Cisco IOS vs. Open Network Linux vs. Oracle Solaris

I've worked with several network device vendors in my 10+ years of being in the industry and my favorite continues to be Cisco IOS. Overall, Cisco IOS tends to be the most stable, the most intuitive, has the best TAC support, and has the best knowledge base articles and white papers.

Incentivized

It's good for environments that need to operate 24/7 due to its stability, as I mentioned before. It's also very good for enterprise applications that can't afford unscheduled downtime, for truly high-priority environments. I don't think it would be recommended for small companies with people who have no prior knowledge of the tool, as the learning curve is quite steep.

• User friendly CLI.
• Quick fixes for critical bugs.
• Longer uptime.

Incentivized

• Preferred Operating System to run Oracle Databases
• Performs well with Java and Oracle applications
• Great for Virtualizations.

Incentivized

• By this point, there are several "flavors" of the Cisco IOS such as XE, XR, and the standard Cisco IOS. While they are all fairly similar, there does exist syntax differences between them. It would be ideal if at some point in the future, Cisco is able to unify all of them into one standard operating system which would use the same syntax across all platforms.
• While overall Cisco does a great job of QA'ing their IOS, no matter the release, there's always some minor bugs. I think it's important that Cisco continue to pour resources into their QA team to test their software.
• While I'm very familiar with the graphical readouts of "show processes cpu history" I would love for Cisco to eventually find a more intuitive way to display this data. I can't begin to count how many times I've had to teach more entry level (and even mid level) engineers how this graph is interpreted.
• I do wish that Cisco had something similar to Juniper's "commit check" or "commit confirmed". This helps validate the changes you're about to apply, and catch errors, so that you have a better idea of the impact of the change.

Incentivized

• It seems that Solaris is becoming an afterthought at Oracle.
• Oracle should be more vocal in their commitment to Solaris
• Support Costs

Incentivized

The data that Cisco IOS is able to provide is extremely relevant, it's fast, and it's intuitive. I also love that you're able to leverage things like macros or EEM scrips to run multiple commands at once. This is especially useful when you have more junior or entry level engineers in your environment and you want to provide them with a "shortcut" by having them type a single command to execute multiple commands.

Incentivized

You need to take the time to learn it. It is a massive product.

The support teams are well trained and responsive. Patches are rolled out regularly and are easy to deploy and backout.

Stress testing and timing is key. You need test systems that mirror the live environments. User testing must be reflected in peak loads.

We have found other Cisco software to be filled with added functionalities as compared to iOS. New NCS software has certain programmability features that are advantageous to legacy iOS software but are more complex to use for some users. Hence, we still have most areas of the network that functions using iOS software.

Incentivized

We used Windows Server quite a bit because of the ease of use for the team, file sharing, Active Directory, and systems integrated with Windows; learning was easier, and the interface was more user-friendly. On the other hand, Oracle stood out for its stability because we provide services that keep environments up and running 24/7.

• Great uptimes on proven availability/reliability.
• Longevity of these switches ensures great ROI.
• Easy to learn for new users.

Incentivized

• Possibility to migrate old servers protecting previous inversions
• reduces implementation times and accelerates time to obtain value in the market.

Incentivized