Cost-conscious enterprises—in other words, most enterprises—recognize that moving their UNIX-based applications to a Linux platform can save them some serious coin. But that’s really just one side of the coin.
The cost of running a data center is more than the sum of its software and hardware. When enterprises look closely at their entire data center operations, they often discover that money being saved in one area (e.g., software licensing costs) is being spent on another area such as patching legacy applications.
Here are five areas where you could be spending more money than you think, even after the switch to Linux:
1. Fixing up old hardware.
IT departments can spend a lot of time and money just to keep what they’ve got running. An open-source operating system gives enterprises more freedom in selecting the hardware to run their applications, but that is not the same as free hardware. In order to keep costs down, enterprises will often try to make do with the hardware they have, but it can end up costing them a lot of time to tweak and tune their old hardware to meet the new demands.
In cases like this, it can actually be less expensive to buy new hardware—especially when you look at mission critical, scale-up, partitioned servers like HPE’s new Superdome X.
2. Cash depletion by server accretion.
Linux boxes are typically cheaper than proprietary servers, which can make server growth seem like an afterthought. Enterprises, however, can quickly find themselves spending the savings from Linux on more servers, particularly as data and applications demands grow—and they almost always grow. Choosing a server platform that can easily scale without multiplying the management complexity is an important consideration.
3. Patching up legacy apps.
The vast majority of mission-critical business applications are available on Linux, but that’s not always the case for home-grown apps. Enterprises need to identify early on if there are potential application issues once they make the move to Linux, and plan accordingly. That plan may include bringing in experienced consultants who can port the application to Linux for you, or it may involve updating legacy Windows applications to a newer alternative.
Both options may be less expensive than trying to tackle the job on your own or, worse, experiencing inconsistent application performance once you make the move.
4. Bringing your storage up to speed.
Data centers can often behave like automotive engines; when you tune one feature, the higher performance can expose weaknesses in other areas. The relationship between servers and storage is a good example. Updating your server environment may shift the performance bottleneck to your storage systems. A good proof of concept can ferret out potential problems and ensure that enterprises have a storage solution that supports their current service level agreements.
5. Contemplating the cloud.
The current trend in IT is for most applications is to eventually move into a cloud environment. As an open operating system, Linux fully supports the cloud, but any migration should have an eye toward the future; whether it’s Linux containers or OpenStack or something else. Enterprises should have a roadmap in place that looks beyond the OS migration to consider those next steps, since a shift in strategy down the road could be costly.
Of course, one of the best ways to ensure your Linux migration goes smoothly is to work with an experienced partner like Rolta AdvizeX. We can help you assess, plan, and implement your migration to Linux to ensure that your costs stay down and your applications stay up. ▪