Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.

Technical Overview
Enterprise Linux Overview
 Complete family of Client & Server products – from Laptop to Mainframe
● Comprehensive architecture support
● Shared base technology, all open source, matured by Fedora Project

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Servers Clients
Red Hat Red Hat Red Hat Red Hat
Enterprise Linux AS Enterprise Linux ES Enterprise Linux WS Desktop

Large servers; Entry/mid Technical

Standard corporate
databases; servers; workstation; power
productivity desktop;
corporate email, web, user; Engineering
volume deployments
applications file/print.... apps; HPC

Intel® x86, Itanium®2,

EM64T; AMD64; Intel® x86, Itanium®2, Intel® x86, Itanium®2, Intel® x86, EM64T;
IBM POWER, EM64T; AMD64 EM64T; AMD64 AMD64
z-Series, S/390

Fedora
Open Source Projects
 Product Development Overview
Infinite universe of
open source packages....  Fedora is a fundamental part of the
development of Red Hat Enterprise
Linux
Upstream
Linux 2.6.x, Apache, etc.  The whole is greater than the sum of
the parts due to a fully integrated
Installer User testing processes
Kitting Core packages contributed
Documentation packages  Close participation in upstream
Packaging C
Integration development minimizes patch
Project Management (community coordination, delivery) differences & leverages upstream
Testing (limited internal, huge external) testing
Fedora  Fedora & RHEL packages are
'owned' by the same engineer

Extended documentation Enterprise/commercial packages

 Red Hat is able to influence high-end
Full architecture range Conservative selection feature adoption by community
Layered product integration
 RHEL package sets tailored to market
Fixes/enhancements
(AS, ES, WS...)
Project Management (scheduling, services, partner relationships)
Testing (extensive, rigorous, with customers & OEM/ISV partners)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

 Enterprise Linux Timeline
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 is the latest generation of the family
● Delivered in February 2005
 Delivers the world's leading open source enterprise-strength solution with
increased performance, scalability, availability and security
● Continued focus on the commercial client and server market

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 3
- Intel x86 64-bit - EM64T
- Red Hat Application Server
- Red Hat Desktop
- Red Hat Global File System
Support Lifetime
Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 4 Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 6
- 2.6 Kernel base
- SELinux integration
- Enhanced desktop Updates:
- Auditing
- Enhanced scalability/performance
- Logical Volume Management 2 - Application profiling/debug tools
- RHN Monitoring - Mirroring & Multipathing
- .... - Netscape-based technologies
- ....
Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 Overview
 A major goal is to provide a consistent environment that is a smooth continuation
of the v.3 solution stack
● “The same, only better”
 Product model is unchanged
● Subscription-based services; seven year support
● Includes all updates, upgrades and unlimited incident support

 Customers purchasing a Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription can select

whichever version they wish to run
● RHEL v.2.1, RHELv.3 or RHEL v.4
● Selection will typically be based on:
● ISV application certification

● OEM hardware certification

● Requirement for homogeneity with existing systems

● Requirement for features only available in later releases

● Upgrade to later versions possible at any time for no additional charge

Kernel
 Goals:
● Stability – Performance – Scalability – Maintainability
● Software & hardware features required by customers and ISVs & OEMs
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 is built on a Linux 2.6.9 kernel
● Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.3 used a Linux 2.4 kernel with numerous Linux
2.6 features incorporated
● Moving to a full Linux 2.6 core provides features that have matured during
2004, for example:
● New block I/O system increases storage scalability (e.g. 16TB on x86)

● Specialized RHEL3 features have been accepted upstream and further

enhanced for wider applicability in RHEL4

● Many 2.6 kernel algorithms provide higher performance than 2.4

● Fedora has provided extensive testing of new capabilities

● All architectures built from a common source RPM (as with RHEL3)
● Uniform feature set and maintenance/support
Kernel
 The Linux 2.6 kernel provides numerous features that increase performance and
efficiency
 A few examples include:
● Read Copy Update – optimizes performance of kernel subsystems that
access read-mostly structures
● I/O elevators – algorithms to optimize I/O initiation for maximum throughput
and/or interactive response
● Object-based Rmap VM – Originally a RHEL 3 feature, now optimized for
lower overhead, improves performance of memory constrained systems
● Logical CPU scheduling – Hyperthreading-aware scheduler originally
provided in RHEL3, now optimized for generic logical CPU support (e.g.
multi-core, etc)
 The Linux 2.6 block I/O subsystem provides a cleaner implementation of many
enhancements implemented over the past years
● More efficient, higher performance
● Foundation for support of larger file systems & filesizes
Security
 Goals:
● Provision of a security infrastructure that can meet current and future security
needs
● Features that are of value to standard, unmodified applications
● Features that take advantage of hardware architecture capabilities
● Features for high-security application environments
 New to Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4
● Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux)
● Improved auditing
● Common Criteria/EAL4+ certification planned on all architectures
 Enhancements carried forward from Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.3, Update 3
● Position Independent Executables (PIE); Exec Shield; NX/XD
Performance/Scalability
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.3 has established several world record performance
results (TPC/C, SPECweb, SPECjAppSrvr, OASB, etc.)
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 provides multiple new performance capabilities
● Red Hat and its partners will continue to deliver leadership performance
 Features include:
● Block I/O subsystem provides numerous I/O subsystem optimizations
● Broader NUMA support
● Hyperthreaded scheduler enhancements for generic logical CPU support
● Read Copy Update kernel structures reduce spinlock contention
● Improved VM scalability
● Ext3 performance enhancements
● Sys_epoll() for high volume (typically, network) event handling
● Multiple 2.6 kernel performance/scalability features from RHEL3
● NPTL – AIO – HugeTLBfs – O(1) scheduler – O_Direct – Large Block I/O
Application/Development Environment
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 provides runtime support for Red Hat Enterprise
Linux v.3 and v.2.1 applications
● Customers recommended to upgrade applications
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 provides:
● GCC 3.4
● Improved C/C++ standards compliance
● Optimized code generation for improved application performance
● GCC 4.0 technology preview
● First GCC toolchain to include Fortran95 compiler

