2009-09-24 Get the Hype on System z Webinar with IBM, Current & Future Linux on System z Technology

Get the Hype on System z
Current & Future Linux on System z Technology
Thursday September 24th
2009

2
Agenda
 Part 1: Current Technology
 Review of RHEL 5.4, released
Tuesday 2-SEPT
 Inclusion of Named Saved
Segments (NSS)
 Updated fiber channel drivers
& utilities
 Rebasing of s390utils to
version 1.8.1
 Tentative roadmap for RHEL 6 for
System z
 An update on CMM2 (i.e. CMMA)
development activities via the
CMM-Lite technology
 Part 2: Future Technology
 What technologies are the joint IBM
and Red Hat Linux on System z
teams working on?
 Storage
 Networking
 Usability
 Crypto
 Misc

3
Linux Kernel Development: Rate of Change
Average: 6,422 lines added, 3,285 lines removed, and 1,687 lines changed every day for the
past 4 1/2 years.
Source: Linux Foundation

4
Linux on System z specific Kernel Extensions
2.6.18 2.6.19 2.6.20 2.6.21 2.6.22 2.6.23 2.6.24 2.6.25 2.6.26 2.6.27 2.6.28 2.6.29 2.6.30 2.6.31
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
2.6.18 2.6.19 2.6.20 2.6.21 2.6.22 2.6.23 2.6.24 2.6.25 2.6.26 2.6.27 2.6.28 2.6.29 2.6.30 2.6.31
0
50
100
150
200
250
All
s390

5
18.20%
12.30%
7.60%
7.60%
7.60%
46.70%
None
Red Hat
Unknown
IBM
Novell
Other
Source: Linux Foundation
Top Linux Contributors

6
IBM collaborates with the Linux
community
 ...has been an active participant since 1999
 ...is one of the leading commercial contributors to Linux
 ...has over 600 full-time developers working with Linux and open source
Linux Kernel &
Subsystem
Development
Expanding the
Open Source
Ecosystem
Foster and Protect
the Ecosystem
Promoting Open
Standards
& Community
Collaboration
Software
Freedom
Law Center
Free Software
Foundation (FSF),
and more...
Software
Freedom
Law Center
Free Software
Foundation (FSF),
and more...
The Linux
Foundation
Linux Standards
Base
Common Criteria
certification,
and more...
The Linux
Foundation
Linux Standards
Base
Common Criteria
certification,
and more...
Apache
Eclipse
Mozilla Firefox
OpenOffice.org
,
and more...
Apache
Eclipse
Mozilla Firefox
OpenOffice.org
,
and more...
Kernel Base
Security
Systems Mgmt
Virtualization
Filesystems,
and more...
Kernel Base
Security
Systems Mgmt
Virtualization
Filesystems,
and more...

7
The IBM Linux Development Process
 IBM Linux on System z Development contributes in the following areas
 Kernel
 s390-tools
 Open Source Tools (e.g. eclipse, ooprofile)
 GCC, GLIBC, Binutils
Developer Works
Website
Developer Works
Website Community
Upstream
Kernel
CustomerCustomer

8
Red Hat Development Model
Community
 Development with “upstream” communities
 Kernel, glibc, etc
 Collaboration with partners, IBM,
open source contributors

9
Fedora
 Rapid innovation
 Latest technologies
 Community Supported
 Released ~6mo cycles

10
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
 Stable, mature, commercial product
 Extensive Q&A, performance testing
 Hardware & Software Certifications
 7-10 year maintenance
 Core ABI compatibility
guarantee
 Major releases 2-3yr cycle

11
Fedora for System z
Opens Linux on System zOpens Linux on System z
development to entire Opendevelopment to entire Open
Source community, not just IBM,Source community, not just IBM,
Red Hat, and Novell.Red Hat, and Novell.
Linux for System z now followsLinux for System z now follows
same development process assame development process as
every other platform, allowing forevery other platform, allowing for
faster Q&A, faster featurefaster Q&A, faster feature
inclusion, and increased stabilityinclusion, and increased stability
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/s390x

