Bonum Certa Men Certa

Do-No-Evil Saturday - Part II: SLES, SLERT, HPC, SLED, and Xandros

GNU in the wild



SLES



Quite a few articles this week mentioned the role earned or inherited by SUSE. For starters, Teradata sorted out an arrangement with SUSE. From its latest press release:



Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC), the world's largest company solely focused on data warehousing and enterprise analytics, and Novell today announced they will provide customers a new level of support as Linux becomes a trusted choice for Teradata enterprise-class data warehouses.

"With this agreement, we are elevating our day-to-day working relationship, which will shape and accelerate the adoption of Linux for enterprise-class data warehouses," said Scott Gnau, chief development officer, Teradata. "Our customers are demanding the best from our Linux systems, and we are delivering high performance systems that are very stable, manageable and scalable. In addition to improving our customers' experience in the near term, this close relationship means we will be able to provide the Linux community with the benefit of our experience in high performance enterprise systems."


There is very little information about it that goes beyond the press release.

Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC), down 1% on 1 million shares, the world's largest company solely focused on data warehousing and enterprise analytics, and Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL), up 1% on 2 million shares, today announced they will provide customers a new level of support as Linux becomes a trusted choice for Teradata enterprise-class data warehouses.


IBM's new solution incorporates IBM's beloved distribution as well.

The Lotus Foundations servers run on an optimized version of Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with an operating system kernel that's less than 100 Mbytes, according to Barlow. The kernel is stored on a chip, so the server will continue to run even if the system's disk crashes, he said.


There is more information about it in The Register and in Microsoft Watch.

Caleb Barlow, senior product manager for the Lotus Foundations appliance, isn't keen on giving away a lot of the details about what comprises the guts of the machine, but he says that the box is based on an x64 architecture and that it runs a very lean implementation of Linux based on Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Sever 10.


Mentioned above was also IBM's VMware deal. Novell's SUSE matures as a virtual appliance too.

There are a few glitches with the VMware Studio system but they are relatively minor and should be fixed in the next release since VMware is aware of them. If you need to build an appliance or always wanted to build your own distribution, this is the tool for you. Novell also offers a tool called SUSE Studio (still in alpha) that fills the same needs as VMware's Studio. I find that SUSE Studio is friendlier to work with and requires less of the user than VMware's product. SUSE Studio is entirely web-based so you can create virtual appliances at a customer site, if needed. I think SUSE Studio is ready for general use but Novell is notoriously conservative with its releases of new software--one explanation for their products having a reputation of rock solid stability.


Here is another product that is confirmed to work with SUSE.

While DSView already ran on Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 editions, and release 3.7 adds support for the new Windows Server 2008 kicker. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, and 5, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8, 9, or 10, and Sun Microsystems' Solaris 9 and 10 are also able to run DSView and physical systems using these operating systems can be monitored with the tool as well.


Lenovo's relationship with Novell was mentioned quite a lot recently [1, 2, 3]. Here is another last update from Joe.

However, Lenovo hooked up with Synnex to introduce a special “60-day money back guarantee” on the ThinkServers — which run Windows Server or Novell SUSE Linux (here’s the original scoop, from The VAR Guy). The ThinkServers target small businesses with 500 or fewer employees.


SLERT



Novell's public relations bloggers initially brought this up.

Sometimes I get asked to explain the difference between a real time operating system, like SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, and a general purpose operating system, like SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Most people can understand at a higher level that a real time operating system is recommended when predictability of service is important - and that a general purpose operating system can be used for everything else. But when I then start talking about the PREEMPT_RT patch set, and prioritized threads vs. fair scheduling, inevitably I’ll start to see some eyes glaze over.


Stac released this report which contains numeric results on SLERT's performance.

Some of the key results of the test were:

Lowest mean latency reported to date with RMDS

* Less than 0.67 ms mean latency at up to 750,000 updates per second with SLERT/InfiniBand

Lowest standard deviation of latency reported to date with RMDS

* Less than 0.5 ms through 750,000 updates per second with SLERT/InfiniBand

SLERT reduced maximum latencies at higher rates

* SLERT/InfiniBand reduced maximum latency values at rates over 200kups by 35% compared with SLES/InfiniBand

Highest throughput reported to date in the "Producer 50/50" fanout test for a two socket server

* 10.1 million updates per second achieved with SLERT/InfiniBand


Supercomputers



SUSE continues to maintain strong presence amongst strong machines, mainly because of IBM (the world's top computer runs Red Hat though). Here is a large Oak Ridge deployment.

