SCENARIO:

You will be playing the role of a Linux specialist working for Go2Linux, an organization that provides expert help for organizations that are migrating to Linux. As your first major assignment, you’ll be working with Faster Computing, a company that is contemplating a major migration to Linux.

On Board with Go2Linux!

You recently completed your degree and have landed your first gig working for Go2Linux. A small but growing company, Go2Linux provides Linux consulting services to clients across the United States and a handful of European countries. Go2Linux is actively recruiting talented Linux administrators, and you’re working with some other recent grads.

Your initial task will be to create a proposal for Faster Computing to help its leaders understand the potential benefits to the organization. Faster Computing is also a growing organization, and leadership believes that transitioning to Linux may help reach the company’s goals. You’ll need to present the company with not only the “general” benefits of Linux, but also specific suggestions that are relevant for the organization.

Client Background

Faster Computing is a young and growing company in the field of smart home technology. The company imagines and designs technologies that are used in a variety of smart home products. Faster Computing has 500 employees across three different sites. The main site, where most employees work, is in New York City. There are two satellite sites: one in Los Angeles and one in London, England. The company expects to experience rapid growth over the next three to five years, eventually opening additional sites and reaching as many as 5,000 employees.

The current server environment consists exclusively of 20 Windows Servers. These systems provide a variety of services, such as file sharing, web servers, and email servers. They have a mix of hardware configurations, but all are sufficient to run any popular Linux derivative. The company would like to migrate all of these to Linux. 

The 500 employees primarily use Windows 10 for their workstations, although there are some users are running Windows 7, and a few in the design department use Macs. The plan is to allow any users with a specific need to remain on Windows; others will be migrated to Linux. The Mac users will continue with Mac. 

As with the servers, the client systems have a mix of hardware, but all are sufficient to run any popular Linux derivative. Their primary requirements for a Linux distribution are that it be able to interact with their remaining Windows environment, that support be available, and that it be flexible to run on different types of hardware.