Table of Contents page

Modernize Your Data Center by Migrating

from SPARC/Oracle Solaris to x86/SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Data ModernizationWhy and How . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server versus SPARC/
Oracle Solaris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
The Case for Migrating from
SPARC/Oracle Solaris to x86/
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
White Paper
Data Center Modernization
2
Data Center Modernization White Paper
The Case for Migrating from SPARC/Oracle Solaris to x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Data ModernizationWhy and How
To stay competitive often requires modernizing your data
centers. A modern data center infrastructure allows you to
take advantage of new, ongoing innovations and to:
Reduce data center costs by decreasing software licensing,
maintenance and hardware costs
Increase utilization of data center resources by consolidating
resources, implementing cloud computing and supporting
application/workload mobility
Improve performance and energy efciency by using new
hardware
Increase responsiveness to address market changes more
rapidly and improve business agility
Reduce corporate costs and improve employee productivity
through strategies such as BYOD (bring your own device)
Improve security and management by addressing any gaps
caused by increased use of mobile devices for business
Support a new wave of applications including new solutions
for mobile devices, cloud computing, Big Data and social
media
Where do you start? Perhaps the two most important areas
of data center modernization are implementing virtualization
and choosing the right operating system/hardware server
platforms. Virtualization enables you to consolidate multiple
workloads often running on individual servers onto signi-
cantly fewer virtualization host servers, reducing data center
expenditures substantially. Virtualization also leads to ex-
ible networks and enables you to move compute resources,
whatever they are, to better respond to demand. Without
virtualization your speed in provisioning and de-provisioning
resources is greatly constrained.
Modernize Your Data Center by
Migrating from SPARC/Oracle
Solaris to x86/SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server
Discover how migrating from SPARC/Oracle Solaris
to x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server can provide you
with greater innovation and exibility and lower costs
in your data centernow and in the future.
The selection process must take into account not
only features of both the operating system and the
hardware platform on which it runs, but the ability
of the platform to enable and support your future
business requirements.
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Selecting an operating system/hardware server platform for
your data center has long-term consequences. The selection
process must take into account not only features of both
the operating system and the hardware platform on which
it runs, but the ability of the platform to enable and support
your future business requirements.
Historically, SPARC/Solaris has been the most frequently
chosen platform for data center infrastructure because of
superior SPARC server performance and Solaris robustness.
This included a strong scale-up story, packaged business
applications such as ERP and CRM from various vendors,
high-end database offerings and superior out-of-the-box
availability with development around extending availability
through preemptive management and hot replacement/no-
reboot solutions.
Today, however, SPARC/Oracle Solaris platforms are ag-
ing, and support and maintenance contracts are expensive.
Various user surveys* indicate that Oracles support is di-
minishing despite increasing support costs. SPARC server
performance has also suffered, especially on a per-core ba-
sis. In addition, ISVs are dropping support for applications
on SPARC/Oracle Solaris. This lack of innovation limits your
ability to take advantage of many new technologies, such as
virtualization, cloud computing and new storage technolo-
gies that reduce costs and make you more responsive to
market changes.
What is the alternative? Until recently, x86 servers running
Linux lacked the performance, RAS (reliability, availability
and scalability), scale-up capabilities and workload man-
agement of the large SPARC/Oracle Solaris platforms used
to run mission-critical, back-end database applications. But
that is no longer the case.
Today, the price, performance and reliability of industry stan-
dard x86 servers have improved to the point where they can
meet and exceed the capabilities of SPARC/Oracle Solaris. In
other words, the reasons to continue buying SPARC/Oracle
Solaris platforms have become less and less compelling. As a
result, enterprises are migrating from SPARC/Oracle Solaris
to x86/Linux platforms running new multi-core, scale-up x86
servers such as the HP DL980 Xeon 7500 series servers and
x86 AMD and Intel servers from IBM such as the IBM System
x3690.
In fact, for many corporations, migrating legacy SPARC/
Oracle Solaris systems such as SPARC/Oracle Solaris to x86/
Linux is the centerpiece of data center modernization. The
reason is that many of the innovative ideas used to modern-
ize data centers are built around Linux and x86 servers, and
virtually none of them are associated with SPARC/Oracle
Solaris. Migrating to or staying with SPARC/Oracle Solaris
limits your ability to modernize your data center and totally
locks you in to Oracle.
Whats more, over the past decade, in addition to RAS, cer-
tain features/technologies already available in RISC/UNIX
some hardware, some softwarewere included in x86/Linux
so it could compete on at least even terms with RISC/UNIX
platforms in the lucrative back-end mission-critical data base
application tier. So these features/technologies no longer
can be used by RISC/UNIX vendors to differentiate their so-
lutions from x86/Linux. This is especially true of x86 /SUSE
Linux Enterprise platforms.

