Cool Linux Tricks With Atlas

dpilgrim writes: "Looks like some powerful players want to see Linux going toe to toe with Unix 'big iron.' Would you like to be able to run two Linuxes simultaneously on the same box? Or seemless swap processor and memory in and out of your machine? The Atlas project aims to bring you all that and more. There's a press release from TurboLinux reported here, and a more in-depth article running on SourceForge's Linux on Large Systems Foundry."

Comments

Starcat

[nbvb]

If I'm going to spend lots of money for hardware like this anyway, why would I use Linux?

I'm not trolling, I mean it. What does Linux offer me that Solaris doesn't?

And please avoid the philosophical ramifications -- I have nothing against commercial software, except that 99% of it sucks. :-)

--NBVB

Re:Starcat

[dytin]

Money is money... Every penny that you can save helps you out. Would you willingly through away $1,000 just because you were buying a house on the same day, and $1,000 is only a small percentage of the house? I think not.

Re:Starcat

[Camel Pilot]

Or

"What does Solaris offer me that Linux doesn't"

Re:Starcat

[rgmoore]

I'm not trolling, I mean it. What does Linux offer me that Solaris doesn't?

The primary thing that Linux offers is the ability to run on non-Sun hardware. That's actually bigger than you might think. Consider the following ways that it might be nice:

• Your system is growing. You've been using Linux on comodity x86 hardware to this point, but you now need a bigger machine. Having a bigger machine available that can run Linux should make the transition easier.
• You wish to avoid vendor lock-in. Yes, Sun makes nice machines, but so do other manufacturers like IBM, HP, etc. If every manufacturer has Linux available as an OS, it's much easier to jump to another vendor if circumstances dictate.
• You anticipate that IA64 will be competitive with SPARC in the near future, so you're going to buy comodity IA64 hardware instead of single vendor Sun stuff. Since Solaris is only available for Sun platforms, it won't be an option.

Basically, the fact that big iron manufacturers already have their own OSes is not a strong argument about adding big-iron features to Linux. That's especially true if I'm a manufacturer and I want to break into that very lucrative market. It may very well be cheaper for me to help to develop the needed features in Linux and put that on my new hardware than to develop my own OS. By making those things available in a comodity OS you have the potential to convert big iron into a comodity market, just as comodity OSes for desktop systems helped turn them into comodity goods.

Re:Starcat

[bconway]

You can download the Solaris source code to your heart's content here. You can edit, change, and rebuild all you like if it will really suit your needs. You can send patches back to Sun if you feel so inclined for incorporation. The only thing you can't do is redistribute it, which from what it sounds like your needs are, really isn't that important anyways.

focus of 2.5 series

[Proud Geek]

This goes hand in hand with a lot of the work planned for 2.5 to make it scale to larger systems. Linus feels that the current architecture is just about ideal for SMP's of any size, but there are really two obstacles to Linux working on big iron and competing against solutions from IBM, Sun and others. The first is scalability to NUMA machines. This issue is being addressed by the kernel development team. The second is support for the reliability features that the really high end hardware provides. That's the work described here. Together they will make Linux the winning combination even on the very high end!

Re:Does it.........work? (Safely)

[SmittyTheBold]

Actually, the advantages are significant. If you can take care of all yoru redundancy in one machine, go for it.

Notice all the computers that have hot-swap hard drive arrays. The exact same logic applies.

Oh, and about electrocution - unless you droll a lot or stuck yoru hand into th epower supply, you aren't getting electrocuted. The most voltage you'll ever see exposed to the computer as a whole is 12V. The high voltages are all relegated to the power supply.

What we need

[TheEviscerator]

It's important to remember that much of Linux's competition comes not from the dreaded MS, but from commercial UNIX vendors, like Sun and IBM.

Most companies that currently employ Linux tend to use it for things like DNS, Web servers, and file sharing. Fitting Linux with enterprise features is critical in moving beyond these types of services and truly entering the enterprise world of hot plugging, scalability, and *proven* reliability.

While I realize that its reliability is more than proven to most of us here, it's important that it be proven to executives as well. Not only must it be reliable, but proven companies must have track records of standing behind the product 100%.

One concern I've heard voiced is that no company providing support for Linux will take ultimate responsiblity for a product that isn't theirs.

Get a few more years and services behind Linux, and we should see it explode.

Re:What we need

[Lumpy]

One concern I've heard voiced is that no company providing support for Linux will take ultimate responsiblity for a product that isn't theirs
NO company will take ultimate responsibility for products that are theirs.

Microsoft, SCO,SUN SiliconGraphics. everyone has in the license that they are not responsible for anything for any reason.

this concern needs to be met with a direct response that no company will, even for their own product.