 System-wide performance profiler and integrated tool support

● Oprofile
● Included in base RHEL product family

● Leveraged by development tools. E.G.: Red Hat Developer Suite

● Numerous tools provided for application profiling

System/Interconnect Support
 x86 4G – 4G kernel/user memory split provides increased address spaces
● Up to 64GB main memory & ~4GB process virtual address space
 Active SATA development continues
● RHEL4 provides additional hardware support
● Backported to RHEL3 updates

● Native tagged command queuing provides significant performance boost

 Active iSCSI development underway
● Community implementation stabilizing, RHEL inclusion when ready
 The Linux 2.6 kernel provides additional system support features:
● ACPI-2.0; initial PCI Express support
● NUMA
● Development driven by hardware implementation details

● Primary focus on Itanium® 2 & 64-bit x86 implementations (not 32-bit)

 AutoFS v4 provides mature and stable device automounting capability

● Also included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.3 Update 3
Storage
 The Linux 2.6 kernel offers greatly increased storage subsystem scalability
● Supports over 4,000 SCSI devices/paths (vs. 256 with Linux 2.4)
 Ext3 enhancements
● Online file system growth improves availability
● High value feature for LVM environments

● Block reservations greatly improve read/write performance

● Maximum supported filesystem size increased to 8TB
● Maximum filesize increased to 8TB (x86/AMD64/EM64T) & 16TB
(Itanium2/POWER)
● Using sparse file support

 Logical Volume Manager 2 (LVM2)

● Significantly increased functionality over RHEL3+LVM1
● Mirroring, Multipathing, R/W snapshots

● Improved robustness, availability, performance; easier to configure/manage

 RAID s/w provides support for RAID 6 and improved support for RAID 0+1
Networking
 NAPI (New API) – network interrupt mitigation
● Improved handling of high network loads Application Layer
(clients, servers)
● Initially provided in RHEL 3 (ftp, telnet, etc.)
 SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol)
● Requirement for Telco market (CGL compliance) Transport Layer
 Zero copy networking (data encapsulation)
(TCP, UDP, etc.)
 NFS
● Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 includes support for
NFSv4 Network Layer
(routing, data transmission)
● Provides improved security, performance & stability (IPv4, IPv6, etc.)
over NFSv3
 Bluetooth – inherited from stock 2.6 kernel Datalink Layer
 Infiniband – delivery and support being planned with Red (Ethernet, etc.)
(Device Driver)
Hat partners (Topspin, Infinicon, ...)
Applications
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux is established as the platform leader for ISV
applications
● More than 300 ISVs have certified over 1000 applications
 Standards conforming RHEL v.3 and RHEL v2.1 applications will run, and are
supported, on RHEL v.4 using compatibility libraries
● Migration to RHEL v.4 recommended
● Newer compiler generates improved/faster code

● Applications that do not adhere correctly to C/C++ standards may need

modification
 Sun has announced that it will provide 100% runtime compatibility for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux v.3 applications
● Ref: Sun's Project Janus – announced August 3, 2004
● Planned for delivery in a Sun Solaris 10 update in 2005
● This further establishes RHEL v.3 as the de facto enterprise Linux application
platform
● Will lead to increased ISV application support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Serviceability
 Kernel Crash Dump analysis
● Netdump – carried forward from Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.3
● X86 only today

● EM64T/AMD64, Itanium 2 & IBM POWER planned for updates

● Diskdump
● X86 and Itanium 2 only today

● Other architectures in planning for updates

● e.g. AMD64/EM64T in Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.3 Update 4

● Creates dumpfile that is 100% compatible with Netdump

● Can use common debug tools/utilities

● Allows a crash dump to be taken on a local disk

● AIC7xxx, AIC79xx, MPT Fusion (generic IDE under development)

● Kexec dump technology under investigation/development

Upgrading from RHEL v.3 to RHEL v.4
 Non-standard (modified) RHEL3 systems will required a fresh installation
● Recommended for all systems whenever possible to ensure a known, clean
starting point
● Red Hat will provide a Migration Procedures & Guidelines white paper
 Upgrades of unmodified systems from RHEL3 to RHEL4 are supported
● Backup versions of updated configuration files are maintained for critical
packages
● Administrators will need to setup site-specific configuration parameters
● Major environment setups are maintained, including:
● User accounts/quotas/preferences; printer configuration; file ACL

settings; security/firewall settings; CRON tasks; etc.