Each node runs Cray's version of the SuSE Linux operating system, and Cray has tuned the Linux kernel so that it removes unnecessary services from the compute nodes. This means that the operating system minimizes interruptions to the application codes running on the system. The SuSE Linux operating system on the nodes combines with the system services, networking software, communications, I/O and mathematical libraries, as well as compilers, debuggers and performance tools to form the Cray Linux Environment.


SLED



Television appearance... fame at least. As a dessert for Geeko fans, SLED made it into television (CBS).

For anyone who was paying attention to this weeks 60 Minutes episode on CBS, you may have seen a clip of the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC with a SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop sticker on it!


vonskippy made a funny remark over at tuxmachines.org. He wrote:

"Exactly what type of a raving fanboy do you have to be to get excited that a "glimpse" of Linux was shown on some tv show?

"Go back to tracking "nipple shots", it's less creepy."

F/OSS



IDG flooded the news with its many domains where it put this article about FOSSA.

Novell plans to publish later this month or in December the architecture document of FOSSA, its long-term strategy for the management and deployment of resources both within and outside the enterprise.

The document will be outlined to open-source developers later this year, as the company expects that participation of the open-source community will be important for creating some of the technologies for the FOSSA strategy, said Jeffrey Jaffe, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Novell, on Thursday.


FOSSA is not news [1, 2, 3, 4], but IDG disseminated this article like it covered Novell's Second Coming.

Xandros



Nothing much here except articles about Eee PC and this press release about presence in Santiago (also in Spanish).

Xandros, the leader in making Linux and Windows work together, today announced key staff members to feature the latest BridgeWays cross-platform solution for the Microsoft System Center at the Oracle Day in Santiago de Chile, November 13, 2008. A BridgeWays Management Pack that enables system administrators to monitor and manage Oracle Database Server on Windows, Linux and UNIX will be featured at the Xandros workstation in the Neuronet Partner booth.


That's all for now.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
 
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries
Links 26/03/2024: Inflation Problems, Strikes in Finland
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Losing Children, Carbon Tax Discussed
Links for the day
Mark Shuttleworth resigns from Debian: volunteer suicide and Albania questions unanswered, mass resignations continue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 26/03/2024: 6,000 Layoffs at Dell, Microsoft “XBox is in Real Trouble as a Hardware Manufacturer”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Microsofters Still Trying to 'Extend' Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Look What IBM's Red Hat is Turning CentOS Into
For 17 years our site ran on CentOS. Thankfully we're done with that...
The Julian Paul Assange Verdict: The High Court Has Granted Assange Leave to Appeal Extradition to the United States, Decision Adjourned to May 20th Pending Assurances
The decision is out
The Microsoft and Apple Antitrust Issues Have Some But Not Many Commonalities
gist of the comparison to Microsoft
ZDNet, Sponsored by Microsoft for Paid-for Propaganda (in 'Article' Clothing), Has Added Pop-Up or Overlay to All Pages, Saying "813 Partners Will Store and Access Information on Your Device"
Avoiding ZDNet may become imperative given what it has turned into
Julian Assange Verdict 3 Hours Away
Their decision is due to be published at 1030 GMT
People Who Cover Suicide Aren't Suicidal
Assange didn't just "deteriorate". This deterioration was involuntary and very much imposed upon him.
Overworking Kills
The body usually (but not always) knows best
Former Red Hat Chief (CEO), Who Decided to Leave the Company Earlier This Month, Talks About "Cloud Company Red Hat" to CNBC
shows a lack of foresight and dependence on buzzwords
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 25, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Discord Does Not Make Money, It's Spying on People and Selling Data/Control (38% is Allegedly Controlled by the Communist Party of China)
a considerable share exists
In At Least Two Nations Windows is Now Measured at 2% "Market Share" (Microsoft Really Does Not Want People to Notice That)
Ignore the mindless "AI"-washing
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Still Has Hundreds of Thousands of Simultaneously-Online Unique Users
The scale of IRC