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Posted
No, Azure's SDN switches run on linux, which seem to be software that configures actual switches, the switches being much dumber than normal managed switches, the brains being in the software run on computers external to the hardware.
Posted
No, Azure's SDN switches run on linux, which seem to be software that configures actual switches, the switches being much dumber than normal managed switches, the brains being in the software run on computers external to the hardware.

 

It's a pretty big step for MS, who have been really hostile to anything opensource, to develop their own linux and run the network stack for the whole of azure on it.

 

I'll probably be waiting a while for Capita to get on board so I can run SIMS on a linux server....

Posted
They've been supporting linux on azure for ages, and open sourcing drivers for hyperv for linux. And they've been open sourcing a lot recently, .net core for a start. And releasing Visual Studio Code for linux.
Posted (edited)

Linux has a background in Scientific compute and large scale clustering. So when this new cloud stuff came along it's the obvious choice to build the infrastructure on. At least that's what NASA decided when they invented it. This is not something windows server was ever designed to do with it's long history in traditional enterprise. So I'm not surprised that Microsoft engineers chose to use the best tool available for the job.

 

In fact I would not be surprised to see a smattering of Opensource tooling all over the Azure stack if you were able to open up the hood and look inside. There are some large aspects of cloud computing infrastructure you simply can't do any other way. So I view this as Microsoft Engineering just being pragmatic, which is obviously a good trait. Perhaps in days gone past before Nadelle was at the helm this would of been politically untenable, but we live in more tolerant times.

 

As for the MS SQL news the same logic doesn't quite work. I am slightly puzzled why Microsoft would want to decouple their server applications from their server OS. Surely this will devalue Windows Server OS as a platform. I'm also concerned exactly how functional this port will be. Will we get all the comparable features to the Windows version such as analytics and support tools? As some of the features depend heavily on Windows Server OS features (the memory management and the clustering come to mind). Finally, what about the licensing? When Microsoft purchased SQL server from Sybase they kept the name and the right for Windows Platforms only. Sybase (now part of SAP) retained the rights to distribute for *nix. Isn't this going to cause a SAP vs Microsoft lawsuit for breach of contract?

Edited by Geoff
Posted
I wonder if MS want to get rid of Windows Server, they have Intune and Azure AD now. But lots more people would want to keep their databases local than the other stuff, so this would be a way to appease them.
Posted

I get that MS want everyone running Office365 on Azure. That's fairly obvious from the pricing strategy alone, never mind the features that are Azure only or Azure first in their various product lines. However, to completely abandon Enterprise's who want or are required (we have keep our data local for compliance purposes for example) to have their own data centre? That would seem unlikely. The only way I could see this working is if the 'Azure in a box' idea pans out. Then yes, all the legacy enterprise stack would be obsolete. But given that situation, why port stuff to Linux at all? Why not let it just die?

 

Dell and Microsoft announce 'Azure in a box' for $9,000 a month | Computerworld

Posted
When Microsoft purchased SQL server from Sybase they kept the name and the right for Windows Platforms only. Sybase (now part of SAP) retained the rights to distribute for *nix. Isn't this going to cause a SAP vs Microsoft lawsuit for breach of contract?

 

Microsoft got the license to SQL on Intel x86 platform, not on Windows platforms - they ported it to OS/2 originally, for example.

Posted
Microsoft got the license to SQL on Intel x86 platform, not on Windows platforms - they ported it to OS/2 originally, for example.

 

There's a lot of Linux ARM systems out there.

Posted (edited)
You used to be able to get it for Itanium until 2010 and DEC Alpha way back when too. I suppose that undermines the x86 only argument a bit too (besides x86 != x86-64). :S Edited by Geoff
Posted
You used to be able to get it for Itanium until 2010 and DEC Alpha way back when too. I suppose that undermines the x86 only argument a bit too. :S

 

Ah, just double checked - the Sybase partnership ended in 1993. Sybase was allowed to publish on x86, and conversely Microsoft got the code to work with as they wished also.

Posted
Plenty of companies release close source apps on Linux. Oracle would be an obvious close example to what Microsoft is doing with SQL server.

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