 RHEL3 & 2.1 applications will continue to run using compatibility libraries
● Partner applications that follow Red Hat Ready Application Guidelines are not
impacted by upgrade process
● Other applications may require reinstallation
Miscellaneous
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux continues to offer support for multiple language
● 10 languages from RHEL v.3 with addition of several Indic languages
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux continues to be the foundation for specialized markets
● Telco; embedded; HPC etc.
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 will include MySQL 4.x (updated from MySQL 3.x)
● Client and server components
● 32-bit & 64-bit client access to 32-bit & 64-bit databases
● Client & Server interoperability with MySQL 3.x is provided
 PCI hot plug support
● Support provided by stock Linux 2.6 kernel
● Primarily a serviceability feature (requires hot-plug hardware)
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 will be LSB 1.3 compliant
● LSB 2 compliance requires GCC 3.2/3 (RHEL v.4 provides GCC 3.4)
● Red Hat is working with the FSG to ensure compliance to next LSB standard
● Standards are still undergoing development
What is an Application Server?

An application server is system software that

resides between the operating system on one
side, the external resources--database,
communication and Internet services)--on the
other side, and the user's applications on the
third side.

At runtime, the application server is to act as host

(or container) for the user's business logic while
facilitating access and performance of the
business application.
Red Hat Application Server Ver. 1
 Red Hat Application Server includes:
● JOnAS, ObjectWeb's standards-based middleware
implementation*, with web-based adminstration
● Tomcat, the Reference Implentation of Java Servlet and
JavaServerPages technologies
● Struts, a framework for building Java web applications
● Red Hat Developer Suite, a full-featured IDE based on
Eclipse
● Support for all major commercial JVMs (IBM, BEA, and
Sun)
● Support for Oracle, DB2, Sybase, PostgreSQL, and MySQL
● JDBC drivers are available from your database vendor

● Tutorials for JOnAS and Struts web application usage with

multiple examples
 Red Hat Application Server ships in August 2004
Red Hat Application Server
Overview

Red Hat Application Server

Web
Browser Web Container

Servlets JSPs

Tomcat
Database
Application
EJB Container
Enterprise
Java Beans
JOnAS
Support for Standards
 Red Hat Application Server provides support for all the
leading standards
● Additional standards support will be added in future
releases Sun Java System
Red Hat App
J2EE Technology/API JBoss v3.2 Application Server
Server v1.0
Platform Edition 8

J2EE Certification Yes Yes Yes

EJB Yes Yes Yes

Servlet Yes Yes Yes

JSP Yes Yes Yes

JCA Yes Yes Yes

JTS/JTA Yes Yes Yes

JMS Yes Yes Yes

JDBC Yes Yes Yes

JNDI Yes Yes Yes

JavaMail Yes Yes Yes

JAAS Yes Yes Yes

JMX Yes Yes Yes

JAF Yes Yes Yes

J2EE App Deployment No No Yes

Java ACC No No Yes

CMP Yes Yes Yes

Application Server Benchmarks
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux is already proven as a leading
Application Server platform
● Current SPECjAppServer2002 (dual node) world record
holder with Oracle
408.02
BEA, HP/UX, HP Itanium rx5670
1075.17

Oracle AS, Red Hat Enterprise 431.26 TOPS@DualNode

Linux, HP ProLiant Xeon 160.62 US$/TOPS@DualNode

Oracle AS, Red Hat Enterprise 690.13

Linux, Sun Fire 101.1

BEA, Microsoft Windows 2003 1305.04

Server, HP Itanium rx4640 218.28

Oracle AS, Red Hat Enterprise

1325.61
Linux, Rackable Systems Ita-
138.01
nium

The two leaders. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux solution

is slightly faster than Windows 2003, and 37% cheaper!
Questions?
Details
 The following slides cover the previous topics in more detail
 Read Copy Update
 Improves performance of kernel functions that usually read data structures, only
rarely writing them ('read mostly')
● Without RCU, structures/lists must always be locked to provide
synchronization in the rare event of a write operation
● With RCU, readers execute freely; updates are only completed to the point
that new operations see new state, while existing operations continue with old
state (i.e. a copy)
● Old state is cleaned up later, after a 'grace' period

