RedHat

Red Hat's David Egts has assembled this handy article on how to get started with open source.

GCN_logoOpen source code drives collaborative innovation from a larger pool of developers at a lower cost, which is why federal agencies are adopting the “open source first” model. In fact Sonny Hashmi, CIO of the General Services Administration, recently announced that implementing open source software is among his top priorities this year.

So what’s the best way to increase your agency’s adoption of open source software and keep it secure? Here are six tips to get you there:

1. Standardize on a common platform.

 

Imagine the Army telling new recruits to stop by the gun store on the way to boot camp and pick out whichever rifle they want. You can picture the chaos that would ensue in training consistency, interoperability and logistics.

The same principle can be applied when designing a data center. Most developers want the latest tools at their disposal, but this desire conflicts with the goals of operations teams who want to provide a consistent, standardized, stable and secure foundation to build upon.

For example, the use of Software Collections, a repository of enterprise Linux tools, benefits both teams by providing the latest stable databases, development tools and programming languages that make developers happy, while packaging them in a consistent, standardized, stable and secure way that improves function and efficiency for operations teams.

Read about the other 5 tips and the whole article at 6 tips for adopting open source -- GCN.

Last updated: February 7, 2024