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April 22, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Red Hat is announcing Tuesday its support for virtualization capabilities offered by AMD processors in new HP servers.

The company's Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 platform supports AMD's Rapid Virtualization Indexing technology, for more efficient use of memory management on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors. HP now is offering systems equipped with these processors in its HP ProLiant DL585 G5 servers, Red Hat said.

Rapid Virtualization Indexing improves the efficiency of virtual guest operating systems' memory management, Red Hat said.

Red Hat also is offering para-virtualized device drivers to make IO workloads in virtual guests perform close to the bare-metal performance of the system, said Doug Shakshober, senior consulting engineer at Red Hat.

In OLTP testing, Red Hat Enterprise Linux showed that a virtualized guest using Rapid Virtualization Indexing and the para-virtualized drivers had a 21-fold performance gain and reached 77 percent of the performance of a non-virtualized environment using a 16-CPU virtualized guest on a difficult database OLTP workload, the company said.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 has been shipping since November.

Posted by Paul Krill on April 22, 2008 06:35 AM

January 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Linux kernel update offered

Linux kernel developers have released an updated kernel featuring capabilities to offload processing and to boost power management.

Released last week, release 2.6.24 of the kernel features a generic interface point for large receive offload support, said Theodore Tso, one of the maintainers of the Linux file system. This is useful for fast 10 GB and higher Ethernet drivers that want to offload some TCP processing to the card, he said.

For embedded development, the kernel features tickless support, in which the CPU is not interrupted regularly on architectures such as Arm and Mips. This improves CPU efficiency and power utilization, which is beneficial to embedded systems developers, Tso said.

The release also features resource management and virtualization improvements, in which groups of processes can be segmented in their own container, making them less likely to affect other processes, Tso said. Also, specific tasks can be assigned limits on CPU consumption.

Also featured are new device drivers and read only bind mounts, which allows a portion of a file system hierarchy to be transplanted and offered elsewhere in a read-only view. This can be useful for virtualization, Tso said.

It will be up to different Linux distributors to decide when to offer the kernel improvements, Tso said. Kernel updates are offered by kernel developers about every two to three months, he said.

Posted by Paul Krill on January 28, 2008 05:14 PM

November 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Apple updates, Linux failures, fast storage, and cracks for crackers

Apple updates survivor's guide: Tom Yager offers a guide through the flurry of fixes (count em, 23 updates) that Apple released this week. Where else but in Enterprise Mac.

Rock and a hard place: Randall Kennedy tried to love Ubuntu Desktop, but he could not. Read about his week-long adventure on planet Linux in Enterprise Desktop. And now back to Windows... and a fight with Vista SP1.

How fast can storage go? Mario Apicella discusses DataDirect Networks' and SGI's approaches to increasing the G's. See Storage Insider.

Your underwear is showing: Intruders don't always need fancy tools to worm their way into your network; sometimes the door is wide open. Roger Grimes reveals the many ways in, and what you can do to plug the holes in today's Security Advisor.

Posted by Doug Dineley on November 16, 2007 10:44 AM

November 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Red Hat, Hyperic join on systems management

Red Hat and Hyperic are extending their agreement to co-develop a common systems management platform, with development to continue under a new open source model.

Hyperic offers monitoring and management software for large-scale online businesses and SaaS providers. The arrangement with Red Hat means Hyperic will collaborate with Red Hat and JBoss on open source system management software for Red and JBoss products, including Red Hat's Linux distribution.

Previously, JBoss licensed Hyperic's software to create the JBoss Operations Network, a management offering that is re-branding of Hyperic's product. Now Red Hat, which has acquired JBoss, will contribute updates and enhancements to the project. Red Hat and Hyperic will include this base in both future Hyperic and Red Hat systems management products. The two companies also will share an open source code repository and collaborate on a development and governance roadmap for their common technology.

Hyperic became an open source vendor last year. "We did it so that we could get this technology into more people's hands," said Javier Sultero, Hyperic CEO.

The community at large will have access to the jointly developed code base via the GPL (GNU General Public License).

Posted by Paul Krill on November 14, 2007 07:03 AM

October 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Mandriva Linux 2008 offered

Mandriva is offering Mandriva Linux 2008, which is intended to offer simplicity for first-time Linux users, the company said on Wednesday.

Featured are enhancements such as the new versions of the Gnome and KDE desktop environments. Also featured is the 3D-accelerated desktop comprised of Compiz Fusion 0.5.2 and drak 3D, Mandriva said.

A Windows documents and settings migration tool is highlighted for moving from Windows to Linux. Also cited were an optimized control center and enhancements to the rpmdrake software installer.

Support is included for the WPA (WiFi Protection Access) Enterprise authentication and security framework, implemented in a new network configuration tool and the net-applet network control panel.

