The solution is used for sandboxing and testing. We also have our production servers in Linux sometimes.
Information Security and Compliance Officer at Carnation
A stable solution that is easy to access and deploy and has a helpful community of users
Pros and Cons
- "The integration with other solutions like Apache is valuable."
- "The vendor must provide an official support team."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
The product is easy to access and deploy. There are a lot of communities that help administrators with any challenges. Good support is available over the Internet. It is quite helpful for creating any server. Many communities are working on the upcoming advanced features and making them easier for the end users.
What is most valuable?
The integration with other solutions like Apache is valuable.
What needs improvement?
Official support is low. We’re mostly dependent on community users. The vendor must provide an official support team. Administration is a challenge. We need good skills for implementation.
Buyer's Guide
Ubuntu Linux
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Ubuntu Linux. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for 10 to 12 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is quite stable. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool is scalable. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten. We usually publish our web servers on it. It is for production purposes. Five to six people from our organization are working on Linux administration. We also have developers developing applications on it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used CentOS. CentOS is now decommissioned, so we moved to Ubuntu Linux.
How was the initial setup?
I rate the ease of setup a seven out of ten. Ubuntu is a command-line tool. It will be a bit of a challenge for new users. The cloud deployment takes four to six hours. If we already have VMs on-premise, we can deploy them in four to six hours. We just need to install an image and build it in. Nowadays, we have readymade images available as a container. It hardly takes one hour to get the server up and running. One person is enough for the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is open-sourced.
What other advice do I have?
If someone wants to create cheap servers, Ubuntu Linux is the best choice. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technical Manager at PT.Prima Sarana Solusi
An easy-to-use solution for desktops, MCE with Kubernetes platform but lacks support, stability and scalability
Pros and Cons
- "Ubuntu Linux is easy to start, and MicroK8s is easy to deploy. Plug into the back-end storage and networking is also easy. It is good to start with 3-4 nodes, but hard to scale. For production grades like 20 or 100 nodes, we go with the RedHat for on-premise."
- "The support team is not good and needs to be improved. The user community is excellent and helpful, but some questions are unanswered. Also, stability and scalability could be improved."
What is most valuable?
Ubuntu Linux is easy to start, and MicroK8s is easy to deploy. Plug into the back-end storage and networking is also easy.
It is good to start with 3-4 nodes, but hard to scale. For production grades like 20 or 100 nodes, we go with the RedHat for on-premise.
What needs improvement?
The support team is not good and needs to be improved. The user community is excellent and helpful, but some questions are unanswered. Also, stability and scalability could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Ubuntu Linux as an end user for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool could be more stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product’s scalability is not better. RedHat is better. We’ve more than ten users using this product. We plan to increase the usage when there is a requirement or specification.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy. Deploying OS is fast and takes less than a day.
We can do the installation on a small scale without consultants, but when it comes to scale.
Ubuntu is an OS. You need the specification, storage, network, IP, etc., and deploy it by orchestration or just do the standalone installation infrastructure.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If the customer wants to start, there is no license required. It is all free, but they must purchase the production license.
What other advice do I have?
Mostly, the product is on-premise, but in some cases, we managed to deploy applications in the cloud.
The solution is easy and simple to start because of complete documentation. When you go for production, we must purchase the hardware and OS license.
Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Ubuntu Linux
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Ubuntu Linux. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Program Manager at InfoCepts
An open-source operating system that provides good flexibility and security
Pros and Cons
- "Ubuntu Linux has good security features and a lot of software compatibility."
- "People with a Windows background may not find the solution's user interface user-friendly."
What is our primary use case?
We use Ubuntu Linux as an operating system for the installations we do on any of the servers. It's an open-source solution that is easy to customize.
What is most valuable?
Ubuntu Linux has good security features and a lot of software compatibility. Not many operating systems support software like MicroStrategy, but Ubuntu Linux is quite flexible and provides all the interfaces and compatibility for different software.
What needs improvement?
