For filePro and overall strength which is best, SUSE or RedHat?

[Lerebours, Jose]

Mark volunteered:

[ snip ]

> > If this gets the green light, I am looking at 600 users
> > throughout Central and South America (just the tip of the
> > ice).
> 
> Across how many servers?
> 

I figure I start with a single server as this is a trial.  If 
filePro gets the OK, I might be able to earn all of the countries.
Then, I will look into clustering as needed.

> > I am intending on mirroring my filePro files in MySQL to
> > provide ODBC visibility.  I am not sure if I should run
> > MySQL on same server as filePro or on a different server.
> 
> Irrelevant, if you have the mysql client on the fP system.  
> That's what 
> -h hostname is for.  :)  Take your pick.  
> 

Like I said, I have never used MySQL but I am sure there are
many tricks one can use to get the mirroring done.  Thanks!

> > I am planning on using PHP or Perl (or both) to push data
> > from filePro to MySQL.  Of course, if I can import 
> > directly from MySQL and have scheduled tasks that will be
> > even better, hence, I have never used MySQL.
> 
> Why are you going to use PHP (gack) -or- perl?  That's an 
> added level of
> obfuscation that's simply not needed.  Use raw file I/O 
> functions to write
> a MySQL script file that will manipulate your data, and 
> simply SYSTEM off
> the mysql client to have the data updated.  It'll take a 
> little vigilance
> if you're doing UPDATEs as well as INSERTs, since you'll want 
> to keep track
> of whether or not you've ever created the record in MySQL in the first
> place--just so you know which command and syntax to use for a 
> record.  You
> could make a case for perl or PHP if you wanted to query the 
> remote end
> first and do it with the lowest overhead, but given proper 
> design of the fP
> end, this should be unnecessary.  If it's push-only, you 
> should be fine
> without any other language programming for a middle layer.
> 

Agree.  Careful design must be done in the filePro end to 
minimize problems with MySQL.  There will be new records, edited
records and inserted details ...  So, I will need to account for
all of them.

[ snip ]

> 
> Whose support?  Vendor or third-party?  If vendor, well...I have no
> experience with SuSE's support.  Never needed it.  I've got lousy
> experience with RH's support, on a product whose quality has 
> dived since
> they started reaming people for said support.  IMHO, RH 
> support isn't worth
> the cost of the box, much less what you actually pay for it.  
> Also look
> into what kind of support you get at what prices.  Then 
> figure what you
> might need, what you can get for those prices, and weigh it against
> third-party support on an as-needed basis.
> 
> Third party...some people specialize, but almost any decent 
> tech should be
> able to hop between the two fairly readily.  I do it all the time.
> 
> I don't hesitate recommending SuSE 9.x.  I have grave 
> reservations about
> RHEL, and will until they get with it and start releasing 
> something that's
> at -least- as solid as RH 7.[23] were.  They started diving at 8.0.
> 

Well, it could be a mixture of both.  I got your number.  Frankly 
speaking, I mentioned your name as a potential support provider for
Linux and MySQL  :)

Regards;


Jose Lerebours