[For the big shops: give this article to your computer person]
Linux Meets the Legal Community
by Liz Coolbaugh, November 12th, 1998
This time, we aren't talking licensing or lawsuits. I met on October 20th,
with Bruce Kiefer, from the offices of Holland and Hart, known as the "Rocky
Mountain Region's International Law Firm." Founded in 1947 by Steve Hart and
Joe Holland, Holland and Hart has over 200 attorneys located across the
Rocky Mountain region. Bruce Kiefer is a Systems Administrator, working in
their Technology Services division.
Bruce and I met originally when he contacted Eklektix, Inc. in the summer of
1998 looking for Linux Systems Administration training classes. We developed
a customized training class for Bruce and three of his fellow systems
administrators. Later, knowing that we also produce the Linux Weekly News,
he contacted me and suggested a possible interview to discuss what they are
doing with Linux now. I was interested and happy to set up the meeting, but
I was unprepared for all that I would hear. Linux has truly entered these
law offices with a vengeance! It has done so not by replacing existing
platforms, but by providing solutions for new needs and doing it better and
more cost effectively than other possibilities.
Bruce and his group have been "playing" with Linux for a long-time. They are
not a group of kernel-hackers, but instead a group of professional systems
administrators, always interested in new options with potential value. For
example, Holland and Hart, like many commercial operations, has a very high
equipment turn-over. They generally replace about 25% of their equipment
every year. As a result, especially in recent years, some of the old
hardware was really quite useable. They looked to see if Linux could salvage
and make use of this hardware. That project did not particularly take off,
but it built a base of familiarity with Linux internally.
Meanwhile, since the Linux boxes weren't working as well as originally
hoped, they built their first Web-based project, an internal HTML database
containing over 600,000 Wordperfect documents translation to HTML, using
Netscape's server and Cold Fusion. This went well. Then, they moved on to
upgrading their networking infrastructure from IPX to IP.
Around March of 1998, they started playing with Caldera OpenLinux. They were
interested (and still are) Caldera's Netware integration and planned NDS
products. But the project that really brought them back to Linux was the
move from IPX to IP. They really needed a new model for a host propagation
service, preferably one that was DNS-based.
They looked at Netware's DNS/DHCP product, but it required encapsulating the
IP packets within Netware/IP. They found this "unappealing and
administratively difficult", especially for the remote offices they support.
They also examined NT's DNS, but found it not to be a true Bind
implementation so that option was discarded.
Next, they looked at a product from MetaInfo, a standards-based company that
ports to NT. They have sendmail, DNS, and a nice replication scheme.
However, the licensing is expensive, based on a seat by seat cost. They knew
Unix systems would support such standards without the extra costs, but they
didn't have a Unix platform that they were comfortable supporting.
Linux, it dawned on them, was an alternative. They tried the
recently-released RedHat 5.0, but again ran into problems. That's when they
contacted Eklektix, Inc. for training. The training brought all their staff
to an equal level of knowledge and comfort with Linux installations and
administration. "We still refer to the training book a lot," commented
Bruce.
In addition to the training, they had "churned" through enough hardware that
their available platforms were now Dell systems with Pentiums. Red Hat 5.1
had been released. The installations started moving a lot more smoothly.
They put up a couple of boxes in the July/August time frame and were pretty
happy with them.
The Cobalt Qube
Simultaneous to the above-mentioned training course and initial DNS
implementations on Linux, another issue surfaced. Bandwidth problems were
clogging the network links between the central office in Denver and its
satellite hubs, located across Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Montana.
The Holland and Hart network is implemented in a hub/spoke architecture,
with each of the regional offices directly connected to the central office
in downtown Denver. Some of the network connections to the regional offices
are fairly small. For example, the Aspen, Colorado and Jackson Hole, Wyoming
offices are connected via 56K, since the costs for T1 connections to these
areas are exorbitant, up to $5000 per month. They have only a few users in
these areas, so there is no justification for an increase in bandwidth.
Yet, they had new web servers in place, serving both internal and external
applications. People needed to be able to access these servers, but the
bandwidth was not keeping pace with their needs. They considering
propagating servers to those sites but there are no technical employees in
the regional offices to support such servers. The bulk of the data was also
prohibitive for copying and mirroring. Finally, remote management tools for
NT were not acceptable either, so this option was discarded.
Sometime in the summer of 1998, Bruce ran across a mention of the Cobalt
Qube. Their caching webserver sounded like an excellent solution to the
problem. It would replicate web content automatically but only the portion
that was needed. They acquired one on a trial basis and hammered it hard.
Their tests included using four separate NT servers running 100 simultaneous
http connections to the Qube. Brought up about ten minutes apart from each
other, the servers were allowed to hammer the Qube for over an hour,
simulating more traffic than Holland and Hart generally sees in a day. The
Qube was rock solid. "We learned it wasn't just cute, it was a really
well-built product," said Bruce.
They were very impressed. Bruce wondered whether or not the Qube could also
be used to support DNS as well. So he contacted Cobalt Micro. The response,
"Sure! It's just Linux!" This was the first time he realized that the Qube
was running the Linux operating system. So Bruce asked if they could support
DHCP as well. Within 24 hours, he had the DHCP package in hand.