12
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle
 Fully supported through standard life cycle
of 7 years from GA.
 Async bug, enhancement, and security fixes
depending on importance of the issue (e.g.
Critical Impact security).
 Production 1 Phase
 Minor releases, approx. 2 per year, roughly a
6-month cycle, stretching out at the end:
 Hardware enablement.
 General bugfixing based on priority.
 General features if strong justification
(generally Major releases are the
release vehicle for new Features).
 ISO images & media kits.
 4 years of Production 1 for RHEL 4, 5 and
later
 One year overlap between the Production 1
Phase of two subsequent major releases.
 Transition from Production 1 to Production 3
 Concluded by final, bugfix-only minor release on
flexible schedule after 2nd subsequent major
release (minimal HW enablement: PCI-IDs).
 Scope: defects reported during Production 1
 Time between the final update release and the
end of the 7-year standard life cycle.
 Critical bug and security fixes only...
 Planning based on customer requirements,
hardware life cycles and upstream
development.
 This schedule is only a schematic view and will
be adapted over time.
 Customers can contact Red Hat sales
regarding details for an optional extension
beyond the regular 7 years.
GA Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7
Approximately 4 years of Production 1 Phase
At least 1 year of Production 2 Phase.
7 years total standard life cycle

13
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle
Current planning snapshot. Exact schedule dates are subject to change.
2006 2007 2008 20112009
U
7
U8...
U
3
U4
U9
4.5 4.6
5.1 5.2
4.7 4.9
5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6
2010
5.8
4.8
5.7
RHEL 6
RHEL 5
RHEL 4
 RHEL 2.1 at end of regular 7 year life
cycle on May 31, 2009
 RHEL 3 in Production 3 phase until October 31, 2010
 RHEL 4 entering Production 2 phase by end of May 2009, after the GA of
RHEL 4.8
 RHEL 5 development slowing down
 Development focus shifting from RHEL5 to RHEL 6

15
RHEL 5.3: Overview
 FasTrack 7%
 Early release of low impact fixes
 Hardware Enablement - 7%
 New chipsets and processor
feature support
 New Features - 21%
 Feature requests from customers
and partners
 Other - 65%
 Bugfixes
 Documentation
 GA on January 20, 2009
 ~150 additions, ~3,400 BugZillas
FasTrack
Features
Hardware
Other

16
RHEL 5.3: Networking
 Provision of several selectable TCP congestion modules (2.6.13)
 Ref: http://lwn.net/Articles/128681/
 IPV6 - Support several new sockopt / ancillary data in Advanced API (2.6.14)
 IPv4/IPv6: UFO (UDP Fragmentation Offload) (2.6.15)
 Offloads IP fragmentation functionality of large UDP datagram to hardware
 Improves performance
 Add nf_conntrack subsystem: (2.6.15)
 Common IPv4/IPv6 generic connection tracking subsystem
 Allows IPv6 to have a stateful firewall capability (not previously possible)
 Increased security
 Enables analysis of whole streams of packets, rather than only checking
the headers of individual packets

17
RHEL 5.3: Networking
 IPv6
 RFC 3484 compliant source address selection (2.6.15)
 Add support for Router Preference (RFC4191) (2.6.17)
 Add Router Reachability Probing (RFC4191) (2.6.17)
 Generic segmentation offload (GSO) (2.6.18)
 Available in place of TSO (TCP Segmentation Offload)
 Performance improvements for large packet transfers without hardware
assistance
 SELinux per-packet access controls
 Replaces old packet controls
 Add Secmark support to core networking
 Allows security subsystems to place security markings on network
packets (2.6.18)
 Inclusion of DCCPv6 – Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (2.6.16)

18
RHEL 5.3: Storage Management
 RAID 4/5/10 support added to dm-raid.
 Full support for software iSCSI target.
 Full support for LVM cluster mirror (cmirror).
 Add the ability to prioritize paths on HP MSA/HSV active/passive storage
controllers.
 Reduce boot time by improving lvmcache, to reduce the amount of device
scanning.
 Enhanced disk partition statistics

