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NASA uses Fedora - a lot!

jaboutboul.blogspot.com — Jack Aboutboul, Red Hat Community Engineer, had the chance to visit NASA and take a look around. While there he discovered that they use Fedora a lot, from live video distribution to Houston to data analysis of the Columbia crash. Read on for more details and lots of pictures!

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  • ziosatrapo, on 02/28/2008, -5/+40Not so surprising... this is Fedora power!! :D
  • anarchytv, on 02/28/2008, -91/+4Uh, just goes to show government waste. Centos is technically an identical carbon copy clone, compiled from the same sources, and is free. http://centos.org
    • sirhomer, on 02/28/2008, -1/+76Wow you are wrong on so many levels. I can't believe it's even possible to fit that much wrong in such a short comment. First of all, CentOS is NOT a carbon copy clone of Fedora. It's more of a copy of RHEL. Fedora itself is actually free of charge. Also RHEL itself is not a waste of money, especially if you are using it on imporant systems i.e. in NASA, because you get professional support.
      • exactopposite, on 02/28/2008, -0/+20If you look at the article you will notice that some of the systems are running RHEL, but I would agree that RHEL is not a waste of money if you need the suppport.
      • angrykeyboarder, on 03/01/2008, -1/+1It's not just a copy of RHEl, it's an exact copy (sans artwork).

        CentOS is free as well. You should do your homework before spouting off.. It costs nothing.
    • stix213, on 02/28/2008, -3/+3I'm sure they like the RHEL support. Also, even though I think CentOS is great, patches come out for RHEL a bit earlier than CentOS.
    • secrity, on 02/28/2008, -0/+12As was already mentioned, CentOS is a clone of RHEL, not Fedora. MANY corporations opt to pay for RHEL to get support. I administer 98 servers; 42 are HP-UX, 2 are CentOS, and 54 are RHEL. Patching and adding / removing software on RHEL servers is a breeze, it is done from a single web page. The CentOS servers are totally non-critical servers. It is very nice to open a ticket and get an official Red Hat answer rather than having to search and sift for the answer. All of this doesn't really matter because the story was about using Fedora, which is FREE software.
  • LeeSoong, on 02/28/2008, -1/+59Your tax dollars at work - sensibly for once !

    http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=fedo ...
    • cousinzoidfarb, on 02/28/2008, -0/+10Not really. At JPL, you pay for an OS whether you use it or not. For instance, I ordered a machine and installed Ubuntu on it. JPL still paid for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux license. In fact, their computer/software agreement with Lockheed Martin is the most wasteful think I've heard of. They basically agree to buy a new computer for every employee every 3 years, and buy them from Lockheed for absurd amounts of money, much higher than if I were to go buy it retail. If you want to keep your computer longer than 3 years, they charge extra.
      • Jaliyl, on 02/29/2008, -3/+1Really, a Linux distro that costs money?
        • andycr512, on 02/29/2008, -0/+6It's not really the OS that costs money; it's the software they include with it, and the support they include.
  • randy2100, on 02/28/2008, -2/+49by anarchytv 44 minutes ago
    >Uh, just goes to show government waste. Centos is technically an identical carbon copy clone, compiled from the same sources, and is free.

    Duh. Fedora is free. Centos is a clone of RHEL.
    • angrykeyboarder, on 03/01/2008, -0/+2CentOS is as "free" as Fedora. It' taken from RHEL source code which anyone is free to do. RHEL is GPL so they have to give away the source code.

      The difference is you don't get paid support from RedHat.

      It would also make more sense (to me) for NASA to use CentOS as it's much more stable for "enterprise" use. Fedora is more of an enthusiast OS (I use it myself).

      But then it also does also make sense for NASA have more recent softwre and perhaps that is partly why they prefer it. It's about as cutting edge as it gets in community supported Linux disros.
  • matx, on 02/28/2008, -3/+30Fedora tends to be the most popular distribution to use scientific areas where control systems such as monitoring a space shuttle is important. Due to the open source and reliability of the Operating System but also the support Fedora has.
    • cousinzoidfarb, on 02/28/2008, -0/+13Do you have any evidence of this, because my observations suggest that RHEL and Solaris are far more popular than Fedora, but the stuff I've seen is satellite/rover related, not shuttle related.
    • SpeedSteamBoat, on 02/28/2008, -0/+13I was turned onto Fedora (after some unfortunate run ins with Gentoo) by a family member who just so happens to work at Google. He tells me Fedora is all over the Google offices. Then he went into this super smart explanation of all the technical advantages of Fedora and why they all love it so much at which point I just went into nod-and-smile-like-you-understand mode. Yeah... he does that a lot.

