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Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

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Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#311

Post by blaser-waffle »

sam_bristow wrote: post #222
sandworm101 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>The wackiest one I've come across is a CMS (Crematorium Management System). If anyone is looking for something to open source: Meet manager. Since the 90s it has been the go-to software for running competative swimming meets (timing, heats organization etc). It's a niche market but is alway a very broad and steady user base. (Similar software is also used for track and field meets.) http://activesupport.force.com/h…

On a first skim of I thought you were saying there was crematorium software called "Meat Manager". I'm glad I was wrong.

We'll just call the repo MM, and let people figure it out themselves.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#312

Post by blaser-waffle »

alexchantavy wrote: post #246
jamieweb wrote: post #23

I'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…

Identity management with Active Directory is probably the biggest plus of a Windows environment; there's a saying that goes something like "in the end, every identity system ends up trying to be AD". Sure, you can run OpenLDAP on Linux and effectively get a domain controller, but the ready-to-go nature of AD on Windows Server is very compelling, especially for larger businesses.

+1. Did a lot with LDAP auth in an all-linux environment but AD is much easier, IMO. I'm not even much of a Windows guy, but the pools documentation/youtube vids/number of people to ask the question to are way deeper.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#313

Post by tw04 »

balnaphone wrote: post #244
tw04 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised to hear that to be quite honest. The feature gap is still pretty significant for any serious production deployment. MS is working hard to close the gap, but given basic enterprise features like database mirroring still aren't there - I'm not sure why any large enterprise would shift at this point. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-...

My understanding is that feature (database mirroring) was deprecated many years ago, for availability groups. There were some limitations in the Analytics area, but that customer was using another solution for most of that anyway. There were also some features of SQL Agent that were discarded (scheduling events or something) but in each case there is some officially supported route to accomplish the same task. You ca…

Availability groups are great on paper - in practice they add latency which many customers can't and won't tolerate. MS has been aware for years and still hasn't found a fix. Not sure hwy I'm getting downvoted - I'd assume people without SQL experience looking at a data sheet thinking it tells the whole story...

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#314

Post by tw04 »

BrentOzar wrote: post #243
tw04 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised to hear that to be quite honest. The feature gap is still pretty significant for any serious production deployment. MS is working hard to close the gap, but given basic enterprise features like database mirroring still aren't there - I'm not sure why any large enterprise would shift at this point. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-...

> given basic enterprise features like database mirroring still aren't there Database mirroring has been deprecated for several years. The replacement is Always On Availability Groups, which is vaguely supported on Linux.

MS WANTS customers to move to AGs but it introduces latency, which is why mirroring still exists in SQL 2019 and will indefinitely.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#315

Post by whytaka »

hi41 wrote: post #197
whytaka wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am very interested in the book you mention, simply out of passion. How do you find it?

You sound very enthusiastic. I hope my response does not negatively impact your enthusiasm. As soon as I started reading the book, I knew it was way beyond my depth. I was taken by all the news praising Linux and the developers who were changing the world for the better. I too wanted to be part of that story and contribute to FOSS. I was so naive and got deceived by own magical thinking. I got laid off from my first…

I am truly saddened to hear your account of things. I myself am trying to find out in my early 30s what piece of the computing puzzle I should reshape myself to be.

I am driven to go through this book (in fact, I made the purchase just last night) out of an urge to comprehend the full stack of computing. I can't say I have mastered any layer of the stack but familiarizing myself with the domain and limits of each gives me the confidence to trust my intuitions.

I was a mere designer before, turned front-end/back-end web developer, but my curiosity now drives me towards infrastructure. I don't even know if coding is what I will end up doing with my professional life but I can't imagine any of this knowledge will ever go to waste. Knowing the ins-and-outs of the infrastructure that runs the world can't possibly be useless knowledge.

However, one thing that troubles me about computing is how quickly I become fatigued sitting and staring into a screen. Although for now, I can do it for an unhealthy amount of time, I know deep down that my body or my eyes will not last if I keep this up. And for that, I don't know if my coding skills will count for very much in the future either. I don't quite know what it is you do as an app support engineer but it doesn't sound so terrible to me! I get a satisfaction out of simply knowing what needs to be done and directing the rightful minds even if I may not be the one doing it.

I don't know if you had ever had a "passion" for coding but I certainly hope you can find some delight in it (again). The wall of text is an abyss when the inertia of joyful productivity is not on your side. And when the implementation roadmap is long, the burden can be too heavy. I dare to suggest something like visual code-art (like Processing.js, or Flutter art) to change your mind about coding. I find that getting immediate feedback from small changes you make to your code minimizes that burden and can make coding fun again.