 Example uses: Network routing cache; Dentry cache; syscall auditing; netfilter

Updater Reader
Header
Updater can access list
concurrently with Reader(s) A B C

Updater Reader
Header
Updater updates list without
deleting Reader's structure. A B C
New operations see new state
Header
When Reader is complete
its structure is deleted A C
I/O Elevators – CFQ Scheduler
 The Linux 2.6 kernel provides additional performance through improved I/O
initiation algorithms
 Kernel command line option can be used to select the scheduler for a system
● Provided schedulers:
● CFQ; Deadline; Noop; AS

 Completely Fair Queueing (CFQ) is the default RHEL 4 I/O scheduler

● Implements one I/O queue per process
● The I/O scheduler initiates one I/O per queue on a round-robin basis
● Ensures complete fairness at a process level
 Deadline scheduler provides a per I/O request deadline to eliminate process I/O
starvation
● Eliminates excessive I/O latency
● Suitable for database applications
 Noop scheduler provides no reordering
● Typically used by virtual systems
I/O Elevators – Anticipatory Scheduler
 Anticipatory scheduler (AS) modifies read/write order balance:
● Average disk seek+transfer takes, say, 5-8mS
● Reads tend to be synchronous – so are issued at a slow rate
● Writes tend to be asynchronous – so are issued at a fast rate
● Writes can overwhelm reads, dragging disk heads off-cylinder in the middle
of (common) physically sequential read operations
● Off-cylinder operations cost the read thread ~10-16mS

● AS scheduler delays issuing queued writes after a read completes by ~1mS

to see if another read is issued
● Optimizes the most common read semantics

● Costs 1mS of write for a potential 10-16mS read gain

● Improves disk throughput, for slight increase in write latency

● Suitable for interactive environments
Object Based Reverse Map VM
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.3 provided PTE-based Reverse Mapping
● Provides a high performance method to identify which processes are
accessing given physical pages
● Required for memory management operations such as swapping

● Developed by Red Hat, incorporated in the Linux 2.5 kernel

● Greatly improved performance for memory constrained systems
● Algorithm considered acceptable, but not optimal – high cost, high benefit
● Open source community continued to optimize the algorithm
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 includes optimized, object-based implementation
● Incorporated in the Linux 2.6 kernel
● Significantly reduced computational overhead – low cost, high benefit
● Rather than creating a new PTE pointer structure for every page, the new
algorithm uses existing pointers in file-backed memory objects (structures)
and creates new objects for anonymous memory
 Excellent example of Red Hat & open source community engineering working
together to create an optimal solution
Internationalization
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.3 supports 10 languages
● English, Japanese, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Italian, French,
Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Spanish
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 extends this to include several Indic languages
● Devnagari – Bangla – Punjabi – Tamil – Gujarati
 IIIMF – Internet/Intranet Input Method framework
● IIIMF is the next generation multilingual Unicode input method framework
● Replacement for existing input method frameworks & libraries (e.g. XIM)
● Multilingual & full UNICODE support

● Multiple language engines can run concurrently – multiuser support

● Distributed, lightweight clients and scalable server

● Efficient enough to be used over low-speed modem connection

● Easy input method engine development with plugin API

● Easy input method enabling with libiiimcf, even on console apps.

Performance/Scalability
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 supports larger SMP systems than RHEL v.3
● x86: 32 CPUs; Itanium 2: 64 CPUs
 Numerous non-kernel performance enhancements
● One example, Ext3 read/write performance is greatly improved with the new
Block Reservation feature (space preallocation)
● Hash tree algorithm for large directories
● Improved SMP performance through locking changes

N.B. 2.4 performance slightly lower than 2.6

Performance/Scalability
 sys_epoll() provides a high efficiency polling mechanism for applications which
need to wait on events occuring on many (1000s) file descriptors (typically
network I/O channels)
● Eliminates need for heavily repeated select() and poll() calls
● Significant performance improvement

● Use by applications such as Lotus Domino

Performance Management Tools
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux has an extensive and growing set of performance
management tools
Package Utility RHEL4 RHEL3 RHEL2.1
util-linux 2.12a-2 2.11y-31.1 2.11f-20.4
readprofile y y y
elvtune y y y
ipcs y y y
oprofile 0.8-20040511.12 0.5.4-22 -
valgrind 2.1.2-3 - -
kdesdk 3.2.3-1 - -
kcachegrind y - -
ltrace 0.3.32-4 0.3.29-1 0.3.10-7
strace 4.5.6-1 4.5_3 4.5_2
procps 3.2.2-2 2.0.13-9.2E 2.0.7-11
free y y y
ps y y y
pmap y y -
slabtop y - -
tload y y y
top y y y
vmstat y y y
w y y y
psmisc 21.4-3 21.3-1.RHEL.0 20.1-2
pstree y y y
fuser y - y
sysstat 5.0.5-1 4.0.7-4 4.0.1-15.2.1as
iostat y y y
mpstat(list irq/sec) y y y
sar y y y
sa1 y y y
sa2 y y y
Storage: Autofs
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 includes Autofs 4
● Automatically mounts file systems on touching (cd, ls, etc.)
● Dismount automatically after timeout (default 60 seconds)
● Also included in RHEL 3 Update 3
● Supports new features:
● Multi-mounts – allows multiple lookups in succession