      Moral of the story: For what it's worth Google loves Fedora too.
    • angrykeyboarder, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1CentOS is far more "reliable" than Fedora. But it also doesn't have software that is as current as Fedora.
  • Slio9, on 02/28/2008, -10/+5They have a lot of hats?
  • digitallysick, on 02/28/2008, -13/+5I tried fedora/redhat for a while, and ubuntu/debian. I just find ubuntu easier to deal with than fedora. I can't seem to get the yum package manager to resolve dependencies and end up searching for rpm's to fill in the gaps.
    • Nushio, on 02/28/2008, -1/+8You should try now, I'm not sure when was the last time you used Fedora but we've gone a long way in terms of packaging :-)
      • Waterrat, on 02/28/2008, -0/+2 I had download manager problems with Ubuntu but not Fedora 8,go figger.
    • SnowCrashv5, on 02/28/2008, -3/+16This isn't about ubuntu. Why does every linux submission to Digg have to be about ubuntu or made into something about ubuntu. Even the people who got started on ubuntu 3-4 years ago are tired of everything being ubuntu.

      and by the way, while i'm not an active fedora user, i have been.. and it doesn't take rocket science to operate yum. If you are smart enough to use apt-get and dpkg, you can use yum just fine. If you can't, then the problem isn't yum, it's the user.
      • digitallysick, on 02/28/2008, -2/+3The problem could be yum, and how well it handles dependencies. Its apparent it doesn't handle them well, if it did, we wouldn't have "rpm database" searches http://rpm.pbone.net/
        • ceplm, on 02/28/2008, -3/+3Bad answer. The database searches are for RPMs which are not packaged in the Fedora repositories. There is www.apt-get.org as well.
        • SnowCrashv5, on 02/29/2008, -2/+4you have rpm database searches because Fedora's repo's are not as extensive as ubuntu's or debian's. Also, the rpm system by far is much older than the idea of desktop's having repositories and having centralized package management. People used to have to grab rpm's from websites rather than dealing with repo's you know. But if you ubuntu noob's have been using linux a bit longer you'd know that. Which isn't a problem, except the fact you all open your damned mouths before knowing what the hell you're talking about.
        • angrykeyboarder, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1RPM search engines have been around since the pre-YUM/APT days. They still come in handy. It' snot a dependency issue so much as it is the fact that not every distro covers every package and a lot of third party repositories have software that the Fedoras and Debians don't. BTW, such search engines exist for Debian/Ubuntu packages as well. You should do your homework before spouting off.
    • 1timeuser, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1This is not about a desktop distribution.
      • angrykeyboarder, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1What is not about a Desktop distro?

        Fedora, CentOS and Ubuntu all work equally well on the desktop, workstation or server. For the most part, they all have the same software in their repositories.
  • holyskeleton, on 02/28/2008, -0/+24did i see windows 98?
    • matx, on 02/28/2008, -1/+5Yep, windows works just fine in less critical areas such as just viewing a video as it seemed from what they were using it for. There's some windows box's where I am for less critical things but as long as they aren't connected to the internet they usually work fine.
      • SSUK, on 02/28/2008, -6/+4This is NASA, I'm sure if I can go virus, spyware free on Windows, I'm sure those Eggheads can.
        Btw, go outside. It's fun.
        • mattmcm, on 02/28/2008, -0/+11Sure, you can just hang outside in the sun all day, tossing a ball around, or you can sit at your computer and do something that matters.
        • frogsoblivious, on 02/28/2008, -2/+0and be very very pale
        • 1timeuser, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1Very pale... and important.
    • JoshuaH, on 02/29/2008, -0/+7At least they are using Firefox
    • sewerraccoon, on 02/29/2008, -3/+0And quicktime 4!
    • flashingcurser, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2No I don't think you were. I'm pretty sure that is win2k pro. Win2k is still the best business os microsoft ever made.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Win2000.png
  • d3lta, on 02/28/2008, -7/+5Why does this come out a few days after they announce they plan to intentionally crash into the moon?
  • vroom101, on 02/28/2008, -31/+5HI! My name is vroom101...that's pronounced vah-ROOM-one-oh-one...and I use Fedora Core 5 on my server. One day...maybe taking advantage of a slow day on DIGG...I'll upgrade to Fedora 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 or 13...heh-heh who am I kidding? there's never a slow day on DIGG! ... seriously though, Why Upgrade If Not's Broken (Or Needed), right? Anyways, thanks for letting me pop in on this impromptu F.R.B.I.C.B.A.O.W. share-a-thon. BYE!

