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IBM (Offically) Launches Linux Box Clustering

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the the-official-story dept.

Neumsy writes " IBM has offically announced that it is releasing Linux-Based Server, Software Packages. Yahoo! News has the story . According to IBM, this will expand the use of Linux. It's a good overview article. Not too much in depth, but still nice to see Linux getting out there more and more."

4 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Linux Myths too - full page ad by ethereal · · Score: 5, Informative

    Interestingly enough, just this morning I saw a two-page ad for IBM servers running linux. I haven't found the actual ad online, but it showed the famous "bigfoot" photo, labeled as fake, and then a penguin walking through the server room in the same pose, labeled as real. The other page of the ad was an abbreviated list of the usual Linux myths that we all know and love, with IBM-specific arguments as to why these were no longer true. This is the real fruit of the $1 billion campaign from IBM, and a great answer for your hesitant management.

    IBM's main page for this, aimed at upper brass rather than engineering, is at http://www.ibm.com/linux/cio2, and the myths seemed to come from this brochure: http://www.ibm.com/linux/Demystifying_Linux_Brochu re.pdf.

    Maybe this isn't entirely on-topic, but I thought it was a great example of some more of that good mindshare. And this time IBM isn't going to have to scrub off any sidewalk paint :)

    --

    Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and

  2. Price and performance less than Unix... by Skater · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Linux is appealing because of its price and performance, which can be less than with a comparable Unix-based system, Quandt said."

    Sounds great...oh, wait, no it doesn't.

  3. IBM Clusters at NCSA by dlapine · · Score: 5, Informative
    We already have two here. Check out:
    http://access.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Releases/011018.Titan. html

    Top500 org (http://www.top500.org) has the latest rankings out and Platinum is ranked #41 in the world with a 594 rating and Titan is at #34 with a 677 rating. These are not slow systems, but they do require a knowledgeable support staff. Both systems are IBM "out-of-the-box" clusters, running RedHat Linux versions.

    I'm just glad to see linux advertised in the mainstream media. Name recognition helps.

    More information is available at the main website: http://ncsa.uiuc.edu

    --
    The Internet has no garbage collection
  4. Uhhh... IBM has been selling clusters for a while by Hedonistic+BOFH · · Score: 5, Informative


    The announcement may make it 'official', but IBM has been selling turn-key style clusters for over a year now.

    How do I know, and why do I care? 'Cause I work for IBM, and design and build Linux clusters for a living.

    We rack purpose-built 1U's (x330's) built for easy large-scale mangement (built-in daisy-chain KVM capabilities, integrated service processor network, cool blinky lights, etc, etc), have internally developed mangement software and system imaging solutions, and ship them to customers at a point where all they need to do is plug them in and log on.

    The only real issue is almost no one has a 'standard' cluster application. Almost every one uses a different IPC mechanism, and usually an app is only validated against one very specific software image. So to get the most out of a cluster, customers still need to spend time tweaking.

    Maybe someday soon, we'll all be able to 'apt-get install damned_big_cluster', but until then... <shameless>just call IBM.</shameless>

    --Matthew
    slashdot at sigalrm dot com