I appreciate your encouraging words. Thank you and best of luck to you.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#316

Post by kryogen1c »

jedieaston wrote: post #304
kryogen1c wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...what? isnt intune an MDM platform? regardless, there are some pretty sizable monthly costs when you already own the competing infrastructure - "$20 for Windows+Office 365+Intune" is not accurate. are you referring to azure AD? thats basically what i said originally - on-prem deployments are being replaced by cloud infrastructure. the point is that its a windows architecture, which is what the person i was replying…

Sorry, I meant $20 per user per month. But it should be cheaper when it comes to refresh time (for your on-prem AD), unless you have to pony up for Enterprise (for compliance and enhanced MFA, which is more like 40 dollars per month), or if you have software which relies on on-prem AD. And Intune manages Windows systems using a combination of MDM profiles and GPO ( https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/configur…

> Sorry, I meant $20 per user per month. But it should be cheaper

I understood you:

The cheapest Enterprise Mobility + Security license is ~$105 per year.

A Windows user CAL is ~$10 per year. To be on-prem requires a physical server; if a $10k server lasts 6 years, thats ~$1700 a year to do more than AD but let's assume 100% of costs are for AD. Also, the Windows Server license (depending on purchase method) is ~$100 per year.

Up until 18 users, the server investment is more expensive. [18 * 10] + 100 + 1700 = 1980 versus [18 * 105] = 1890. At everything above 19 users, EMS is more expensive, 1990 vs 1995. Note that this comparison is very slanted in favor of EMS licenses. A $10k server is more expensive than most small business have and 100% of the cost isn't actually for hosting AD (domain controllers are generally lightweight and non-resource intensive). In reality, it becomes cheaper at something closer to 8 users, which covers most small businesses that are more than just a personal laptop and a point-of-sale terminal/CC machine.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#317

Post by sk5t »

StillBored wrote: post #253
dmw_ng wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think its a SMB thing. Basically windows owns organizations with less than 10-30 people. And there are a _LOT_ of those, and they do a _LOT_ of custom development for their little specialization. Its the excel sheets that grow into full blown applications, or the vm.net one off utilities someone hacked together that grow into the backbone of a thriving small business. Even the generic catagory SMBs (dentists, car r…

I entirely disagree with the notion that Windows is strongest in SMB. Active Directory + GPO + various third-party device management stuff, plus the depth of Office-related integrations, and Microsoft's absolutely massive track record for supporting all kinds of uses, put Windows way ahead for large-scale compliance and auditing.

On the side of deploying and managing workstations, I would take Windows every single time over MacOS or Linux. For real, some combination of Apple Business Manager and JAMF is supposed to go head-to-head against AD+GPO? On Linux--Centrify, or something from Red Hat, that might well be more costly than Windows licenses (guessing here)?

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#318

Post by freehunter »

luckylion wrote: post #303
freehunter wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are tons of restaurants that have their own specialty drinks like their home made soda or root beer or their own alcoholic beers, but most customers pick Budweiser and Coca Cola. It's not crazy for them to suggest their own home-made soda first, it's marketing. Because that specialty soda makes them more money and differentiates them from their competitors who are just selling off-the-shelf stuff. It's not craz…

> It's not crazy to not want to be a commodity. If you're trying to serve a mass market? I think it is. Wasting time (yours + the customer's) by making them go through and deny the less common options isn't a good idea if you're aiming for serving as many people as possible as efficiently as possible. This would be very different if it wasn't Azure but some local tech company that sits down with you to talk about wha…

They keep doing it because it works. Same reason restaurants tell you the specials when you first get to your table even though you’re going to end up ordering a burger anyway.

You can argue all you want about what they “should” be doing but they wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t work.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#319

Post by balnaphone »

tw04 wrote: post #313
balnaphone wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that feature (database mirroring) was deprecated many years ago, for availability groups. There were some limitations in the Analytics area, but that customer was using another solution for most of that anyway. There were also some features of SQL Agent that were discarded (scheduling events or something) but in each case there is some officially supported route to accomplish the same task. You ca…

Availability groups are great on paper - in practice they add latency which many customers can't and won't tolerate. MS has been aware for years and still hasn't found a fix. Not sure hwy I'm getting downvoted - I'd assume people without SQL experience looking at a data sheet thinking it tells the whole story...

I believe you! The documentation says one thing, but in practice there are often hidden gotchas that can be extremely frustrating. Especially with respect to Azure, but even with the regular product. Microsoft has amazing sales teams, and some amazing engineers, but the overall quality of their engineering as delivered perhaps could use some work -- too much frustration, not enough delight.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#320

Post by JAlexoid »

kryogen1c wrote: post #174
pnutjam wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

Why is it surprising?

SMEs tend to buy cheap laptops, that come with "free" Windows Home. (I don't that that version can even be added to a domain) Then they start expanding and just stick with "what works", until it doesn't.

But I see this dropping drastically in the next decade, as PC replacements(read even cheaper Chromebooks and tablets) take more hold and web takes over even spreadsheets.

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