__________
* See: http://gabrielconsultinggroup.com/gcg-press-room-
mainmenu-50/279-oracle-survey-implications-of-the-new-oracle.
html

http://itic-corp.com/blog/2011/02/itic-reliabiity-survey-oracle-
users-anxiousangry-over-service-support-slippage

www.computereconomics.com/custom.cfm?name=articlePrint.
cfm&id=1597
Today, the price, performance and reliability of
industry standard x86 servers have improved to
the point where they can meet and exceed the
capabilities of SPARC/Oracle Solaris.
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Data Center Modernization White Paper
The Case for Migrating from SPARC/Oracle Solaris to x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server versus SPARC/Oracle Solaris
Table 1 below provides a detailed comparison of the features and technologies available in x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server and SPARC/Oracle Solaris.
Table 1: Comparison of Features/Technologies Available in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SPARC/Oracle Solaris
Technologies SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Oracle Solaris (for SPARC)
File system







Ships with a number of different le systems from which to
choose, including Btrfs, Ext3 (default for SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server), Ext2, ReiserFS, XFS (open source version) and OCFS2.
Each has advantages and disadvantages. See: http://doc.
opensuse.org/products/draft/SLES/SLES-storage_sd_draft/
lesystems.html

A le system comparison table is located at: https://www.suse.
com/de-de/products/server/technical-information
ZFS is the default le system in Oracle Solaris. It is a mature le
system as long as you are using it on Oracle Solaris for SPARC.






Predictive
self-healing






This functionality requires hardware support to be fully effective.
SUSE is working with all major hardware vendors, especially
IBM and Intel, to optimize integration of the hardware and the
operating system.

Proactive notication. Technologies such as MCELog help
administrators to get informed early about upcoming hardware
issues that might impact the stability of the operating system
and the applications.
Automatic mitigation of software/hardware errors. Admin
notications, isolation/deactivation of faulty components and
guided repair.





Dynamic tracing
framework


SystemTap. A scripting language and tool for dynamically
instrumenting running production Linux operating systems.

Today, there is little difference in the functionality between
SystemTap and DTrace.
Dtrace. A comprehensive dynamic tracing framework created
by Sun Microsystems for troubleshooting kernel and application
problems on production systems in real time.

Security/
certication
Common Criteria Certication EAL 4+

Upcoming FIPS certication for the openSSL module.
Common Criteria Certication EAL 4+

Solaris Trusted Extensions
Virtualization














Interoperability with leading hypervisors:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server directly supports Xen and
KVM, and VMware ESX runs on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
All three support Linux and Windows as guests on SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server virtualization hosts.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server can be run as a guest operating
system in virtual environments created using VMware
vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer.
Linux Containers (see next page) is another virtualization
technology.


Oracle-only virtualization solutions:

Oracle Solaris Containers permit one application per virtual
server in a container with Oracle Solaris as the only guest
operating system.
Oracle VM Server for SPARC runs specically on SPARC
T-Series servers and enables consolidation of software stacks
running only on SPARC T-Series servers
Dynamic System Domains are designed specically for SPARC
Enterprise M-Series servers. They provide electronically
isolated partitions
Oracle Solaris for SPARC is limited to virtualization technologies
designed only for SPARC/Oracle Solaris and cant interoperate
with common virtualization technologies such as Xen, KVM, etc.
Continued on next page
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Technologies SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Oracle Solaris (for SPARC)
Containers










Linux Containers (LXC) is an operating system-level virtualization
method for running multiple isolated Linux systems (containers)
on a single control host.