    P.S. When's the next "Fedora Rocks Because It Can't Be Any Other Way" meeting?
    • halobender, on 02/28/2008, -0/+9WTF?
    • CATSCEO, on 02/28/2008, -0/+6I want what he's having.
    • UnWeave, on 02/28/2008, -0/+3Is that sarcasm or is the guy just full on weird? Either way I am digging him up.
      • vroom101, on 02/28/2008, -0/+2No sarcasm. The server runs FC5. Switching to Fedora 7 or 8 (or higher) would be nice -- some day in the future.
      • halobender, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Drug trip end Vroom? You make sense in this 2nd post.
  • Dropperbr, on 02/28/2008, -7/+2For some reason I think all the OS platforms are more for casual users.. when I think about NASA I imagine a OS like those in the movies!But still a great news Fedora is a great linux distro
  • zplot, on 02/28/2008, -6/+27I'm more confident in NASA now. If I were an astronaut on the International Space Station, I'd feel a lot safer knowing that my life is not in the hands of Msft Windows.
    • Waterrat, on 02/28/2008, -1/+10 As would I...Linux is rock solid.
    • andycr512, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3Adds more meaning to "Blue Screen of Death". :)
    • sewerraccoon, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1I know fedora's good, but it's a little cutting edge. I'd rather have Debian or FreeBSD Running my shuttle.
      • TeacherOfHeroes, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3I'd rather have neither running my shuttle. They're very stable and all, and any linux OS will serve them quite well for desktops and servers and whatnot. But even they don't hold a candle to the kind of software that is produced for these situations.

        The software that is used to run things like a space shuttle is meticulously designed and written so that there are no bugs. Code is examined and proven accurate, and left untouched for decades.
        • GMorgan, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1I saw a bug's per LOC count in Linux Format Magazine once and while FOSS absolutely wiped the flaw with the proprietary options the mission critical NASA stuff was on a different planet. They literally were close to fixing the last bug.

          Of course NASA uses Lisp.
    • DrivinWest, on 02/29/2008, -0/+5I'm a mission controller for the ISS. Windows IS used aboard the ISS but not for anything mission critical - the astronauts have laptops running Windows for personal use and for procedure and timeline review. The laptops that interface directly with the C&C (Command & Control) computers on the ISS run Unix (an obscure flavor which has been highly customized by NASA). The C&C computers themselves run a proprietary OS developed by Honeywell.

      On the topic of the C&C computers, as well as the rest of the C&DH (Command & Data Handling) computers aboard the ISS... they're all 386s. This is done on purpose. They consume very little power, produce very little heat, and as Intel is on its nth revision of the chips, they're highly reliable. Thanks to the proprietary OS, distributed computing across dozens of boxes, and no resource hogging GUI, they run great.
  • faraggi, on 02/28/2008, -1/+27what did you expect? these guys are the geekiest of geeks!
  • ImTheManWhoRU, on 02/28/2008, -3/+6someone should make NASALinux
    • ToeCheese, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2They can't. Microsoft will start crying again and the project will be dropped. Just like SELinux
      • init100, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2When did that happen to SELinux? Last time I checked, SELinux was alive and well.
  • slightlygifted, on 02/28/2008, -1/+31(insert large company/organization here) uses linux = front page.

    • Macskeeball, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4Ron Paul uses Ubuntu Linux on his unlocked iPhone to help Kevin Rose crack the HD-DVD key
    • DeadBabyHeads, on 02/29/2008, -0/+0What Linux distro does L. Ron Hubbard use to guide his space ship? You know the one he uses when he visits the Alien Overlords? Only Tom Cruise knows... (and maybe ANON)
  • bluehouse, on 02/28/2008, -12/+6so what? I use my balls a lot and no one cares about that
    • Remmy, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4You're right nobody cares. Which is why YOU use your balls a lot. :(
    • 1timeuser, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2Well maybe thats the problem. Maybe you are trying to think with your balls instead of your brain.
    • Cryoniq, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2That is because what comes out of your balls is a possible retardiation of humanity.
  • 0260, on 02/28/2008, -1/+27i thought the used hollywood OS, the one that is prone to flash giant red ACCESS DENIED
    • leerayIG88, on 02/28/2008, -0/+11I better hack the mainframe by using a floppy diskette.
    • Railz, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4I want the Hollywood OS. Seems pretty straight forward.
    • 1timeuser, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4The one that makes the beeps and boops, sounds like a 56k modem when loading things, often does very difficult tasks such as searching a database for certain facial feature in milliseconds but manages to do other, more simple tasks slowly, and is often wasting its cpu on really cool, but useless graphical things while doing a complexed task?
    • flashingcurser, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Click, click, click.... I'M IN!
  • daxsymbiont, on 02/28/2008, -5/+14New linux users are always surprised other nerds use linux.