They began to see the Qube as a full service platform rather than a simple
web caching server. They ordered 10 additional boxes, one for each regional
offices. In fact, during the interview, six of these small blue boxes were
scattered around the office. The first Qube was scheduled to be deployed two
days after our interview. From email conversations with Bruce afterwards, it
went totally smoothly, with no problems.
So their first Linux implementation is in the process of deployment and
working out great. The cost savings over similar setups using other
operating systems has been phenomenal. In addition, being a law office, they
see a legal advantage to the use of Linux. As one of the lawyers in the
office told Bruce, software licenses look different to each person that
reads them. That makes it difficult to guarantee that you are in compliance.
With the free software solutions they used, the potential legal hassles
diminished.
Bruce's boss, Larry Barela, Manager of Technology Services, was also
impressed. He now wants to build turnkey solutions for other law offices.
Once Cold Fusion is available for Linux, new web applications can be
implemented on Linux as well.
The Netwinder
Along with the blue boxes stacked in Bruce's office were several larger, but
flatter boxes. These were Corel Netwinders. Holland and Hart is looking at
using Netwinders to build "Web terminals" in their library carrels. These
carrels are used to conduct legal research. The services that provide
facilities for such research are very expensive. Previously, they were only
available using proprietary gateways or shared modem pools. Now a lot of
them are moving to the web. Legal research facilities charge a lot.
Eliminating the support of shared modem pools will help reduce their costs.
The Netwinders are perfect for this particular application. They generate
very little heat and take up little space. "We can practically staple them
under the desk." Bruce mentioned that the Netwinder was not a "clever" as
the Cobalt Qube. However, they plan to change the window manager to KDE,
slap on Netscape and deploy four to five new "Web Terminals" in the
springtime. With Web interfaces, Linux works great because everything you
need is there and maintenance is low.
The Database Server
At the Atlanta Linux Showcase in October of 1998, Allen Miner predicted that
1999 would be the year of Linux ERP (Enterprise Resource Programs). Since to
my view, ERP is a fancy buzzword for the applications that will deploy the
recently announced database systems from Oracle, Informix, Sybase (as well
as many others), the outlook at Holland and Hart supports Allen. There are
year 2000 problems with the time and billing system used at these law
offices, something of absolutely critical concern. Bruce and his group have
been looking at a three tiered solution, a Java front-end, a web server and
a back-end database.
Bruce explained that with most databases, you also need the development
tools provided by the vendor in order to develop your application. The tools
are proprietary and lock you in to a specific vendor. However, the Web
erases that layer. The database becomes a backend to the Web and no
development tools are required. This backend can be chosen and even replaced
without modifying the upper layers of the solution.
"Linux is a great platform for what we call a JADB, Just Another DataBase,"
Bruce commented. It is extremely good at just moving records and maintaining
integrity. They first looked at the Empress Borland Data (EBD) and commented
that it is an impressive engine. However, the announcement of Linux support
from Oracle changed their focus. They have more Oracle knowledge in house.
They also looked at free software solutions, such as mysql, but, being a law
office, they need accountability for something as critical as their time and
billing system. "No matter how good the application looks, the lawyers will
ask what it is running on," Bruce explained. They need a commercial product.
Right now, they are in a holding pattern to see how the various databases on
Linux pan out. "We want to see the 'dot' release. It needs to be very stable
and we need a demonstration of commitment on the part of the vendor."
For the top level of their application, they outsourced the development to a
local company. The fourth prototype of the Java implementation is now being
tested and is very smooth. So they should be ready to put it all together
next year when they can finally choose their backend database and platform.
They expect to see Linux running a commercial database; the only question is
which commercial database vendor will emerge with the best commitment and
support for the platform.
In Summary
Not all of Holland and Hart's upcoming projects will be running Linux. For
example, they currently have an NT firewall that needs to be replaced. "NT
is not appropriate for a 'border' implementation, one that must interoperate
with other platforms," Bruce explained. However, Linux was not the most
appropriate choice either. Instead, they are examining a variety of
commercial options, from Checkpoint (the same firewall they are running on
NT) on NetBSD, to Solaris, to another alternative firewall by Nokia.
Bruce finished by stating, "We're pretty excited about all of the upcoming
projects. We've reached a point where we can pick the right operating system
for the right job. NT and Netware will stay, but Linux can cross many
lines." We think it is pretty exciting as well. Three months ago, we came to
give a class to people with varying levels of familiarity with Linux, but no
expertise. I returned to find Linux being actively deployed to serve their
regional offices, scheduled for installation to support their research
library and potentially a platform for that most critical service for a law
office, their time and billing system.
Linux has been measured fairly against other available solutions and found
to be the best for many of their needs. The performance, low cost,
reliability and ease of administration of the Linux-based solutions stands
out clearly. In this instance, Linux has met the Legal Community and both
sides are pretty happy as a result.
____________________________________________
Brandon W. Beasley
Phillips & Merica, P.C.
1303 San Antonio Street
Austin, Texas 78701
tel (512) 477-1216
fax (512) 478-0523
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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