Mission Critical boost Linux support

By Phil Hochmuth
Network World Fusion, 12/15/99

NEW YORK - Mission Critical Linux this week announced a new support and management service for Linux-based enterprises that require more than just "after-the-crash" phone or e-mail support.

Mission Critical Linux's Secure Service Technology (SST) offering is an Internet-based, annual support program that lets support engineers have secure, real-time access to customer's key Linux systems. The program is targeted towards enterprises that have committed to running Linux on their core business servers, and require 24-7 support.

The combination of SST's remote server monitoring capability, along with its own server diagnostic applications can help to identify potential weak spots in businesses' essential Linux servers, says Moiz Kohari, president and CEO of Mission Critical Linux.

"In order to properly support enterprises, you need to be deeply familiar with the organization you are supporting," Kohari says. SST's secure connections to customer servers provides access to this knowledge, which lets support engineers "proactively support customers' systems rather than reacting their calls after a server has crashed," he says.

According to Kohari, SST uses 128-bit encryption and VeriSign's digital certificate technology to access predesignated Linux machines running in customers' networks. With this level of security, support engineers from Mission Critical can access customers' servers to run its Kernel Core Dump utility, which collects data by taking a "snapshot" of the server at the time of a crash. Using its Crash Analyzer program, the data can then be broken down to determine what caused the server to crash.

In addition to handling server crashes after they occur, SST's Web-based monitoring lets engineers analyze server slowdown problems and server application trouble by remotely viewing operating system and application activity while the server is running.

"All these factors make SST the most comprehensive support solution for Linux in the enterprise," Kohari says, adding that SST can support all commercial and noncommercial Linux flavors currently used.

Nigel Clark, a network engineer with New York-based TSR consulting, was impressed with a demo of SST shown at The Bazaar, an open source trade show in New York City this week. Clark says Mission Critical Linux's support model is intriguing because of its high interactivity with customers' servers.

"There hasn't been very good support for Linux systems in the past, but it's getting there," Clark says. "Having something available like [SST] for support will be great as Linux becomes more popular with businesses because it's stable and cheap to run."

SST is available now and ranges between $10,000 and $45,000 per year. Bronze and Silver support plan contracts are available for weekday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. coverage on either an enterprisewide or per server basis. Gold and Platinum plans provide 24-7 per-server or full enterprise support. Gold and Platinum plans also include a dedicated engineer for the site as well as a guaranteed one-hour response time. All support plans include consulting services for customized Linux system rollouts, kernel enhancement and upgrading help and system administration.

Mission Critical Linux is based in Lowell, Mass. and has been in business since September 1999 when it offered its Kernel Core Dump and Crash Analyzer utilities to the Linux community. The company can be reached at www.missioncriticallinux.com.

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