    Relax, it's obvious, you're a nerd, they are nerds, nerds use linux.
    • Railz, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1What happened to nerds use Apple. or or...nerds use computers in general...WHATS GOING ON!?
      • bwpayne, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1E-mail used to be a nerd word..
        Nerdom is spreading fast muwhaha
  • FredFredrickson, on 02/28/2008, -1/+37You'll know when Linux is really popular when we stop seeing celebrations every time someone finds out who else is using it.
    • ChayD, on 02/29/2008, -1/+7I think the big thing is that unlike certain other OSes (this "Device" is powered by Microsoft Windows(R)(TM)) you don't see the tux logo splashed over everything that it runs. It's like some of those Chip'n'PIN readers you get in stores have Linux hidden inside, I didn't even know that. Yes, I'm a geek, so that sort of thing is a notable fact. I personally think Linux should get more exposure and credit where it's due.
  • nathansu, on 02/28/2008, -0/+13Posted this on the main blog, thought I'd include it here too :

    I work at JPL and basically anyone who is doing serious scientific work has a box that runs some variant of Linux. It's typical for management types to have OSX machines, but I've only encountered a few Windows boxes on lab in any capacity.
    • init100, on 02/28/2008, -0/+7Your description fits my previous workplace very well. I worked in a supercomputing center available as a national resource to Swedish academic researchers, and we were heavy users of Linux, both on the desktop workstations and servers. One of my managers had a Mac and another had a PC with Windows. Windows was also the OS of choice for the administrative staff (read: secretaries, etc).
  • btraxx, on 02/28/2008, -4/+17They don't use Vista? But Vista is the future!
    • Cryoniq, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1According to Microsoft yeah.. but Microsoft have no future.. Even Bill Gates can tell you that.
    • DestroyFascism, on 02/29/2008, -1/+111 Diggs for Vista....wow! Raking them in......
  • johanm, on 02/28/2008, -1/+4Nerd Humor: "I claimed it in the name of Fedora and was quickly then asked politely asked to leave the building. Just Kidding!"
    makes me want to yank this guys underwear up and put them over his head
  • ktulu1115, on 02/28/2008, -0/+8my father works for the navy in virginia and he's mentioned fedora is used more often then any other distribution. RHEL is common as well, mainly for the scientific applications.
  • ZephyrNinety, on 02/28/2008, -8/+2This just proves there's different OS's for different uses. Now shut the hell up and go browse something else in Firefox/Safari/Internet Explorer.
    • 10GunSalute, on 02/28/2008, -2/+2Well, someone is a little defensive, aren't they? Oh, and Fedora isn't an OS, it's a distribution of a kernel.
      • init100, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2"Oh, and Fedora isn't an OS, it's a distribution of a kernel."

