Decision Points

Role

The first decision when specifying any computer system is the machine’s role. Will you be sitting at the console running productivity applications or web browsing? If so, a familiar desktop is best. Will the machine be accessed remotely by many users or provide services to remote users? Then it’s a server.

Servers typically sit in a rack and share a keyboard and monitor with many other computers, since console access is generally only used for configuration and troubleshooting. Servers generally run as a CLI, which frees up resources for the real purpose of the computer: serving information to clients (any user or system that accesses resources remotely). Desktop systems primarily run a GUI for the ease of use of their users.

Function

Next, determine the functions of the machine. Is there specific software it needs to run, or specific functions it needs to perform? Will there be hundreds, even thousands, of these machines running at the same time? What is the skill-set of the team managing the computer and software?

Life Cycle

The service lifetime and risk tolerance of the server also needs to be determined. Operating systems and software upgrades come on a periodic basis, called a release cycle. Vendors only support older versions of software for a certain period of time before not offering any updates; this is called a maintenance cycle or life cycle.

In an enterprise server environment, maintenance and release cycles are critical considerations because it is time-consuming and expensive to do major upgrades. Instead, the server hardware itself is often replaced because increased performance is worth the extra expense, and the resources involved are often many times more costly than the hardware.

Consider This

There is a fair amount of work involved in upgrading a server due to specialized configurations, application software patching and user testing, so a proactive organization will seek to maximize their return on investment in both human and monetary capital.

Modern data centers are addressing this challenge through virtualization. In a virtual environment, one physical machine can host dozens, or even hundreds of virtual machines, decreasing space and power requirements, as well as providing for automation of many of the tasks previously done manually by systems administrators. Scripting programs allow virtual machines to be created, configured, deployed and removed from a network without the need for human intervention. Of course, a human still needs to write the script and monitor these systems, at least for now.

The need for physical hardware upgrades has also been decreased immensely with the advent of cloud services providers like Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, and Microsoft Azure. Similar advances have helped desktop administrators manage upgrades in an automated fashion and with little to no user interruption.

‌⁠​​⁠​Stability

Individual software releases can be characterized as beta or stable depending on where they are in the release cycle. When a software release has many new features that haven’t been tested, it’s typically referred to as beta. After being tested in the field, its designation changes to stable.

Users who need the latest features can decide to use beta software. This is often done in the development phase of a new deployment and provides the ability to request features not available on the stable release.

Production servers typically use stable software unless needed features are not available, and the risk of running code that has not been thoroughly tested is outweighed by the utility provided.

Software in the open source realm is often released for peer review very early on in its development process, and can very quickly be put into testing and even production environments, providing extremely useful feedback and code submissions to fix issues found or features needed.

Conversely, proprietary software will often be kept secret for most of its development, only reaching a public beta stage when it’s almost ready for release.

Compatibility

Another loosely-related concept is backward compatibility which refers to the ability of later operating systems to be compatible with software made for earlier versions. This is usually a concern when it is necessary to upgrade an operating system, but an application software upgrade is not possible due to cost or lack of availability.

The norm for open source software development is to ensure backward compatibility first and break things only as a last resort. The common practice of maintaining and versioning libraries of functions helps this greatly. Typically, a library that is used by one or more programs is versioned as a new release when significant changes have occurred but also keeps all the functions (and compatibility) of earlier versions that may be hard-coded or referred to by existing software.

Cost

Cost is always a factor when specifying new systems. Microsoft has annual licensing fees that apply to users, servers and other software, as do many other software companies. Ultimately, the choice of operating system will be affected by available hardware, staff resources and skill, cost of purchase, maintenance, and projected future requirements.

Virtualization and outsourced support services offer the modern IT organization the promise of having to pay for only what it uses rather than building in excess capacity. This not only controls costs but offers opportunities for people both inside and outside the organization to provide expertise and value.

Interface

The first electronic computer systems were controlled by means of switches and plugboards similar to those used by telephone operators at the time. Then came punch cards and finally a text-based terminal system similar to the Linux command line interface (CLI) in use today. The graphical user interface (GUI), with a mouse and buttons to click, was pioneered at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) in the early 1970s and popularized by Apple Computer in the 1980s.

Today, operating systems offer both GUI and CLI interfaces, however, most consumer operating systems (Windows, macOS) are designed to shield the user from the ins and outs of the CLI.