19
RHEL 5.3: File System / Storage Mgmt
 Block device encryption support, including support for /root partition, including
configuration in anaconda installer.
 ext4 tech preview
 samba: rebased from 3.0.28 to 3.0.32 for bugfixes
 Now supports Windows Vista and 2008
 fixes for DC functionality (interoperability with Citrix and Domain trusts)
 Ecryptfs fixes (tech preview)

20
RHEL 5.3: System Services
 Rebased version of CUPS print server, now fully Kerberized
 dhcpv6 support
 ktune, a service that sets several kernel tuning parameters to values suitable for
specific system profiles. Currently, ktune provides a profile for large-memory
systems running disk-intensive and network-intensive applications. New
package, tech preview.
 Package upstream rebases to the following utilities:
 ksh, lm-sensors, lftp, net-snmp, openIPMI-tool, openldap, openmotif, python-
urlgrabber, openPegasus, VNC
 RPM to Fedora 9 version, which includes numerous bugfixes
 yum and yum-utils primarily for speed improvements
 totem, rb, and gstreamer rebased to enable modular codecs addition
 Numerous wireshark security fixes

21
RHEL 5.3: Security Enhancements
 pkinit clients can now be configured to use keys for client certificates which may
not contain Kerberos-specific extensions & interoperability fixes
 nss_ldap now configured with support for paged results extension
 SELinux: enablement of New NetworkManager and Audit functionality.
 SELinux: Hundreds of AVC denial fixes.
 Improved Audit and Logging
 TTY input audit support
 Remote audit logging via unencrypted connection

22
RHEL 5.3: System z Specifics
BugZilla ID Summary
46327 stage1: sshd error loading shared lib: libfipscheck.so.1
184770 LTC18425-62140: (big) xDR system Initialization for LPAR Clients
472788 rhel 5.3 snapshot3 scsi mpath install failed on z9bc lpar
439479 LTC:5.3:201474:Include gcc 4.3 as Add-On for latest z10 instruction set support
439440 LTC:5.3:201160:Long Random Numbers Generation
439441 LTC:5.3:201158:Selective Logging of ECKD DASD devices
439482 LTC:5.3:201542:FCP - Enhanced Trace Facility
447379 LTC:5.3:200994:Linux CPU Node Affinity
463917 unable to find DASD drives to install
439484 LTC:5.3:201490:Libica Library: Integration of Icainfo
43946 LTC:5.3:201360:OSA 2 Ports per CHPID Support - Installer Enhancements
466474 [RHEL5.3] *** glibc detected *** /usr/bin/python: double free or corruption (!prev): 0x000 0000080d55e90 ***
466305 cosmetic error message: failure in nl_set_device_mtu
466291 anaconda silently omits uninitialized disk
BugZilla ID Summary
46327 stage1: sshd error loading shared lib: libfipscheck.so.1
184770 LTC18425-62140: (big) xDR system Initialization for LPAR Clients
472788 rhel 5.3 snapshot3 scsi mpath install failed on z9bc lpar
439479 LTC:5.3:201474:Include gcc 4.3 as Add-On for latest z10 instruction set support
439440 LTC:5.3:201160:Long Random Numbers Generation
439441 LTC:5.3:201158:Selective Logging of ECKD DASD devices
439482 LTC:5.3:201542:FCP - Enhanced Trace Facility
447379 LTC:5.3:200994:Linux CPU Node Affinity
463917 unable to find DASD drives to install
439484 LTC:5.3:201490:Libica Library: Integration of Icainfo
43946 LTC:5.3:201360:OSA 2 Ports per CHPID Support - Installer Enhancements
466474 [RHEL5.3] *** glibc detected *** /usr/bin/python: double free or corruption (!prev): 0x000 0000080d55e90 ***
466305 cosmetic error message: failure in nl_set_device_mtu
466291 anaconda silently omits uninitialized disk

