Unix Administration

Unix is the dominant operating system class of the internet (TCP/IP being initially developed on BSD and by the BSD team), blue chip companies, and large educational establishments. Unix was originally developed in 1969 (Unics) and today there are many unix variants, Linux is similar in design and operation to Unix systems. UNIX (TM) is held by the OpenGroup, who specify what a UNIX system is, known as the worldwide Single UNIX specification. Unix variants may not adhere to that UNIX Specification, it tends to be proprietary UNIX creators who adhere, though the method of operation is still UNIX-like.

It has been said that to understand all of Unix would take at least a couple of lifetimes, and whilst there is a degree of truth in this: Unix systems have a steep learning curve, but after that a very high productivity, stability and flexibility return. Unix systems are the choice of the expert and professional in the Information Technology world. A good Unix Administrator should be an asset to a company and be contributing to the profit line.

Poised Solutions has been administrating Unix systems, since the early 1990s, and in-house a number of different Unix systems are used for development, server and desktop setup and tasks.

Open Source Unix systems have evolved quite rapidly and now it is far more common for them to be deployed, even proprietary Unix creators have switched over, IBM who created AIX also promote Linux administration usage. Sun, who at time of writing looks like it will be part of Oracle, do OpenSolaris alongside Solaris, and Oracle have their own flavour of Linux as well. Unix has become the de facto style of operating system for serious and effective business.

Whilst each Unix variant is different in some way, the commonality is far higher in ratio than the difference. The real dilemma is in choosing the best Unix variant for a given project. Poised Solutions offers Unix Administration in the following Unix Operating Systems and Linux Distributions. More information on Linux Administration can be found at the Linux Administration page.

Poised Solutions Unix Administration Flavours

Solaris
FreeBSD
OpenBSD
Slackware
Arch Linux
OpenSolaris
Redhat Linux
Fedora Linux
Ubuntu Linux
Debian Linux
Gentoo Linux
CentOS Linux
Custom Linux (Aether Build)

Other Unix variants can also be accommodated as the above captures most of the various Unix styles.

Unix Uses

Unix can be used in a number of scenarios, but is primarily used as server system. Unix is used often for WebServer Administration where it is capable of delivering high performance web page delivery, in a secure environment. Web Development is also very well supported on Unix systems. Email Administration is also excellently supported on Unix Systems. One of the original email systems (sendmail) was written on a BSD system, and sendmail today is still prolific on the Net. Poised Solutions offers both Postfix Administration and Sendmail Administration for Email Administration.

Unix systems are also often used as file servers, and make an excellent file server for Version Control Administration, something no Development team should be without. As Unix systems tend to very stable and fast, Unix is highly appropriate for Database Administration, and Unix systems boast some of the best environments for a PostgreSQL Developer or Oracle Developer.

Unix leads the field in Domain Name Systems, with the distributed database of BIND and the named client runninng most of the DNS requests made over the Net. Poised Solutions offer DNS and BIND configurations as both part of Unix Administration and Network Administration.

Unix can also be found in load balancers, routers, gateways, and all over the networking spectrum. TCP/IP was developed on BSD systems, and as such most Unix systems have an very good TCP/IP stack in their kernels and a plethora of Network Administration tools, to support very large networking requirements. It is often mentioned that Unix is the Network, and in fairness Unix based system power a huge percentage of Internet traffic and services.

Unix Benefits

Unix Benefits are many, Unix is perhaps the best known paradigm for computing on the planet today. And with Unix you gain peace of mind, performance, stability, security capability and flexibility. All the key ingredients of successful computer system infrastructure can be found in Unix systems, and the high degree of interoperability also discourages vendor lock in, allowing you to optimise your systems, adapt them to business needs, and use them effectively to break new markets.

Unix has excellent support, in main because most of the internals of the operating system are open for inspection and modification, and most of the worlds best technical people are involved in someway with Unix systems. If you want the best operating system for business then Unix is it.

Unix systems sport some of the most powerful shell scripting environments around. Shell scripting and programming form a essential part of Unix Administration allowing complex tasks to be automated and therefore simplified. Poised Solutions is also a Bash Developer and POSIX Shell Developer, creating scripts that can interoperate over a number of systems.

Unix Operating System

Unix Operating System Diagram

Poised Solutions also does System Builds matching hardware for various Unix style kernels to deliver custom high performance, and highly stable computer systems.