I had to move from Digital Ocean to Azure recently because my customers didn't know DO and thought they can't trust them. I was super happy with DO though. Azure is the ridiculously expensive without bringing any benefit. Sure, there are client tools but I don't need them. It seems to me every click I do on the Azure portal makes the costs increase by a few euros. I wish Digital Ocean would be accepted by more corporate clients.
Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
171–180 of 348 posts
Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
#172Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
#173Makes sense. I can hardly think of anyone who doesn't use a Unix for servers.
Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm interested to know what the majority of the Windows machines are used for. I have IT experience in the "mom and pop" small-medium business world but am pretty Linux illiterate. I can buy a copy of Windows Server 2019, install the ActiveDirectory role, create a domain, and domain-join every computer that business has, and start doing all kinds of simple-but-effective policies like folder redirection+shadow copie…
The number of servers that are used for basic filesharing and Domain authentication are dwarfed by the number of servers used for applications and databases. Linux has can manage a Windows Domain, but it doesn't support all the GPO's etc... Windows can also manage linux authentication, but likewise is missing parts for advanced usage.
> The number of servers that are used for basic filesharing and Domain authentication are dwarfed by the number of servers used for applications and databases
while this is probably true, it entirely misses the point.
it's only true because a very, very small number of megacompanies consume huge amounts of servers; a more accurate number for this discussion would be server per company. Nearly every business larger than a few people has a need for a windows server (for basic filesharing and Domain authentication, not databases or custom apps) and a windows app for their business that can be filled nearly off-the-shelf.
the cost-benefit of trying to start a linux setup is not even close to worth it.
Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
#175I'm interested to know what the majority of the Windows machines are used for. I can't think it'd be anything other than 'big enterprise' applications, where there seems to be a lot of bespoke stuff built specifically for Windows Server (e.g. finance software, healthcare systems, marriage registration, taxi licensing, nursing home management, etc). Unfortunately this sort of stuff is fairly rare to be available in th…
SQL? There are literally millions of production SQL databases out there and custom apps built on top of them - and while MS may have created a Linux port, there's no planet on which the average enterprise is moving to SQL on Linux without VERY good reason (and there currently isn't one that I can see outweighing the risk).
Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't mean as far as idle resource usage. The advantage of Linux is when you want to accomplish tasks without a great internet connection, but the windows tools are not evolved enough as far as command line functionality.
This was once the case, but PowerShell has been a solid administration tool for quite some time now. OpenSSH Server also ships as part of Windows, which was the missing link (since WinRM is, charitably, awful). The remote administration experience of Windows is now certainly comparable to Linux, in my opinion.
Thanks, at this point I'm neither a sysadmin not a masochist so I haven't checked this out.
Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
#177I'm interested to know what the majority of the Windows machines are used for. I can't think it'd be anything other than 'big enterprise' applications, where there seems to be a lot of bespoke stuff built specifically for Windows Server (e.g. finance software, healthcare systems, marriage registration, taxi licensing, nursing home management, etc). Unfortunately this sort of stuff is fairly rare to be available in th…
You don't see it on HN much but the Windows world is still massive, and there are still plenty of ASP.NET folk around. I'd suppose you only have to take half a footstep outside the "pure Internet services" sphere to start bumping into lots of Windows, in pretty much any direction you happen to step. There are also whole industries where Windows has a particularly strong influence, e.g. (from experience) some parts of…
In the mid 2000s I was working on scientific computing software running on RHEL workstations for a huge oil company. One day our customer inside this huge oil corp told us the entire worldwide company was standardizing on Windows for desktops and workstations. He said not to worry right away, because it would take them years to rip his team's lab full of Linux workstations out of his hands. I'm sure that was a massive, traumatic, and expensive transition that they would not repeat while the institutional memory of it remained, so I imagine they're still on Windows today.
Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
#178I bought books such as Linux Programming Interface to learn linux so that I can apply for jobs. Later I discovered that when the companies say Linux, they don't mean writing native applications on Linux, but that they are actually talking about java applications on app servers such as JBoss. Does anyone write native applications like thick client native applications on Windows which is also rare these days.
I’ve been reading that book recently - I recommend Windows Internals Part 1 as a good way to dive into the deeper parts of Windows :)
Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
#179I'm interested to know what the majority of the Windows machines are used for. I can't think it'd be anything other than 'big enterprise' applications, where there seems to be a lot of bespoke stuff built specifically for Windows Server (e.g. finance software, healthcare systems, marriage registration, taxi licensing, nursing home management, etc). Unfortunately this sort of stuff is fairly rare to be available in th…
SQL? There are literally millions of production SQL databases out there and custom apps built on top of them - and while MS may have created a Linux port, there's no planet on which the average enterprise is moving to SQL on Linux without VERY good reason (and there currently isn't one that I can see outweighing the risk).
SQL is a language. Perhaps you meant a particular implementation like Microsoft SQL Server?
Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores
#180I'm interested to know what the majority of the Windows machines are used for. I can't think it'd be anything other than 'big enterprise' applications, where there seems to be a lot of bespoke stuff built specifically for Windows Server (e.g. finance software, healthcare systems, marriage registration, taxi licensing, nursing home management, etc). Unfortunately this sort of stuff is fairly rare to be available in th…
The vast majority of Windows servers I’ve deployed in Azure are either domain controllers or legacy workloads that a customer wanted to just shift to Azure. Azure Domain Services and Azure AD still have some deployment complexities when compared to a scaled out domain.