Posted by Paul Krill on October 10, 2007 10:22 AM

September 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: The road ahead for Oliver Rist

Business is business It's an all mobile phone week for Tom Yager, who after completing a comparative review of seven enterprise models brings up the topic of how to get a better deal when buying one. Act like a business, and not like a consumer party, is Tom's advice in his Ahead of the Curve column.

The Road Ahead? All good things come to an end. If you enjoyed Oliver Rist columns take a good reading of this one because it's his last. Oliver parting gift to his readers is a look at what's coming with Windows in the near feature and how to prepare for it. Was he trying to mimic (or mock) "The Road Ahead"? Perhaps. One never knows with Oliver.

Posted by Mario Apicella on September 5, 2007 09:13 AM

August 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Ubuntu sponsor seeks feedback

User input is being sought on a planned 2008 release of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, according to an official at the project's sponsor company.

In his blog, Jono Bacon, Ubuntu community manager for sponsor Canonical, said Ubuntu 8.04, also known as "Hardy Heron," is due next April. Version 8.04 will feature "Long Term Support""and get security updates on the server for five years and on the desktop for three years.

"Each new release gives us all an opportunity to shine, irrespective of which bricks in the project we are laying, and this is at the heart of our belief - working together to produce an operating system that will empower its users and shape the IT industry, putting free software at the cornerstone of our direction," Bacon said.

"Everyone is welcome to think of and develop ideas for features that could be present in the Hardy Heron release," said Bacon.

Users can add their specifications by linking to this Web page for Ubuntu blueprints.

An Ubuntu Developer Summit meeting will be held in October in Cambridge, Mass. to discuss the specifications for version 8.04.

Version 8.04 follows the Ubuntu 7.10 release, also known as "Gutsy Gibbon," which is due in October.

Posted by Paul Krill on August 30, 2007 03:35 PM

December 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Review: Xandros 4.1 a viable Windows alternative

With the launch of Windows Vista, many companies are evaluating their upgrade options for existing PCs. Vista will run on most PCs manufactured in the last year or two, but will only run well on computers with a good graphics card and lots of RAM. Vista needs 512MB of RAM just to run, and 1 GB to run well.

Xandros wants to be your alternative to Windows Vista. It is a Linux distribution based on the Debian Sarge core, with an enhanced user interface and file manager. It can run on almost any Intel or AMD CPU with a clock of at least 450MHz. It can run in 128MB of RAM, and run well in 256MB. Enabling its new three-dimensional desktop effects requires specific graphics chipsets (which, remarkably, don't include NVidia), but these effects are not exactly a business requirement.

Xandros has gone to great lengths to make this Linux distribution look and feel familiar to Windows users. It has also gone to great lengths to achieve compatibility at many other levels: applications, disk and file formats, utility functions, and network protocols. It can even run many Windows applications, using CodeWeavers CrossOver Linux Standard. A new and welcome capability is the ability to write to NTFS partitions, making Xandros more viable than it has been in a dual-boot scenario with Windows.

Almost everything I tried worked, although not everything worked smoothly. About the only serious incompatibility that I found was in the Xandros VPN client: the only supported VPN protocol is PPTP, and not the more secure L2TP/IPSec. The VPN authentication methods are also limited; I was not able to connect to any of the VPNs to which I have access.

Xandros Professional Desktop 4.1
Cost: $99.99
Availability: Now
Verdict: Xandros is about 90% of the way towards providing a fully-functional alternative to Windows desktops. I can see companies with mixed Windows and Linux networks using it internally, especially for older computers that would not run Windows Vista well.

Posted by Martin Heller on December 11, 2006 11:24 AM

October 24, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Fedora Core 6 expands admins' options

Boasting better performance, improved features for admins and developers, and enhanced virtualization management, The Fedora Project today announced Release 6 of Fedora Core.

Admins may be most interested in an enhancement to the installer, which enables a network-accessible installation to access third-party RPM repositories, such as Fedora Extras or a local repository, at install-time. "These installation improvements, coupled with improvements in package dependency and updating tools, make it easier to manage systems," according to a release from The Fedora Project, which is sponsored by Red Hat.

Fedora Core 6 also delivers new GUI management tools including a virtualization manager, an SELinux troubleshooting tool, and an improved LVM cluster management tool.

Other improvements include IPv6 support as well as a single 2.6.18-based Linux kernel that automatically detects and configures for the number of processors on a machine, according to The Fedora Project.

Another enhancement: Fedora now supports Intel-based Macs on top of its previous support for x86, x86-64 and Power PC chip architectures.

On the performance front, Fedora claims speedier app startup, resulting from the optimized DT_GNU_HASH. NFS (network file systems) performance is also improved.

The Fedora Core desktop also spruced up fonts and artworks, as well as better usability "from the latest upstream releases of GNOME and KDE."

There's also a new platform that enables GL-accelerated effects on a standard desktop, better and faster software updating tools, and the latest upstream versions of popular open source applications.