Ubuntu Linux is not easy to use because its interface is quite tricky. People with a Windows background may not find the solution's user interface user-friendly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Ubuntu Linux for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Ubuntu Linux is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Ubuntu Linux is a scalable solution. Around 50 users are using the solution in our organization.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were previously using Windows. We switched to Ubuntu Linux because it was flexible and secure.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial installation is difficult, and you would need a Linux administrator.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Ubuntu Linux is an open-source operating system.
What other advice do I have?
We are using the cloud version of Ubuntu Linux. Users can choose Ubuntu Linux if they have a vast environment and want a secure and scalable operating system.
Overall, I rate Ubuntu Linux a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technical Presales Consultant/ Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Open-source, user-friendly, stable, and has a good online community
Pros and Cons
- "The main distinguishing feature between Ubuntu and other Linux distribution is that Ubuntu has excelled at user-friendliness. It's very easy to use."
- "One of the reasons people don't use Ubuntu on servers is because they are not as secure as Red Hat."
What is our primary use case?
I don't use Ubuntu very much, but I have been testing it for approximately ten years.
There are some that are running their data centers off of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu Linux can be used for anything. Anything that you can do on Windows, you can do in Ubuntu. For example Microsoft Office, Microsoft is really famous for, their Windows platforms, and Office suite.
In the past, the open-source community had alternative software such as Open Office or even another project called Libre Office. These open-source solutions provided an office suite similar to Microsoft Office. However, with the new Office 365, you don't need Windows to work on Office these days. Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel are all web-based. You can run Ubuntu and open your Firefox browser and use it.
What is most valuable?
The best way and the easiest way to get into Linux is with Ubuntu because they provide lots of hardware support out of the box.
You don't have to go into the deep parts with Ubuntu to install and configure it. There are many, ready-made guides online for Ubuntu, which is good.
The Linux distribution is the best for laptops. If you are using laptops, you don't want to be running Oracle Linux there or Red Hat. It's going to be Ubuntu.
I like the easiness of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a great product. It's awesome.
Canonical as a company, who is responsible for Ubuntu, is doing a great job at making Ubuntu very easy, plug and play, and they are good at porting applications to Ubuntu. If you're talking about Linux, the easiest Linux distribution you can encounter is Ubuntu.
The distribution with the most packages available to it is Ubuntu.
In terms of user-friendliness, Ubuntu is the best it can get in the Linux world. To say that it could be improved would be unfair. They are the ones bridging the user-friendliness gap in the Linux world.
The main distinguishing feature between Ubuntu and other Linux distribution is that Ubuntu has excelled at user-friendliness. It's very easy to use.
What needs improvement?
Ubuntu, as a distribution itself, is filled up with a lot of bloated software. That is the main reason why enterprise companies, mainly in the US, prefer to go with Red Hat, and SUSE is preferred mainly in Europe.
Red Hat and SUSE provide less bloat on their OS.
Ubuntu is based on Debian, which is the first Linux distribution to ever come into existence, or the first mainstream Linux distribution. Debian also is bloated with a lot of software and sometimes some of the software is old.
I would love to see Ubuntu strip down. They have a server edition that is stripped down.
Instead of having a billion different distributions, why can't there just be one? This would improve Linux and I would love to see this happen.
One of the reasons people don't use Ubuntu on servers is because they are not as secure as Red Hat. They could be more secure, but for them to be more secure, you need to strip the bloatware. Bloatware is when you have several applications that are not needed and already installed in the operating system. They have a server edition and that comes stripped of the bloatware.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Ubuntu Linux for more than ten years.
I have used the latest edition of Ubuntu Linux. If I am not mistaken, the latest release is 20.04 LTS.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is a broad topic. Ubuntu is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability? It Depends. It's Linux, you can do anything with it.
It depends on what you mean by scalability. You have to be very precise. If you're talking about data center and scalability, then, yes, it's scalable.
There are open-source projects that are being used, whether it be with Ubuntu or with Red Hat or with SUSE, to scale data centers, or to establish a scale-out architecture. It is possible to achieve scalability with Ubuntu, depending on the scenario.
With any other Linux distribution, you can achieve quite the same.
How are customer service and technical support?
