02.11.14

Recent News About GNU/Linux on Servers

Posted in GNU/Linux, Servers at 8:20 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: A showcase of GNU/Linux on servers, based on very recent news

GNU/Linux Rankings

Hosting Providers Know A Real OS When They See One

A real OS doesn’t limit what you can do with your hardware and it doesn’t charge you extra for doing what you want. GNU/Linux is a real OS. Just ask the hosting providers. On Netcraft’s list of 47, 1 uses F5-BIG-IP, 5 use *BSD, 5 have an unknown OS and only 4 use that other OS with the EULA from Hell. All the rest, 32, use GNU/Linux as they should.
How to keep your Linux-heavy data center up and running

Linux is an excellent tool for creating the IT environment you want. Its flexibility and open-source architecture mean you can use it to support nearly any need, running mission-critical systems effectively while keeping costs low. This flexibility, however, means that if something does go wrong, it’s up to you to ensure your business operations can continue without disruption. And while many disaster recovery solutions focus on recovering data in case of an outage, leaving it at that is leaving the job half done. Having the information itself will be useless if the applications that are running it don’t function, and you are unable to meet SLAs.

Rackspace

Rackspace opens the door wide for open-source development
Rackspace: OpenStack Bet Is Paying Off
New Rackspace Policy Encourages Employees to Contribute to Any Open Source Project

Rackspace is making it a priority for employees to contribute to any public open source project, even ones that may compete with Rackspace, as part of a new policy at the company.

ARM

IT Vendors Announce Open Standards for ARM-Based Enterprise Servers

The channel has moved another step closer to having ARM-based server rooms a major presence in the enterprise. On Jan. 28, ARM—together with a slew of collaborators including Canonical, Citrix (CTXS), Linaro, Microsoft (MSFT), Red Hat (RHT), SUSE, Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)—announced the new Server Base System Architecture (SBSA) specification for deploying servers based on the ARMv8-A 64-bit processor.
ARM is not about the status quo : Open source breeds new architectures

“The rise of open source has opened doors for new architectures; the ARM partnership entering the market has already changed people’s perception of what’s possible; you’ll see that it’s going to drive a faster pace of innovation. Think of what happened in the phone ecosystem. It changed so much over the last five years in terms of what’s possible, and that’s been largely because there’s been a huge number of choices and innovation in terms of supply chain, in terms of new IP that’s being integrated. I expect to see the same thing happen in the data center space because now you have all these choices and people are innovating at different paces but it’s still overall accelerating the pace of innovation in the market,” said Mandyam.

IBM

Cloud Migration Service Shifts From IBM i To Linux

Even though we don’t talk about it much, there are companies throwing in the towel and looking for IT solutions that do not include IBM i, Power Systems, or IBM. One of the companies with a track record of working in the IBM i migration business is Infinite Corporation, which last week introduced a new cloud-based migration plan called Infinite i. It will compete head-to-head with IBM i-based clouds.
Hardening the Linux desktop

Dell

AMD

AMD’s first ARM processors to feature 8-core servers
AMD unveils 64-bit ARM-based Opteron A1100 processors
AMD Intros First ARM-Based Opteron Server Chip

Advanced Micro Devices continues to lay the groundwork for its ARM-based server processor plans, unveiling its upcoming eight-core Opteron A1100 Series “Seattle” chip and a development kit complete with an open-source software stack.
AMD announces 64-bit ARM-based Opteron server chips
AMD announces 64-bit ARM-based Opteron server chips
AMD reveals its first ARM processor: 8-core Opteron A1100

While these chips are aimed at high-density, low-power servers, AMD is also putting together a micro-ATX development kit built around the A1100. This will include a Fedora-based Linux environment with development tools, Apache, MySQL, PHP, and Java 7 and 8. This software stack is consistent with the goals of these low-power servers: running Web applications is likely to be their primary role.
AMD tries to kickstart ARM-for-servers ecosystem

The development kit packages the processors into a Micro-ATX form factor, along with the necessary connectors for developers to throw memory, power and communications at it, and a basic software stack of GNU/Linux, device drivers, Apache, MySQL, PHP, and Java 7 and 8.
Is the x86 server ready for open source?

This week theCUBE covered the Open Compute Project Summit (#OCPSummit). As the name implies, this conference is part of the open source movement, but with a twist. When most people hear “open source” they think software — Linux, OpenStack, KVM and other major open source projects. This conference is about open source hardware, and in particular, x86 servers.

Linode

Linode’s Command Line Interface Tool Helps Automate Cloud Servers

According to the company, which concentrates its efforts on Linux-based virtual servers, “We’re pleased to announce the official release of Linode CLI – a simple, yet powerful and easy-to-use tool to manage and provision Linode cloud services from the command line. The Linode CLI gives users the same functionality they’re accustomed to, but with the convenience of the command line. The Linode CLI can create, reboot, rename, and resize Linode servers, manage domains and DNS records, NodeBalancers and more. Users can even access their account balance and network transfer. The Linode CLI makes it easy to script and automate tasks with its built-in JSON output mode.”

Arduino

Galileo: The Slowest Fast Computer Around?

Trying to marry Linux and Arduino together isn’t giving me a good feeling and I’ll tell you why.
The other end of the telescope: Intel’s Galileo developer board

Yet it’s no less an Arduino board than the de facto standard Arduino board, the ATmega328-based Uno R3. Perhaps more so, in fact, since it has on-board features that the Uno lacks and requires add-ons to accommodate: Ethernet connectivity, a mini PCI Express connector and a Micro SD slot, for instance.
Like Arduino? Miniaturize your project with TinyCircuits

“The traditional view of open source is about software. Open source hardware has been around for about 7 to 10 years. Making hardware open and building a community around it is a huge advantage in hardware like in software,” Burns said. “The community behind it keeps it alive, keeps it useful.”