LinuxWorld 2005 Boston

Dennis Kenney

 

Can't make it to London, San Francisco, Milan, Johannesburg, Beijing, or Toronto? There's nothing to worry about - LinuxWorld is coming to Boston.

 

Linux Rookery

The LinuxWorld Conference and Expo is scheduled at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston this year for the first time, deviating from its normal American venue in San Francisco and New York. Revolutionary Boston is the rookery for free software and an enclave for open-source as well with Ximian's relocation to the Boston area and later acquisition by Novell. The all-but-Microsoft corporate take-over of Linux has changed the landscape considerably with most maintainers now collecting a regular paycheck - suits are in. There are, however, little blips here and there on the radar, another generation of developers and entrepreneurs searching for niches and chinks in the armor of the graying pigtails. Officially a rookery is a "roost or nesting ground for penguins", as quoted from Webster in the official International Data Group, Inc. (IDG) catalog for LinuxWorld 2005. The Linux Rookery at the expo is dedicated to Linux start-ups and first-time exhibitors. There will also be many adult penguins in attendance.

 

Miguel de Icaza

Novell has released version 1.0 of the Mono development platform. Novell Vice President Miguel de Icaza developed Mono as head of Ximian, to give developers an open-source system to develop Window and Linux .NET applications. Novell has migrated its corporate office to Waltham.

 

Exposition

The expo is an opportunity to meet leading Linux software and hardware vendors face to face. The Technology Showcase will feature industry experts and pundits sharing their experiences in the Linux environment. There's a free for session for everybody whether you want a free software environment or an integrated environment of free, open-source, and proprietary software. The big boys will be there: (alphabetically) AMD, Computer Associates, Gupta, HP, IBM, Intel, Novell, Spirent Communications, Sun Microsystems, and Unisys. The larger Open Source vendors exhibiting include MySQL, O'Reilly and Associates, Parasoft, Red Hat, and Revelation Software.

 

I'll be checking out the Getting Press Attention for your Open Source Products Technology Showcase session Wednesday at 1:45 with Robin Miller of OSTG Technology Network.

 

Tutorials

Monday, February 14 is Tutorial and Hands-on Laboratory Day. These sessions are mornings 9-12 and afternoons 1-4. Securing Linux/UNIX Systems, Linux Systems Administration and Basic/Advanced Samba Administration are all-day classes. Administration. Hacking Attacks and Counter Measures (morning) and Enterprise Identity Management and Snort are afternoon sessions.

 

Hands-on Laboratories

These labs require participants to bring a laptop with the appropriate software pre-installed. There are two mornings and two afternoon hands-on labs.

 

Eight-Track

The conference goes from Monday, February 14^th, until Thursday and has eight different tracks showing the change in emphasis from development to business concerns. The first day is dedicated to tutorials and hands-on laboratories. The aspects of open-source software that have interested me recently such as 3D OpenGL, content management, embedded systems, biotech, and other large cluster visualization workstations aren't as well-represented as I would like - they have gone to other conferences. Old interests of mine such as data centers, security, and system administration have tracks dedicated to them at LinuxWorld.

 

1. The Business Case for Open Source

A considerable part of this track is dedicated to dispelling the FUD surrounding the attacks on open-source software by software vendors seeking marketplace advantage by the use of litigation. Older considerations such as return on investment, the availability and cost of expertise, security, and integration with propriety software remain important issues.

 

2. System and Application Management

Monitoring the performance of the IT in mid-size to large enterprises brings problems and requirements that small Linux-based businesses and developers were slow to react to. LDAP, business-strength applications, integration of applications, and large databases are essential to larger businesses. The weaknesses of Open Source in these areas are still criticized by large vendors and corporations.

 

3. Security Issues

Corporations found that Open Source was lacking in the security tools that that their administrators were used to. When Open Source tools did become available, experts were in short supply. This track covers intrusion detection software such as snort, secure versions of Linux, and the methods and tools for locking down your Open Source network.

 

4. Integration and Mixed Environments

Integrating the applications in a mixed environment or porting applications between environments is still a non-trivial task. One session covers using the Microsoft Active Directory to manage a mixed environment, another covers using the latest versions of Samba.

 

5. Kernel and Cluster Environments

Linux worked well as a standalone client or server but now the kernel has to be able to cluster systems or blades. This track covers changes to the kernel to allow clustering and the tools for installing, tuning, and managing clusters including file systems and MySQL databases.

 

6. Emerging Technologies

What is the reality versus the hype for IPv6, virtual computers, VoIP, and grid computing? These guys have been around for a long Internet time. There's a Wiki session and one concerning QoS for various broadband applications, including converged services.

 

7. Client Side Linux

This track covers the perennially promised Linux desktop applications as well as other commodity enterprise applications and where they are today. Peaceful coexistence with Windows and other Unices, as well as the X Window System is covered in this track.

 

8. Data Center

You've deployed the racks and wired them together with UPSs and heat-dissipating systems. Now you have to manage the applications, monitor their performance, anticipate corrective maintenance, and manage the requirement for an equipment upgrade. This track covers the needs of high-availability, security, scalable data centers with large databases and executive/administrative visibility. The title for session S88 Highly Available, Scalable and Secured by Janga Alimanati of the Oracle Corporation says it all.

 

I'm sure jabr is going to read me the riot act for submitting yet another article in @&אчoft-format. How am I driving? dckphx@yahoo.com. Later.

 

To register or for up-to-date information go to linuxworldexpo.com.