        Fedora contains much more than Red Hat's modified Linux kernel.
      • newwatch51, on 03/03/2008, -0/+1No, Fedora is not simply a modified kernel. It's an entire OS with that modified kernel.
  • thenome, on 02/28/2008, -8/+8No wonder it cost 100's of millions to launch the shuttle, all of the astronauts are stuck on the launch pad looking for the start menu.
    • Cryoniq, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1yeah.. if it was Windows it would been 100 trillions and rising more..
  • streetsim, on 02/28/2008, -0/+3I'd like to see an action movie battle on that shuttle transporter.
  • DarkDx, on 02/28/2008, -19/+2Buried because it's not ubuntu.
  • frogsoblivious, on 02/28/2008, -2/+4word on the street is that homeland security still uses ms-dos
  • camino262, on 02/28/2008, -0/+2Why was the flag at half mast?
  • neocognitism, on 02/28/2008, -8/+4The sensible choice, because KDE is the default!
    • zwaldowski, on 02/29/2008, -2/+1Which Fedora do you use?
      • neocognitism, on 02/29/2008, -2/+1The newest one. Admittedly it's a recent change for Fedora.
  • ipfree, on 02/28/2008, -1/+9I have worked on development of equipment to manufacture automotive parts. Most of the cars in US use parts that were made with the help of Linux. We saved a ton of money and made some great robotic machinery.
  • soupr, on 02/28/2008, -11/+2Call me when someone with a girlfriend uses Linux
    • Railz, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1mmm Does a CD Bootable Linux count?
    • thedogisdead, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Ummm, me. I use Ubuntu and she didn't even notice the difference. Click Firefox, internet comes on. Get on with it. Everyone's happy.
  • TomKarpik, on 02/28/2008, -6/+1And yet they use a real OS (IRIX) when it comes to heavy processing/data analysis. That's pretty telling.
    • warpbackspin, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2Like most IRIX users, I ***** despise IRIX.

      No one chooses IRIX. They choose SGI hardware, which (usually) requires IRIX.

      (That said, IRIX versus Linux is a tough call.)
    • init100, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1It could be as simple as them having some proprietary software package that would only run on IRIX systems. It does not need to mean that a Linux computer couldn't do the same thing. Most likely it could, why else would 85% of the world's most powerful supercomputers run Linux?
  • LoveWidescreen, on 02/28/2008, -0/+11Wait -- this is Digg. It's supposed to be "alot" not "a lot"!

    How DARE you use correct grammar on Digg, you insensitive clod!
  • 3leggedHorse, on 02/28/2008, -3/+1 Last time i saw mission control on a shuttle launch, the tracking screens were runnuing on XP.
  • Uroboric, on 02/28/2008, -4/+2Dugg for the cool tour, not because NASA uses Linux.

    I also found it pretty funny that the first picture of a computer screen was one running Windows.
  • Slackdragon, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1When I was working for the Navy's Major Shared Resource Center in Stennis, MS it was all Fedora too. The NOAA geeks up stairs, though liked Sun Unix. Real snobs about it.
    • warpbackspin, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Run Solaris on high-end Sun hardware for a while - you'll be a snob about it too. (I know I am.)
  • DoctorGlass, on 02/29/2008, -6/+0ouch. this really hurts Linux's credibility....
    • 1timeuser, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1i guess if you're a dumb ***** maybe.
  • saltmiser, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1I remember when it used to be "NASA uses FreeBSD a lot"...then everything went to hell with 5x...7x seems like they're making a comeback though :)
  • dthomas53, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2"This is a blade server running Fedora which runs NASA's countdown server."

    What's funny is if you click on the "countdown" link: Problem loading page

    Maybe they're upgrading to Fedora 8 as we speak? ...

  • killdeer03, on 02/29/2008, -1/+0Fedora FTW!
  • zmigliozzi, on 02/29/2008, -3/+1But why Fedora? When I think Fedora I don't think power. I think of it as a more fun windows using the linux kernel.
  • dattaway, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Look through the source code of the network drivers in the kernel. You'll see a nasa.gov email address a lot in there. Donald Becker was a major player why you could expect any network card to work in Linux.
  • bngsudheer, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1I'm glad to see the GNU/Linux distribution NASA folks use.
  • zulunut, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2Fedora is extremely stable.
  • yellowcakewalk, on 02/29/2008, -2/+2Fedora = good software. NASA = useless corporate welfare.
    • rmtatum, on 03/01/2008, -1/+1And besides, where in the constitution is Congress given the authority to establish NASA? They aren't. Let's abolish this wasteful organization!
  • DestroyFascism, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1So the Army uses *nix and so too does the NSA and NASA.....
    Just wish the Army would produce AA 3.0 as a native Linux install and make the windows version a patched thing....
  • vincentweber, on 03/01/2008, -1/+0Why the hell Fedora?! NASA is not just some silly experiment! Why aren't they using RedHat?

    Mind you that this is not some anti-Fedora hate that I do not have, it's just that Fedora is a playground for developing and testing new software technology before it is accepted into RedHat or other Linux distributions for that matter.

    Wierd...
  • origamistars, on 03/02/2008, -0/+1My father, who is a theoretical physicist, and all his physicist friends swear by Fedora.
  • RayG68, on 03/03/2008, -0/+1I tried to submit the "you are here" pic, but digg told me that the url contains adult-only material.
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