There is a large community online.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm using something called Debian. Ubuntu is based on Debian Linux.
I have used many operating systems. I have used Debian, CentOS, Fedora, Red Hat, and SUSE.
I have also used distributions that have very weird names as well.
How was the initial setup?
Linux has always been a technology for technical people. Ubuntu bridges that gap. With Ubuntu, you don't need to know the technical parts of it very well to install it on a laptop and you can use Ubuntu without having any Linux knowledge.
It is very straightforward and can be installed anywhere. That's the convenience of it.
For example, if tomorrow you face an issue and you Google it online, you will find many people who face the same issue and will provide workarounds or resolutions for the problem.
It is very easy to install.
The time it takes to deploy depends on the hardware you are installing it on, but normally it is 20 to 30 minutes to install onto a laptop or a server.
What about the implementation team?
You can install it yourself. It is similar to installing Windows. There is no difference. You burn the ISO image to the USB, boot the server or the laptop and follow the instructions. You click the "next" button until it is complete and you are good to go. You give it your password, the settings that you would like, and that's it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Ubuntu is a free product.
If I am not mistaken, you can purchase support contracts that are available from Ubuntu.
You can always purchase Ubuntu, use it as often as you would like, and you can get enterprise support.
Canonical has its licensing scheme, but I think the product is free to use.
It has a GPL license, (General Public License). This license is always and will always be free to use.
I am not familiar with the prices because I never had to contact Canonical for support and inquired about how much it would cost for their support.
In general, you can always download their software and install it at any time for free and use it for free, according to the GPL license.
What other advice do I have?
I am mainly a free VM Linux advocate. I love open-source products in general.
At home, I have a server I'm running Linux on. I'm a Linux open-source enthusiast with more than 10 years of experience with multiple Linux distributions as a hobby.
In my line of business, I interact with Linux environments a lot and Unix space environments in general.
I would recommend Ubuntu for anyone who's trying to learn Linux.
For anyone who is not technical but wants a free operating system on their computer, I would definitely recommend Ubuntu.
I think there's something that needs to be clarified; Ubuntu shouldn't be compared to other distributions. These are just distributions. In the end, they share the same kernel. That is the thing with Linux. Linux is not a complete operating system. I will take the kernel, I will bundle it with a bunch of applications and then I will release it to the public and say that this is a distribution, which is not an operating system.
I would recommend that it be compared based on the kernel, not on distribution to distribution. Ubuntu was made for something. It was made to be user-friendly, it was made for laptops. It is doing a great job on that.
No other Linux distribution is doing as good of a job on that. For example, Red Hat or Oracle Linux, are not good on laptops, but they are good for servers. Red Hat is really good on enterprise servers.
If you are going to run any data centers that are all based on Linux, it should be based on Red Hat or SUSE. If you are running any Oracle databases or Oracle applications, it would be better to run them on Oracle Linux, even though Oracle Linux and Red Hat share the same binaries.
There is no difference between the commands in Red Hat and Oracle Linux.
Linux is a messed up world. Everybody has their own agenda, their own thing and it's basically the same. If you go to Ubuntu with Oracle Linux in the back end, it's the exact same.
This is the biggest nightmare with the Linux industry or the Linux world, that every day there is a new Linux distribution.
It's great. I would rate Ubuntu Linux and eight out of 10.
It's a great product, very easy to install. It provides an alternative for Windows.
Some people don't want to pay Microsoft or can't afford Microsoft, they want to have their own operating system solo on their hardware. Ubuntu provides that and gives you the option to give you support for it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
It at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
A stable and free product that is easy to deploy and convenient to use
Pros and Cons
- "Ubuntu Linux is a convenient solution."
- "The product is difficult to use sometimes."
What is most valuable?
Ubuntu Linux is a convenient solution. I use it for file servers and web servers. I also use Linux for training purposes.
What needs improvement?
The product is difficult to use sometimes. We need to learn the commands before using the solution. It must be made easier to use.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for a few months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool is not scalable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Windows’ GUI is more convenient than Linux. I mostly use Windows Server. Sometimes, I use Linux. Windows Server is not free.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is easy. The settings are difficult sometimes. Many PCs do not have drivers for Linux. The solution is cloud-based.