LXC relies on the Linux kernel cgroups functionality that became
available in version 2.6.24, developed as part of LXC.

In principle, both Linux Containers and Oracle Solaris Containers
are similar. They are virtualization technologies at the application
level, so they are above the operating system kernel. Unlike
hypervisor-based virtualization, they do not add an additional
software layer.
Oracle Solaris Containers is an implementation of operating
system-level virtualization technology for x86 and SPARC systems.

An Oracle Solaris Container is the combination of system resource
controls and the boundary separation provided by zones that act
as completely isolated virtual servers within a single operating
system instance.




Clusters










SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP 2 with High Availability
Extension lets you implement mission-critical Linux clusters
using OCFS2, a shared-disk, POSIX-compliant generic cluster
le system.

Service Pack 2 offers new functionality that makes it even
easier to set up and use the integrated suite of robust, open-
source clustering technologies in SUSE Linux Enterprise High
Availability Extension.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server supports other cluster products,
including Veritas Cluster Server and HP Serviceguard.
Oracle offers, with Solaris Cluster, a high-availability cluster
product that does not include a cluster le system. If needed,
a cluster le system can be purchased from Veritas and will be
supported by both Oracle and Veritas. Supported Solaris Cluster
congurations are predominantly found on hardware from Oracle.
Support when using hardware from other vendors is extremely
limited.

Scalability clustering is not available for Oracle on the operating
system level. Selected applications, like Oracle RAC, offer scalable
clustering on the application level. Oracle offers scale up solutions
only for its SPARC hardware platform.
Hardware platforms
supported
x86, x86-64, POWER, Itanium, IBM mainframe SPARC
Cloud computing











SUSE Cloud is built on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and is
based on the popular OpenStack project. SUSE Cloud is also
integrated with SUSE Manager and SUSE Studio

to provide
management and application development for SUSE Cloud
as well as other cloud platforms.

Various third-party cloud management tools, such as Aeolus
and ConVirt, are also available to manage SUSE Cloud-based
clouds. SUSE Cloud interoperates with other cloud platforms
built around OpenStack.

SUSE Cloud runs on various Linux platforms and is integrated
with Ciscos Unied Computing System (UCS).
Oracle Optimized Solution for Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure
only used with an Oracle hardware/software stack. It is missing
some components needed to build real private clouds, e.g.,
automation, self-service portals, etc.

Oracle Optimized Solution for Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure is
strictly an Oracle-customer-only cloud platform and is optimized
for Oracle software applications. It interoperates with no other
cloud technology without considerable effort.



RAS



Combination of new multi-core, scale-up AMD/Intel hardware
married with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server compares favorably
with SPARC/Oracle Solaris with respect to RAS. RAS can no
longer be used to differentiate SPARC/Oracle Solaris and
x86/ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
SPARC/Oracle Solaris is arguably the leading RISC/UNIX platform
for RAS.


ISV enthusiasm









ISV enthusiasm for X86/SUSE Linux dramatically exceeds that
for SPARC/Oracle Solaris. ISVs use Linux as the development
platform and port to SPARC/Oracle Solaris only if there is
sufcient demand.

10,000+ ISV applications certied to run on SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server, Over 800 Oracle applications certied to
run on x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Only 25 percent
of Oracle application customers are currently Oracle server
customers because Oracle applications are run primarily on
Linux and Window platforms.
SPARC/Oracle Solaris used to be the leading development
platform, but because its market share is dropping at a fast pace,
ISVs port from x86/Linux to SPARC/Oracle Solaris only when
absolutely necessary.






Continued on next page
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Data Center Modernization White Paper
The Case for Migrating from SPARC/Oracle Solaris to x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Technologies SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Oracle Solaris (for SPARC)
High Performance
Computing (HPC)











Linux dominates the Top500 List of the worlds largest super-
computers with 94 percent of the supercomputers running
Linux. And SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is running on many
of them.

