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Anyway, those who have been doing Microsoft or PC networking for a
few years have probably experienced many previous migrations. You
possibly migrated to NT 4, and from there to every service pack. Most
service packs were, in effect, major system upgrades frequently resulting
in unforeseen difficulties and requiring careful testing and planning.
If you still run Windows NT today, then you are facing a very expensive and forced migration to Windows new version.
On the other hand, migrating to Linux is easier in many ways because
reliable support is available. With Linux, "reliable support" means
not only being able to get the help you need to solve your current
problems, it also means that you are empowered to prevent such problems
from happening again in the future.
Also, think of it this way -- what is all that expensive Windows NT
training worth now that Windows 2000 is here? And was it you or Microsoft
who decided when those skills would become obsolete? Linux skills
remain applicable for as long as you choose to have software around,
and there is rarely any need to upgrade more than a few components
at any one time.
Windows forced you to a new directory scheme, a complete new
suite of mail, Internet and other servers, and also demands enormous
hardware resources. What degree of pain will Windows 3000 impose?
In comparison, Linux offers a very attractive migration path.
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How to Migrate
If you are reading this document, you probably already know why you
should migrate to a Linux-based system. It's the "how" of doing such
a migration that can often be overwhelming. Here are some quick tips
to keeping the scope of the task to a manageable scale. The key here
is to avoid trying to do everything at once.
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Don't migrate everything at once.
Frequently, the best way to handle a migration is to phase NT
out of the server area first, then to later concentrate on the
workstations.
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Avoid application development. It is always
tempting to fix obviously bad programs during a migration. It
is far better, however, to have multiple stages in a migration,
between which you can address application issues.
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Linux does more, so use its capacities. Linux
can do things that are impossible with NT and other systems,
and can also save you both time and money.
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Use fewer, more open, protocols. The larger
the number of protocols you use in your networks, the larger
the network management overhead.
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