● Browsable mounts (ghosting) – allows you to see directories before

mounting them (useful in file managers)

● Replicated servers – selects the best server for a given mount based on

administrator controllable response timer

● Executable maps – for automatic generation of autofs mount points

● Functionality approaching that of Sun's de facto standard automounter

Storage: Logical Volume Management (LVM2)
 Replaces LVM1, which was provided in RHEL 3
 Improved storage management flexibility
● Easier to use and more configurable
 Improved robustness and design:
● Transactional (journaled) meta data changes
● Provides clean separation of application and kernel runtime mapping
● Small kernel footprint (Device Mapper)

● Enhanced Physical Volume move performance and reliability

● Improved snapshot scalability
● Snapshots are read/write (LVM1 snapshots were read-only)

● Multiple snapshots are practical without excessive performance loss

 Device Mapper provides kernel interface for 3rd party storage mgmt apps
● Project sponsored by Red Hat – accepted in upstream kernel
● Pluggable infrastructure: concatenation, striping, mirroring, encryption....
● Clients include IBM's EVMS (Enterprise Volume Management System)
 Storage: Logical Volume Management (LVM2)
 Improved data availability
● Supports Mirroring (not in LVM1)1
● Up to 32 disks per mirror-set

● Supports multi-pathing
● The 'multipath' OSS project, layered under LVM, is included in RHEL41

● Supersedes MD driver (still included for upward compatibility)

 Upwardly compatible meta-data with LVM1 enables easy upgrade

 Provides underpinnings for cluster-wide logical volume management (CLVM)
● All LVM features become cluster-wide when deployed with Red Hat Global
File System v.6.1 (Q1 2005)
● Except cluster-wide mirroring, which will be provided post RHEL4

 Logical Volume Manager is integrated into the Anaconda installer

● LVM configurations can be set up at installation time

(1) Planned for RHEL4 Update

Storage: Logical Volume Management (LVM2)
 LVM2 provides significantly improved GUI-based storage management
capabilities
● Goal to provide consistent, easy to understand, administrator interface
Storage: iSCSI
 iSCSI provides low-cost connectivity to
Enterprise SAN infrastructures
● Direct access to corporate data Red Hat Enterprise Linux Host
● TCP/IP based Cisco iSCSI initiator Qlogic/Adaptec driver
 iSCSI support planned for RHEL4 & RHEL3 NIC iSCSI adapter
● Open source Cisco implementation (Initiator
only) TCP/IP
● RHEL4 dependent on upstream acceptance
ISCSI
of iSCSI initiator driver storage controller ISCSI bridge
● Planned for delivery in a RHEL4 update (e.g. NetApp)
Fibre Channel
● Linux 2.6 driver currently undergoing
Switch
rapid change and development
● RHEL3 via update 4 SAN
● Not upstream dependent FC
host
● Boot support planned for a later update
 Qlogic/Adaptec iSCSI adapter support available
Graphics: Integrated Support
 X.org X11R6.8.0
● X Windows System implementation derived from XFree86 4.4 RC2
● Reinvigorated project for innovation in the X graphics subsystem
● Foundation for future developments, e.g. translucent/animated windows,

3D environments, large display walls

● Integrated Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI)
● Framework for direct access to graphics hardware

● Integrated Mesa
● Open source implementation of the OpenGL 1.5 API

 X.org/Mesa/DRI provides broad accelerated graphics device support

● ATI Rage128 (Standard, Pro, Mobility), R100/R200 (Radeons up to 9200)
● Matrox G200, G400, G450, G550
● Intel i8xx and i915
● Other vendors including SiS, Savage, VIA, 3Dfx
 Proprietary third party drivers available from several vendors
Desktop
 Red Hat has built a large desktop engineering team over the past few years
● Desktop receives equal development emphasis with server engineering
 GNOME 2.4 + 2.6 + 2.8 enhancements all included in RHEL 4
● Panel performance & ease of use improvements
● Improved accessibility with GOK and Gnopernicus
● Improved internationalization; Arabic & Hebrew interface improvements
● Default browser changes to Firefox
● Integrated with GNOME desktop; Mozilla still provided

● Lockdown
● Prevents changes to panel, desktop, preferences; browser URL controls

● Suitable for web kiosks, etc.

