Event
Summary
1/31/200
[Inter@ctive Week] - Three hardware manufacturers, trying to upgrade the scalability
and manageability of Linux servers, announced major Linux server initiatives
at LinuxWorld in New York.
VA
Linux Systems:
VA
Cluster Manager VA Linux Systems (Sunnyvale, Calif.) demonstrated its VA Cluster
Manager (VACM), pronounced "vacuum" by its development team. VACM, which will
go into its beta test phase this week, is expected to become generally available
sometime in the second quarter. VACM can be used either for managing large clusters
of Linux servers or for general-purpose, remote systems management of scattered
Linux servers within an organization, according to San Mehat, VACM project manager.
"Organizations are getting large numbers of Linux servers, 50 to 1,000 nodes,"
Mehat said. "It's a nightmare to know 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whether
one of the machines is failing." The remote manager has several options for
managing remote machines, including writing scripts that are entered via command
line in VACM, or through the graphical user interface provided with VACM. VACM
makes use of Intel Intelligent Platform Interface (IPI) for collecting data
from the Linux machines and offers a set of tools for using that data. Data
collected can include the machine temperature, voltage levels, memory errors
and level of processor usage. VACM can monitor system event logs, watching for
potential problems, according to Mehat.
"We
can communicate with the processor out of band," Mehat said -- meaning the machine
can be locked up with an application fault, and a VACM-based manager can restart
it without needing to send a technician to reboot it on the premises.
SGI
- 70 percent improved performance:
SGI
is introducing Internet Server based on its 1200 "plain vanilla" Intel-based
server series, with the Red Hat 6.1Linux operating system and an enhanced version
of the Apache Web server that can offer a 70 percent performance improvement,
said Greg Estes, vice president of broadband and Internet products.
The
SGI offering is intended "to be easier to use out of the box" for Internet businesses,
Estes said. In addition to Linux and Apache, Internet Server has other open
source software and tools bundled on the server, plus an intrusion detection
system from TripWire. Internet server is packaged in a 3.5-inch package, suitable
for rackmount. Internet Server comes with Advanced Cluster Environment, introduced
recently, for managing groups of the Linux servers. It provides the software
interconnection services, system monitoring, job scheduling and fail-over services.
A
single node of Internet Server is priced at $4,600. A 32-processor cluster of
16 two-way 1200 servers with Advanced Cluster Environment is $125,000, said
Courtney Carr, product line manager.
Penguin Computing launched I-Node:
Penguin
Computing, a small San Francisco systems integrator based on Red Hat Linux,
launched its bid for a distinct product line by offering an Internet server,
an I-Node, that can also be clustered with other Linux servers.
The I-Node is based on Resonate's local area network-based traffic management
software, sold separately as Central Dispatch. Penguin is offering one or two
rack-mounted server versions, loaded with the clustering software. The system
would be priced at $8,000, said Sam Ockman, Penguin president. The I-Node is
different from the Beowulf experimental Linux cluster at Los Alamos National
Labs and other locations. Beowulf is a tightly coupled cluster, with a high-speed
interconnect for its nodes. I-Node is designed to run as a loosely coupled set
of servers in a business environment, said Mike Tar, senior product manager.
One
I-Node acts as the primary scheduler for a cluster on an Internet Protocol network.
It monitors activities on other nodes and routes traffic to them. In the event
of a node failure, it reroutes work in progress to other nodes.
The
goal, Ockman said, "was to build the most reliable Linux system."
Market Impact
The Linux Gang (TLG) continues to take the game to Microsoft. Assuming all these
products work as well in practice as in theory, Linux will now have better clustering
than Windows NT, reliability equal to or better than NT, and will get closer
to the mini-Grail of friendlier interface. (We believe Windows will still hold
the edge in GUI friendliness.) All these developments will cause the Linux market
growth to increase; at least until market consolidation begins.
In
addition to the other benefits, a performance boost will help TLG fight the
Microsoft FUD factor regarding which OS performs better. One caveat is that
the "70 per cent performance improvement" described by SGI provides no clue
as to what performance is being measured. Is it "requests per second" for caching-focused
servers? We expect NT's networking capabilities still to exceed those of Linux.
These
announcements still do not address the issue of increasing the quantity of mainstream
applications available for Linux - perhaps the greatest barrier to desktop success.
We understand that all the vendors prefer to focus on the higher-margin server
market. However, we think it shortsighted for TLG to keep their focus narrow,
especially if they believe that the Application Service Provider market will
grow significantly over the next two years. Corel's recent announcement of WordPerfect
Office Suite for Linux will help spread desktop apps further.
User
Recommendations
As always, users committed to Windows only or Solaris only will have little
interest in these announcements. However, those users wanting to (or willing
to) build up Linux server capability will find more reasons to consider it.
Linux vendors are trying to eliminate NT's competitive advantages (e.g., GUI
friendliness), while at the same time strengthening Linux's existing advantages
(e.g., reliability).
As with any new technology or infrastructure improvement, users are cautioned
to "try before buy". This translates to having the vendor absorb the risk of
a changeover. All the whizzy technology improvements don't mean much if they
kill your infrastructure. Toward that end, new/potential Linux users should
try to contract for a trial period, with the Linux systems acting as a "shadow"
infrastructure, before making any wholesale change.
An
alternative strategy is to wait 1-2 years until the Linux shakeout/consolidation
occurs, and then work with a vendor that has absorbed key technology from one
or more of the "also rans". Consolidation in some areas has already started
(witness the recent purchase of Andover.net by VA Linux), we expect it to continue
and increase. Obviously, consolidation does not mean good technology goes away,
only that companies do.