Popular Linux flavors

Let me start from the popular versions.

Fedora:-


It’s a famous and a very popular Linux distro from the Leader of Open Source. So who is the leader, it's RedHat Linux. RedHat is the registered trademark of Linus.

Fedora gets released with the license of Open source GPL V3. When come to Commercial and licensed part, RedHat Linux is playing the major role with Enterprise Version called RedHat Enterprise Server (RHES).

All the Open Source tools packages are introduced into Fedora and tested well to use in the production environment. Testing is not only conducted for the software packages but also for the popular Hardware platforms (in-case of kernel updates and patches). Every set of Open Source distro is released in the development cycle of three months. Based on the alpha testing the beta version is get released. They also have a separate Open Source development forum for the volunteers and students, who are all interested in OSS (Open Source Software) developments.

This is one of the best distro among all other distro's, which support N number of Hardware’s. You can find RedHat related details and stuffs from www.redhat.com and fedora from www.fedoraproject.org.

Commercial Distro Versions:

RedHat Linux 5 (Stable)

RedHat Linux 6 (Beta)

Open Source Distro Versions:

Fedora 12 (Stable)

Fedora 13 (Beta)


Debian:

The latest version is 5.0 (Stable). This distro provides N number of packages and development utils. It also well knows for its popularity through ease of use.

Debian is also a free Operating System. You can download this version from www.debian.org.

SuSE Linux:

Novell is the father of Network Operating System, who developed Novell Netware and Innovated the new technology called Network Operating System (distributed Operating system). He is the one who first introduced Server which can be deployed in a network. SuSE Linux is the Novell's Linux distro. This is also one of the popular distro in the industries. This distro also has its Open Source version where you can get it from www.opensuse.org.

Commercial Distro Versions:

SLES 11.0 (Enterprise Server)

SLED 11.0 (Enterprise Desktop)

Open Source Distro Version:

Open SuSE: 11.2 (Open Source)

Mandriva:


One of the cute Linux which comes in mini USB (Thumb Drive), just plug and boot your machine to booting from USB. You Linux is ready. Very simple and easy to use. But only support known Hardware’s. Commercial distro Enterprise Linux 5 is the latest version. You can find the distro from www.mandriva.com.

Knoppix:

When come to knoppix, it’s a German product. Comes with powerful monitoring tools deployed. But I didn't see this version using any where (Up to my knowledge). You can find the distro from www.knoppix.net.

Slackware:


Slack is the tough distro of all. It supports only limited Hardware, but it contains all the CLI based tools. No need to go for GUI mode, even we can play songs from CLI mode itself. The current version is 13. You can find the distro from www.slackware.com

Ubuntu:

Ubuntu is one of the competitors for Fedora. Where Ubuntu has more tools and adoptability in the platform and Speed in access. The current and benchmark version is 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support) which comes for all popular Hardware platforms. Latest distro is 9.0. You can find the distro from www.ubuntu.com.

In general there are 300+ distro’s available in the Internet for free. Among those flavors the above mentioned distro are popular. This also providing Live CD, where you, no need to install the OS, just boot it from CD. Your working environment is ready to use, it won't touch your Hard disk and your data is safe.

Business Continuity Volume : BCV

What is BCV
An EMC product, BCV, stands for Business Continuity Volume, using which business today can run with little or no downtime at all for database backup/recovery operation.
In BCV process, BCV Disk volume is mirrored with Production Disk volume . As and when required BCV volume can be split from the mirror and transferred to any other machine and mount it there for backup.
We use BCV process for Reporting database refresh, Database cold backup and DR database refresh.

One of the DR Method : SRDF (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility)

SRDF (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility) is a family of EMC products that facilitates the data replication from one Symmetrix storage array to another through a Storage Area Network or IP network.

SRDF logically pairs a Logical Unit Number (LUN) or a group of LUNs from each array and replicates data from one to the other synchronously or asynchronously. An established pair of LUNs can be split, so that separate hosts can access the same data independently (maybe for backup), and then resynchronised.

In synchronous mode (SRDF/S), the primary array waits until the secondary array has acknowledged each write before the next write is accepted, ensuring that the replicated copy of the data is always as current as the primary. However, the latency due to propagation increases significantly with distance.

Asynchronous SRDF (SRDF/A) transfers changes to the secondary array in units called delta sets, which are transferred at defined intervals. Although the remote copy of the data will never be as current as the primary copy, this method can replicate data over considerable distances and with reduced bandwidth requirements and mimimal impact on host performance.

Other forms of SRDF exist to integrate with clustered environments and to manage multiple SRDF pairs where replication of multiple LUNs must be consistent (such as with the data files and log files of a database application).