● GnomeMeeting – voice & video conferencing

● Gnome VFS supports ssh & Windows SMB protocols
● Ability to browse Windows shares
Desktop
 GNOME 2.8 enhancements:
● More powerful system-wide file selector (from GTK 2.4)
● Nautilus file manager improvements including simplified “spatial” interface
● New, improved MIME document type management system
● Browse network services via OpenTalk (aka Rendezvous)
● Improved Network and Printing management tools
● Improved CD authoring capabilities
● Improved volume mounting and management via GNOME Volume Manager
● Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and D-Bus support allows hot plugging of
cameras, printers, USB thumbdrives, etc.
● GNOME System Tools improvements
● Improved GNOME VFS support, including SMB, SFTP and authentication
● Enhanced internationalization and accessibility support
Desktop: Core Applications
 Firefox & Mozilla Web Browsers
● Choice of integrated Firefox browser (default) or classic Mozilla suite
● Single Sign-On support for NTLM and Kerberos over HTTP using GSSAPI
● Improved standards compliance, platform integration, and i18n support
 Evolution 2.0 Groupware Client
● Robust mail, calendaring, and contact management client
● Supports IMAP, POP, SMTP, LDAP, and iCalendar standards
● Integrated Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003 interoperability
● Integrated certificate management
● Improved platform integration, handheld support, and offline IMAP support
● 100% open source component of the GNOME desktop system
 Updated OpenOffice.org Office Suite
● Including robust word processor, spreadsheet, presentation applications
● Supports document exchange with Microsoft Office file formats
Desktop: Technology
 Improved Multimedia Capabilities
● Integrated open source Helix Player supports
Ogg Vorbis, Theora
● Bundled RealPlayer 10 adds SMIL, MP3,
Flash, RealAudio/RealVideo
● Integrated Rhythmbox Music Management
Application
 Updated Desktop Applications
● Gaim, the multi-protocol instant messenger
client
● Planner, the graphical project management
tool
● GIMP 2.0, the powerful image composition and
editing environment
● Rdesktop, RDP terminal services client
Desktop: Technology
 Cross-platform Interoperability
● Use MS Active Directory for user
login authentication
● Authenticate to web-based
applications with NTLM
● Interoperate with MS Exchange
for mail and shared calendaring
● Browse Windows SMB file and
print shares from default desktop
 Vino – Desktop session sharing via
VNC (for helpdesk, collaboration
uses)
Desktop: Bundled ISV Capabilities
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 includes client applications/capabilities from leading
third-party software vendors bundled and pre-integrated:
● Adobe Acrobat Reader
● Macromedia Flash Player
● Citrix ICA Client
● IBM Java Runtime Environment
● BEA JRockIt Runtime Environment
● Commercial fonts licensed from Agfa Monotype for improved cross-platform
document display fidelity
 Also provided in RHEL 3 Update 2
Networking
 NAPI (New API) – network interrupt mitigation
● Combines network interrupts & polling to improve performance and reduce
packet loss
● Interrupts are disabled after first interrupt

● Network device ring buffers are then polled periodically for completion

● When ring is fully serviced, interrupts are re-enabled

● Important for Gigabit Ethernet

 SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol)
● Requirement for Telco market (CGL compliance)
● Message oriented, reliable, transport protocol
● Multi-homing; multi-streaming
● Connection-oriented data delivery
● Ordered and unordered messaging

● Congestion control
● Runs on IPv4 & IPv6
Networking
 Zero copy networking
 NFSv4
● Improved access & performance
● Strong security, built-in negotiation
● Better cross-platform interoperability
● Permits protocol extensions
● Operation coalescing (compound network transactions)
● Integrated file locking
● Full support of Windows file sharing
 Bluetooth – inherited from stock 2.6 kernel
 Infiniband support
● Red Hat is working with partners (Topspin) to ensure that RHEL v.4 (and
RHEL v.3) certified Infiniband drivers are available and supported
● Date TBD
Red Hat Clustering Solutions
 RHEL v.4 offers two optional clustering solutions (same as RHEL v.3):
● Red Hat Cluster Suite
● High availability through application failover

● Red Hat Global File System

● Cluster file system offers scalability, performance and availability

● Includes Cluster Logical Volume Manager

● Includes Red Hat Cluster Suite

● Both products are fully integrated & share underlying cluster technologies
 New versions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4
● Red Hat Cluster Suite v.4
● Red Hat Global File System v.6.1
Core Cluster Services
 Core clustering functionality for both Red Hat
Cluster Suite and Red Hat Global File System Cluster File Cluster Logical
is delivered in Red Hat Cluster Suite System Volume Manager
● Membership management; I/O fencing;
Lock manager; Heartbeats; Red Hat Global File System
Service/resource manager; Management
GUI IP Load
HA Services
 Support for up to 300 nodes (Failover) Balancing
 Multiple lock management models Core services:
DLM – Connection Manager – Service Manager
● Client-server with SLM/RLM I/O Fencing – Heartbeats – Management GUI
(single/redundant lock manager) Red Hat Cluster Suite
● Distributed Lock Manager
● New with Red Hat Cluster Suite v.4 Single node LVM2

● Open, stable API – consistent with Red Hat Enterprise Linux

VMS DLM
Red Hat Cluster Suite v.4
 New version for Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4
● Existing subscriptions can upgrade at no charge
 Provides two technologies
● High Availability failover – suitable for unmodified applications
● IP Load Balancing – enables network server farms to load share IP load
 New features include:
● Elimination of requirement for shared storage
● Significantly reduces the cost of high availability clustering

● Shared Quorum partition is no longer required

● Service state, previously stored in Quorum partition, is now

distributed across cluster

● Online resource management modification
● Allows services to be updated without shutting down (where possible)