What about the implementation team?
I deploy the product myself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is free.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is the best for servers and some specific purposes. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Lead Linux Administrator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
This is complete; it's stable, fast and free
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is stable, fast and free."
- "Limited application support compared with Windows and MacOS."
What is our primary use case?
I support a group that works with artificial intelligence. I install the machines for them and they do the customization. Some use Python, some use Java, some use other languages. They install their own IDs, their own products, their own systems and I deal with the operating system and support it. I'm a lead Linux administrator.
What is most valuable?
This is an excellent solution, it's stable, fast and free. From an admin perspective, we don't have issues. The solution is complete.
What needs improvement?
For the beginner who might not be very comfortable with the tool, it can be frustrating. Like with any new solution, it's complex in the beginning. The solution has limited application support compared with Windows and MacOS. It's not an issue with the system itself, it's the choice of the company that makes the software. It's a marketing decision made by the manufacturer. Most games I run are designed to be run for Microsoft Windows. It doesn't run many softwares that we have online. You don't have many games on Linux, but Linux is not the problem, it's a choice the developer has made.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for 16 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable, no bugs or glitches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is pretty good. I have around 50 users for the team that I help and have no complaints.
How are customer service and technical support?
Ubuntu has a lot of resources, either online or books, and there's a huge community that helps users to get through most of the problems they're going to come across. It's hard to find anything negative about this product.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite straightforward. You download the software, copy to a USB flash drive, install, finish and that's it.
What other advice do I have?
If it's something that people are thinking about using, it's pretty straightforward. You don't have to worry about anything. If you're transitioning from something, run a lab, have a proof of concept.
I would rate this solution a 10 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Security Expert at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I don't have to switch between multiple OS for my work.
What is most valuable?
Ubuntu MATE provides me with a complete OS experience, so I don't have to switch between multiple OS for my work; I can do my development, usual browsing and accessing tools on the same machine.
I mostly use the OS for development purposes by running IDE like PyCharm. I also use the OS to connect to other machines in our development environment.
How has it helped my organization?
We moved from Ubuntu 12 to Ubuntu 16 recently, owing to the various new fixes that were shipped with its new version.
Ubuntu is the standard deviation OS in our environment and we have built our own image that the developers can just download and begin using it.
What needs improvement?
Stability is a big issue in my opinion. I have found version 12 to be more stable. I have tried various desktop environments and MATE seemed most stable to me.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for the last four months. Before this, I was using Ubuntu 12.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have encountered stability issues. I find it less stable when I am using Ubuntu as a virtual machine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There were no major issues with its scalability.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have never used technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Ubuntu 12 and we switched to Ubuntu 16, so as to solve the performance issues and version upgrade for development purposes.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was straightforward. We found it easy to set up version 16 compared to version 12.
What other advice do I have?
MATE Desktop is most suited if you want to run Ubuntu 16 in a virtual environment.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technical Manager at LTIMINDTREE
A flexible and user-friendly solution that performs well and can be easily updated
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is flexible and user-friendly."
- "The product must enable automation using AI."
What is our primary use case?
We can use the solution for building microservice applications.
What is most valuable?
Ubuntu Linux is a nice product. I did not face any errors while installing the product. The product can be easily installed in VMware. It has different flavors. We can easily add patches. We can also update it easily. The solution is flexible and user-friendly. The performance is good. Everybody is moving to Hadoop. If we want to install Hadoop, Ubuntu is the best choice. We can install Hadoop on top of Ubuntu.
What needs improvement?
The product must enable automation using AI. It will be helpful for everyone. The product must provide flexibility for upgrading big data environments.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for a few years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool is stable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very nice. It is very user-friendly. It takes 20 to 30 minutes. To deploy the solution, I downloaded the ISO image and uploaded it to VMware.
What about the implementation team?
I installed the product myself.
What was our ROI?
The solution is very useful for installing big data. We can execute many processes.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is free.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the solution to others. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Download our free Ubuntu Linux Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
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Updated: December 2024
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