, to be published by O'Reilly and Associates. Tom has
been consulting and writing articles and books about Linux since early
1999.