Open Source has come of age. No longer does OS fame rely solely on systems software such as Linux, Apache and the BSD Brigade (See BSD Brigade, September 2000). In the last year, Star Office and Open Office have assulted the Microsoft throne of office suites. In the database arena, MySQL, PostgreSQL and several others have proved themselves capable of enterprise level size and performance.
All of these software packages are necessary for independence from Microsoft, but they are not sufficient for full operation of a business, even a small home business. What has been missing are essential tools for security, backup, and business processing. Today, I can comfortably state that open source covers the first two of those needs and the third, business processing, is well under way.
The fourth OS gem is not a package but a software environment that delivers on the promise of Java - operating system independence. It is the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) that has opened the door via web services and grown into general purpose processing. Now with a strong OS version in JBoss, the toolset for independence is complete enough to support the majority of businesses and end users of computing services.
Information on each of these gems follows, plus information on how to find just what you need in that grand mine of open source development, SourceForge. Without this central organization of open source development, both development and use of OS software would be more difficult and delayed.
As a result of its impact on open source development, I nominate SourceForge and its supporters for the "Most Important Software Project" in the first decade of the 21st century.
Security filters are not easy to implement at the operating system level. The first of these tools fills a security requirement for every site connected to the Internet. This particular problem has been well solved by a package named "Firewall Builder." This package supports multiple platforms with a standard format and policy compilers for the specific platforms, including iptables, ipfilter, OpenBSD PF and Cisco PIX.
While not for the average end user, this is a powerful tool for those who already know basic security procedures and need a way to manage network security, from one firewall to a complex enterprise setup. With some study, it should be usable by home users who want to build their own firewall for the internet.
Authored by one of AutoDesk's founders, Kern Sibbald. Bacula's web site [http://www.bacula.org] features a blood red logo and the motto "It comes by night and sucks the vital essence from your computers." Don't be put off by Kern's humor here as Bacula makes some commercial backup solutions look feeble.
Bacula is a client/server design built and tested on RedHat Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD. In addition to these servers, the clients also run on Windows 98 to 2000, and Irix. Kern also carefully includes AIX, Darwin and OpenBSD as running, but he is unsure if they are in production.
As a measure of the professional aspects of this package, the documentation is also better than average. In operation, a Director program triggers client file demons (FD) which pull selected files for backup and sends them to a storage demon (SD) at the server. The authorization mechanism is encrypted as are the transfers between the FD and SD. An extensive list of features is available in the Bacula manual.
Initial setup is logical, and a simple configuration is not difficult. However, the powerful capabilities of the software require some care in setup. All backup information is stored in a database, and SQLite and MySQL are currently supported. Bacula includes the capability to store to a tape pool, read bar code labels, and reuse tapes automatically as backups expire. It also supports backup to disks and handles changer mechanisms automatically.
Bacula serves everyone from one person operations to large corporations. Now you have no excuse except sloth to have a reliable backup system. Once set up, operations are completely automatic except for changing tapes and adding new client systems. Backup nirvana is here.
This third area is one that every business must have - custom processing for the unique functions that each business executes differently from all the others. Even if two businesses deliver exactly the same services or products, their operation, internal structure, and specific processing will differ in detail.
Until now, the only way to deliver this unique function was by custom programming or significant modification to a general package. Recently, an open source package now delivers a customizable package named "Open For Business." This package has been carefully designed for reuse and ease of customization. Some customizations are as simple as adding one line of routing code.
The cost of this power is that the design of the package, while very clean, is non-trivally complex. It is based on Java and J2EE, with other standards such as XML plus workflow and content management. The current package, version 2.1.1 released May 5, 2003, is available at SourceForge OfBiz. The documentation package is where you can get an overview of the design, as well as the current implementation.
A word of warning is in order. This is not a plug and play package for end users. Instead, it is a business system designed for developers to customize for a specific business, and the learning curve will require some time. However, it is my opinion that the "Open For Business" architecture is a solid future path for developer survival in the face of increasing competition from Microsoft's recent entry into the SMB (Small & Medium Business).