 Also provides core technologies used by Red Hat Global File System
● Included as part of Red Hat Global File System
Distributed Lock Manager
 Red Hat Cluster Suite v.4 includes a Distributed Lock Manager (DLM)
● Primarily used by Red Hat Global File System, but available for general
purpose use by any application
● Closely mirrors the original Digital VMS DLM
 A DLM is a highly functional, distributed (cluster-wide), application
synchronization subsystem
● Processes use the DLM to synchronize access to a shared resource (e.g. a
file, program, or device) by establishing locks on named resources
● Permits the creation of distributed applications
● e.g Oracle RAC (which uses a private DLM)

● Provides a collection of services

● Multiple lock spaces and concurrency (lock) modes

● Lock hierarchies/domains (resources & subresources)

● Range locking

● Lock conversions & value blocks

● Blocking & Asynchronous completions

Distributed Lock Manager
 32 byte lock value block provides a way to propagate a small amount of context
around the cluster as locks are granted and released
● e.g. sequence/ID numbers
 Provides a set of asynchronous & synchronous APIs
● dlm_lock()
Mode of Mode of Currently Granted Lock
● dlm_unlock() Requested
● dlm_query() Lock NL CR CW PR PW EX

 Locking modes: NL Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

● NL: Null CR Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

● CR: Concurrent read CW Yes Yes Yes No No No
● CW: Concurrent write PR Yes Yes No Yes No No
● PR: Protected read (“share”) PW Yes Yes No No No No
● PW: Protected write (“update”) EX Yes No No No No No
● EX: Exclusive
 Designed to use minimal & scalable intra-cluster messaging
 DLM: Lock Request with no Resource Manager

Node A Node C
Resource
Master Resource Block
1
Directory Block

Lock Block

2 4 (1) When a lock request is received, a resource block and a lock

block are created.
Node B (2) A message requesting the identity of the resource master is
Directory then sent to the directory node. The directory node is
Node determined by hashing the resource name modulo the cluster
size.
(3) A directory entry is created listing node A as the resource
3 manager.
(4) The response message directs node A to become the resource
manager.

Source: Snaman/Thiel, Digital Technical Journal, 9/87

 DLM: Root & Sublock requests on RM node

Node A Node C
Resource
Master

(1) As root-lock requests are received, lock blocks are created and
linked to the existing resource block.
Node B (2) When a sublock request is received, a subresource block is
Directory created if this is the first request for a lock on the sub-resource.
Node A lock block is then linked to the subresource block.

Source: Snaman/Thiel, Digital Technical Journal, 9/87

 DLM: New Root Lock with existing RM

Node A Node C
Resource
Master 1
6

2 (1) When a new root-lock request is received, local copies of the

resource block and lock block are created.
(2) A message requesting the identity of the resource master is
Node B 3 then sent to the directory node.
Directory
Node (3) The response indicates that node A is currently the resource
manager.
(4) The lock request is again sent to node A.
(5) A master-copy lock block is created on the resource manager
and linked to the resource block.
(6) A granted response is returned.

Source: Snaman/Thiel, Digital Technical Journal, 9/87

 DLM: Sublock Request on Node that is not RM

Node A Node C
Resource
Master
4

2
1
3

(1) When a sublock request is received, a lock block is created. If

this is the first lock on the subresource, a resource block is also
Node B created.
Directory (2) The request is sent to the resource manager. No directory
Node lookup is required.
(3) If locks already exist on the subresource, only a lock block is
created. Otherwise, both a lock block and a resource block are
created.
(4) A granted response is returned.

Source: Snaman/Thiel, Digital Technical Journal, 9/87

 DLM: Unlock of Last Lock on a Root RM

Node A Node C
Resource
Master
4

2
3 1

5 (1) When an unlock request is received for a root lock, the lock
block is deallocated. If this is the last lock on the resource, the
Node B resource block is also deallocated.
Directory (2) A message is sent to the resource manager.
Node (3) The resource manager deallocates the lock block. If this is the
last lock on the resource, the resource block is also deallocated.
(4) A response is send to Node C.
(5) A message is sent to the directory node.
6 (6) The directory entry is removed.

Source: Snaman/Thiel, Digital Technical Journal, 9/87

 Red Hat Global File System v.6.1
 New version for Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4
● Existing subscriptions can upgrade at no charge
 Provides two major technologies
● GFS cluster file system – concurrent file system access for database, web
serving, NFS file serving, HPC, etc. environments
● CLVM cluster logical volume manager1
 Fully POSIX compliant
 Data and meta-data journaling (per-node journals, clusterwide recovery)
 Maximum filesize & file system size: 16TB with 32-bit systems, 8EB with 64-bit
systems
 Supports file system expansion
 Requires shared storage
● Supports several topologies: SCSI, SAN, iSCSI, gnbd
 Rapidly growing development community since being open sourced in Q2/04
● Builds for other distributions becoming available (e.g. Debian)