HPC business applications, referred to as crossover HPC
applications, also run on x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
High performance computers running crossover applications
are smaller than the supercomputers. They are oriented toward
companies such as nancial service companies that have
applications that would take 12 15 hours to run on a small
ofce computer, but can run in 10 15 minutes on a small high
performance computer in a cluster format using commodity
x86 servers.
SPARC/Oracle Solaris does not have a single system on the
Top500 List, and its performance on a per-core basis has dropped
signicantly below that of x86 multi-core servers running Linux.

SPARC/Oracle Solaris can be used to run crossover applications.
The primary considerations for customers are the cost of the
SPARC T-Series servers, application availability on SPARC/Oracle
Solaris and the poor per-core performance of SPARC servers.





Innovation No contest: x86/Linux is at the center of innovation for
technologies used to modernize data centers.
SPARC/Oracle Solaris innovation is focused only on Oracle stacks
and is done only by Oracle.
Cost










A fraction of the cost of SPARC/Oracle Solaris platforms.
The big difference is in the higher cost of SPARC servers and
their support and maintenance.

Because the per-core performance of x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server is often 2x faster, you get big savings on application
licensing because you need fewer cores (and sockets) to run
applications.

Also, using small footprint x86 multi-core, scale-up servers
versus mainframe size M Series SPARC servers results in space
and cooling savings.
SPARC/Oracle Solaris platforms are more expensive, and the 2x
performance advantage of x86/ SUSE means you need fewer
cores and sockets to run applications, resulting in software
licensing cost savings.







Performance





A clear winner on performance tests, especially the SPEC core
performance benchmarks.




x86/ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server on SPEC benchmarks
clearly outperforms SPARC M-Series servers by a factor of 2x
or more on a per-core basis, and because it requires fewer cores,
is signicantly less expensive.

Oracle does not provide any new SPARC T-Series SPEC
benchmarks.
Big Data support






SUSE has been heavily involved in Big Data with partners such
as Teredata, SAP (with SAP HANA), IBM, Cloudera, Hortonworks
and others.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server supports the open Hadoop
framework for processing Big Data. SUSE also provides the
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension to run
multiple clusters for Big Data processing.
Oracles Big Data efforts (Oracle Big Data Appliance) are focused
only on Oracle Linux for x86 rather than on SPARC/Oracle Solaris.





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Summary and Conclusion
As late as 20052006, SPARC/Sun Solaris was the most fre-
quently chosen platform for data center infrastructure. Its value
came from the performance of SPARC servers and Solaris
robustness including excellent RAS capabilities, a strong
scale-up story for back-end mission-critical database ap-
plications, high ISV enthusiasm, innovation leadership, high
performance computing and more. Its installed base size
exceeded the combined size of HPs HP-UXs and IBMs AIXs
installed base.
Yet this description of SPARC/Sun Solaris ts x86/Linux to-
day much more than SPARC/Oracle Solaris. Many of the tech-
nologies that provided advantages for SPARC/Sun Solaris
have been implemented on platforms such as x86/SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server.
However, while SPARC/Oracle Solaris still has excellent RAS
capabilities and is a formidable competitor with Linux for
the back-end mission-critical database applications market,
it is now viewed as:
Lacking the technology, interoperability and innovation
necessary to modernize data centers in the face of new
technologies such as cloud computing, Big Data, mobile
devices and social media
Having poor per core performance
Having costly hardware and hardware maintenance along
with deteriorating support
Having hardware-inuenced virtualization that works only
with SPARC/Oracle Solaris platforms, providing almost no
interoperability with other virtualization software
Having rapidly dropping ISV enthusiasm
Creating lock-in
As a result of the limited options, lock-in and higher costs of
SPARC/Oracle Solaris today and tomorrow versus the in ter-
operability, openness to innovation and lower costs of x86/
SUSE Enterprise Linux Server:
x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is an excellent platform
for replacing your more costly, lower performing SPARC/
Oracle Solaris systems.
x86/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is an excellent platform
for modernizing your data center.
Many of the innovative ideas used to modernize
data centers are built around Linux and x86 servers,
and virtually none of them are associated with
SPARC/Oracle Solaris.
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