The fourth item in the list of OS gems that is worthy of mention is in the software environment area. That is Java, specifically as a J2EE server, such as IBM's Websphere, BEA's J2EE server, and the new release of Open Source JBoss Server in version 4. Check out the projects page for information on several projects supported there.
These enterprise versions of Java represent an operating system and hardware platform independent way to deliver computer power and results for anything from web services to heavy duty business processing. As the uptake of these tools increases, the use of J2EE in business will gradually encompass the majority of business applications.
While a minor controversy remains about JBoss and J2EE standards, its functionality delivers results for small and large scale use. "Open for Business" is a good example of what a J2EE environment can deliver when supported by JBoss.
What is important here is that JBoss follows the recent development of businesses based on open source - give away the software and sell services to earn a living. This insures continued development of the product and the support needed for commercial success - the best of both worlds.
If these other packages are gems, then SourceForge is a diamond mine. Examine the evidence for this is at this major supporter of Open Source development. SourceForge's current size, as of this writing, is an impressive 62,592 projects and 632,725 registered users, not including unregistered browsers like myself. With so many projects, it might seem impossible to sift the field for the one or few projects that meet a specific need. Like all diamond mines, the gems can take some effort to find.
SourceForge meets this need with a general purpose search function, and a powerful structured search by category with multiple filters for relevance. It is this second method that is the best for finding a set of packages to evaluate.
At SourceForge, click on 'Software Map' just under the top advertisement. This takes you to a topic list with eighteen software type categories, or you may select a 'Browse By' with seven software class categories.
Suppose you select a type category such as Office/Business(2394 Projects). The display changes to Office/Business with subcategories shown, and a list of projects below. Scroll down to the first item. On each line, a category Class is listed with the word [Filter] at the end.
To select Production class, find an entry with that word and click on the [Filter] at the end of the line. Now the screen refreshes with only the entries with that exact Type and Class. Additional filters can be applied to narrow the search. If you try my example, the "Open For Business" entry should show up on the first page.
SourceForge is an enterprise class example of software collaboration tools. Not surprisingly, they also offer their code to commercial companies for internal use. The best just keeps getting better.
The last two months have seen a lot of activity in operating systems outside of Linux. Both FreeBSD and OS/2 in the form of eCS have recent major upgrades. Even more interesting is the new and upgraded software that continues to support OS/2 despite Microsoft's efforts to define the OS as dead for the last ten years and IBM's limited support.
Serenity Systems and eComStation have continued to enhance the base OS/2 operating system with the latest code from IBM, a much enhanced install program, and a broad array of third party software. This OS, eCS 1.1, by itself is a good value, but when packaged with dozens of software programs, it raises the bar on what is considered a base OS system install.
Add the wide array of open source software packages that support OS/2 and eCS, and the lack of mandantory upgrades and annual fees required by Microsoft, and you will get a stable, supported operating system. This is one that won't BSOD, doesn't activate the numerous viruses that assume a vulnerable OS, and just runs steadily until you decide to shut it down.
eCS now becomes a prime candidate for individuals and businesses who want a supported operating system without the training and setup requirements of Unix based open source systems.
Recent OS/2 announcements now include:
The eCS site offers several versions of eCS 1.1 and lots of supporting drivers and updates on their website. If you passed up eCS 1.0, don't let this one go by.
By the time you read this, FreeBSD will have released version 5.1. While this version may not reach the coveted 'stable' designation due to the cautious nature of the Release Engineering team, it will have been widely tested since the 5.0 release. For the latest info, click on FreeBSD 5 Stable.
I have had the 5.0 release installed for some time without problems, so I can attest to the excellent base that the 5.1 release built on. A number of important features have been enhanced for 5.1. Two of these are the Samba with Open LDAP authentication port, and the fine grained multiprocessor capabilities in the kernel.
Another particular improvement in the FreeBSD 5 series is the simplified software raid setup. Vinum remains, but there is now a simpler way to get your disks running raid without an expensive controller.
For a full list of 5.1, go to the FreeBSD home page and click in the right hand column under New Release.
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