(1) Cluster mirroring and cluster snapshots provided in GFS 6.1 update
 Red Hat Solution Summary
Management & Support Development & Deployment
Infrastructure Infrastructure

Red Hat Developer Suite

http://rhn.redhat.com Client Tier
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS
Red Hat Network Red Hat Desktop
Applications – Browsers
Server
Modules
Red Hat Application Server
Red Hat Global EJB container Web container
Middle Tier
Support Services
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES
Red Hat Global Servers – Web – J2EE
Professional Services
Red Hat Global Red Hat Global File System
Learning Services Red Hat Cluster Suite
EIS Tier
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES

Database – SAN
Questions?
High Level Focus Areas
 Provide technology that customers value:
● Choice: A platform with extensive OEM hardware and ISV software partner
certifications and support
● Cost of ownership: Manageable in large-scale deployments
● Security: Now and in the future
● Compatibility: With Red Hat Enterprise Linux v2.1 and v.3
● Commercial environment capabilities
 Cornerstone technologies:
● Kernel with feature selection for maturity, scalability and performance
● Updated runtime/development environment
● Enhanced security
● Enhanced desktop technology
● Enhanced system/storage management features
 RHEL 4 is a very large release – every single package has been updated
Customer Scenario #1:
Flexibility with investment protection
“I am developing new Java applications, and will
consider an open source alternative. I've already made
large investments in [BEA, IBM, Oracle].
I want an open source application server that is fully
interoperable with my existing J2EE vendors and
applications, so that I can have the flexibility to deploy
open source where possible, while protecting my legacy
investments”.

With Red Hat Application Server, I can flexibly deploy open

source while protecting my existing Java investments.
Red Hat's Response
 Red Hat Application Server will be tested and
interoperable with other J2EE application platforms from
BEA, IBM and Oracle. These vendors' contributions to
open source are being integrated into Red Hat
Application Server to enable seamless interoperability.
 Red Hat Application Server is tested and supported on
all major commercial JVMs, including BEA Jrockit, IBM
JDK, and Sun SDK.
Red Hat Application Server is tested and certified with
leading DBMS platforms, including Oracle 10g and 9i,
IBM DB2 and Sybase.
With Red Hat Application Server, I can flexibly deploy open
source while protecting my existing Java investments.
Customer Scenario #2: Reduce
Costs
“The total cost of ownership for my J2EE application
infrastructure is too high. I am currently running my
J2EE application servers on a Sun (or IBM Power)
platform, and am moving to an Intel/Linux platform for
better price performance. I am willing to consider a
move to an open source application server on RHEL in
areas where it makes good business sense, and lowers
my overall cost.”

Red Hat Application Server allows me to reduce the TCO of my

application infrastructure over time, levering the economic
benefits of open source.
Red Hat's Response

 Many Java applications require only standard J2EE server

functionality; Red Hat Application Server offers all standard
middleware platform features, with the economic benefits and
flexibility of open source. If the Java applications that you are
planning to migrate only require basic J2EE application server
functionality, Red Hat Application Server may be an excellent fit.
 Red Hat Application Server is certified and released on
commodity hardware platforms, including IA-32, Itanium, and PPC
enabling the deployment of lower cost hardware for Java
applications.
 Red Hat Application Server is the lowest cost open source
application server with global enterprise class support.
Red Hat Application Server allows me to reduce the TCO of my
application infrastructure over time, levering the economic
benefits of open source.
Customer Scenario #3:
Vendor Viability

“I need a commerically viable, global vendor to support

and maintain an open source application server if it's
deployed in my production environment. I am considering
a production deployment of Jboss (and/or Tomcat), but I
am unwilling to make an investment in these
technologies without the backing of knowledgeable
vendor.”
With Red Hat Application Server, I have the assurance of a
sustainable, supportable, standards-based middleware platform that is
tested and certified with the leading enterprise Linux OS.
Red Hat's Response:

 Red Hat Application Server is fully tested and certified on all

variants of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the industry leading Linux
platform.
 Red Hat Application Server subscriptions include a choice of
Premium or Standard support, and includes a year of maintenance
and errata security support.
 Red Hat has global support and engineering capabilities, with the
ability to leverage its leadership position in the open source
community to drive faster innovation and responsiveness with
regards to new features and functionality in core open source
projects.
With Red Hat Application Server, I have the assurance of a
sustainable, supportable, standards-based middleware platform that is
tested and certified with the leading enterprise Linux OS.
Red Hat Application Server
 A low cost, high value open source middleware platform,
designed to seamlessly interoperate with components of
industry-leading, full-featured Java application frameworks
● Seamless integration– engineered and tested with partners:
BEA, IBM and Oracle
● Scalable support and management – fully tested and
certified with RHEL products.Includes the support and
management services of RHN, to enable a single global
source for enterprise support and systems management.
● Reduced Cost of Operations – provides the economic
benefits of open source on commodity hardware;
customers can flexibly deploy an open source application
server, based on business need and budget.
Enterprise customers can now integrate a robust, open source
application server within existing Java application deployments