Fedora Core 6, is available for download at fedoraproject.org. To view a slideshow of Fedora screens, go here.

Posted by Ted Samson on October 24, 2006 02:45 PM

October 16, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Rapid7: Vulnerable driver blob loose on Linux

If you're running a Nvidia graphics driver on Linux systems at you organization or home, network security company Rapid7 suggests you disable it immediately.

According to a security advisory released today by Rapid7:

"the Nvidia Binary Graphics Driver for Linux [v8774 and v8762] is vulnerable to a buffer overflow that allows an attacker to run arbitrary code as root. This bug can be exploited both locally or remotely (via a remote X client or an X client which visits a malicious Web page)."

The Nvidia drivers for Solaris and FeeeBSD are also likely to be vulnerable, according to the advisory.

The solution, Rapid7 says, is to disable the binary blob driver and use the open-source "nv" driver that is included by default with X.

The aforementioned binary closed-source blob provides graphics acceleration, unlike its open-source counterpart. The blob "contains an error in its accelerated rendering of glyphs (text character data) that can be exploited to write arbitrary data to anywhere in memory."

InfoWorld Senior Editor and "Open Enterprise" Columnist Neil McCallister wrote about the usage of proprietary blobs in drivers not too long ago. He observed that making these blobs open source could, among other things, "bring the ability to leverage community development to squash critical flaws such as the exploits that recently plagued Intel's wireless drivers".

Seems we can now add Nvidia's flaw to the list.

Posted by Ted Samson on October 16, 2006 03:11 PM

September 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Mandriva Linux 2007 RC unfurled

Named after the God of the Moon, Mona, aka Mandriva Linux 2007 RC, has risen.

Mandriva, formerly Mandrakesoft, reports several improvements over the beta version of the OS, including fixes to the network module b44 and to proprietary drivers such as nvidia.

Changes from since the 2006 iteration include:

Gnome 2.16
Kernel 2.6.17 (based on 2.6.17.11, with ALSA 1.0.12 final, i965 support, and new kernel factorization: normal, enterprise and legacy)
KDE 3.5.4
New VPN configuration tool (drakvpn)
New tool to configure a redundant firewall with ucarp (invictus-firewall)
New 3D desktop support (both with AIGLX and Xgl) and new tool to configure it (drak3d)
New 'Ia Ora' Mandriva theme

For more information, go here.

Posted by Ted Samson on September 11, 2006 09:25 AM

September 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Open source-.Net ties

Open source tangled in .Net?: Open Enterprise columnist Neil McAllister observes that, like it or not, the the cross-pollination between Microsoft technologies and open source software is here to stay. He cites as examples the recent release of IronPython 1.0, which enables Python programs can run as first-class managed code on the .Net platform. There's also Gnome 2.16, which has a notebook app requiring Redmond's CLR implementation.

Desperately seeking calendar help: Dave Rosenberg over in the Open Sources blogs reports having a "painful time trying to figure out how to do shared calendaring across Mac and Linux users." He's tried .Mac for shared calendars, box.net, and Google Calendar. Scalix, Zimbra, and WebDAV/iCal accounts don't seem to do it either. Have any ideas for him?

VMware readies Lab Manager equipped with Slingshot:After snagging Akimbi earlier this year, VMware has announced that fruits of its acquisition: the VMware Lab Manager 2.4 Beta Program, writes David Marshall in the InfoWorld Virtualization Report. The program is built around Akimbi Slingshot. "Interestingly, rather than starting over with a 1.0 release, VMware chose to continue the versioning of the product where Akimbi left off." The company describes the program as a "premier Virtual Lab Automation System for Development and Test organizations. It provides software development and test infrastructure that automates the rapid setup and teardown of even the most complex multi-machine software configurations ... ."

Speaking of virtualization: InfoWorld's Virtualization Executive Forum is approaching quickly. Several InfoWorld Test Center analysts and editors will be there, joined by IT leaders well-versed in virtualization. The event takes place Sept. 25 and 26 at the Roosevelt Hotel, in New York, NY. Go here for more information.

Posted by Ted Samson on September 11, 2006 06:00 AM

September 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)

GNOME v2.16 brings more features, fewer bugs

The GNOME Project has released Version 2.16 of its multi-platform desktop environment, delivering several new features and fixes for hundreds of reports bugs.

Among its reported improvements are:

tools for managing laptop battery, UPS, and wireless peripheral

a new quick-note-taking application called Tomboy

an improved menu editor called Alacarte (which Ubuntu users should recognize)

a disk-usage-analyzer called Baobab

enhancements to the Totem video player; and an improved bug-reporting features.

The desktop runs platforms, including Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, BSD, and Apple's Darwin. The new version eases porting GNOME tools to Windows, according to the GNOME Project site.

GNOME is part of The GNU Project, and is free software.

Posted by Ted Samson on September 7, 2006 10:05 PM

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