Red Hat has launched the fourth update to its Enterprise Linux 5 platform, providing the delivery of technology enhancements to customers via the company’s subscription model.
According to Red Hat, the Enterprise Linux includes kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) technology and Intel virtualisation technology for Directed I/O (Intel VT-d) and PCI-SIG SR-IOV, allowing multiple virtual machines in an Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series-based platform to directly share I/O devices. Red Hat Enterprise Linux customers deploying Xen virtualisation will continue to be supported through the full lifecycle of Enterprise Linux 5.
In addition to virtualisation enhancements, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 also includes a set of hardware platform enhancements focusing on performance and scalability. At the processor chipset level, it includes optimisations for Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series platforms as well as AMD Istanbul platforms.
Network advancements include Generic Receive Offload (GRO) that utilises new processing components in advanced network adapters to offload portions of the receive stack. Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) performance enhancements and hardware support are also included. The release additionally offers an array of device driver enhancements ranging from disk, network, graphics to OFED InfiniBand drivers, the company said.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 also includes enhancement to the Systemtap performance monitoring toolset, including support for profiling and monitoring C++ applications, as well as inclusion of a large number of static kernel tracepoints to simplify performance observation for the highest profile kernel subsystems.
Scott Crenshaw, vice president of platform business unit at Red Hat, said: Red Hat Enterprise Linux plays a significant role in Red Hat’s virtualisation strategy, and the availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 with the same virtualisation technology base as Red Hat Enterprise Virtualisation today is a significant step in our delivery of virtualisation to the market.
“The release also features advances in performance, security and storage that span virtual and physical environments. With this update release, Red Hat Enterprise Linux aims to raise the bar once again, offering compelling software technologies with impressive quality and reliability.