24
RHEL 5.4 : Overview
 The official GA release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 (*kernel-2.6.18-164.el5*)
was released on 02-Sep-2009
 Generic (not s390 specific) updates include
 Virtualization: full support for the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
hypervisor only on x86_64 while Xen only x86 & Power based virtualization is
still available & supported
 Network: Kernel & Userspace update to support Generic Receive Offload
(GRO) which increases the performance of inbound network connections by
reducing the amount of processing done by the CPU. Furthermore Netfilter
Framework & Bind Updates
 Storage: Support for the XFS file system has also been added to the kernel
as a Technology Preview.
 Tools: SystemTap is now fully supported, and has been re-based to the
latest upstream version.

25
RHEL 5.4: File System / Storage Mgmt
 Add integrity check to cryptsetup-luks, in order to meet FIPS-140 requirements.
 Ext4 - refreshed the backport for our tech preview to bring in bug fixes and
support for delayed allocation.
 File system freeze/quiesce interface added to support hardware snapshots for file
systems.
 Full support for FUSE and libfuse to allow end users to more easily install
and use their own user space FUSE file systems.

26
Other Included Features
 For a complete list & current status, please visit http://bugzilla.redhat.com/
 Alternatively, this link will bring you to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 release
notes
anaconda
blktrace
distribution
kernel
mkinitrd
s390utils
system-config-network
systemtap
0
5
10
15
20
25
CLOSED
POST
ASSIGNED
NEW
 Total Bugzilla-Entries: 71
 New Features: 31
 Open Issues: 16
 Total Bugzilla-Entries: 71
 New Features: 31
 Open Issues: 16

27
BugZilla ID Summary
475556 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] DS8000 support: Large volume support (userspace) [201738]
475569 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Shutdown actions tools [201755]
461288 [EMC 5.4 feat] Require kernel support to issue Control I/O to CKD dasd on EMC Symmetrix
arrays
474688 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Automatic IPL after dump (kernel) [201169]
475346 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Improve checking mechanisms and workflow of Linux on System z Anaconda
install process [201676]
475670 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Program directed IPL support - no XML in system dumper [200782]
475552 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] FCP - Performance data reports [201730]
488496 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] 201173:Crypto Hardware Enablement Device Driver Support - toleration
475564 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Shutdown actions interface (userspace) [201748]
474679 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Dynamic CPU hotplug daemon for System z [201132]
475345 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Change list of Anaconda network alternatives to indicate supported devices
on System z [201679]
475551 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] TTY terminal server over IUCV (kernel) [201734]
BugZilla ID Summary
arrays

28
BugZilla ID Summary
arrays
BugZilla ID Summary
arrays
475563 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Shutdown actions interface (kernel) [201747]
474664 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] System z support for processor degradation
[200975]
475334 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] FCP - Performance Data collection (kernel)
[201590]
475572 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] HiperSockets Layer3 support for IPv6 [201751]
475548 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] FCP - Performance data collection (blktrace)
[201729]
477189 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Pick up latest version of s390-tools
475558 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] TTY terminal server over IUCV (userspace)
[201735]
474646 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Kernel NSS support - kernel part [200790]
475333 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] FCP - Performance Data collection & analysis
(userspace) [201591]
475571 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Large image dump on DASD [201752]
[200975]
[201590]
[201729]
[201735]

29
BugZilla ID Summary
arrays
BugZilla ID Summary
arrays
[200975]
[201590]
[201729]
[201735]
[200975]
[201590]
[201729]
[201735]
475530 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Extra kernel parameter via VMPARM [201726]
475557 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] DS8000 Disk Encryption [201740]
474942 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Add vmconvert option to vmur tool [201758]
475570 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Provide service levels of HW & Hypervisor in
Linux [201753]
468172 FEAT: 201085: cio_ignore entry in generic.prm for LPARs
474700 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Crypto Device Driver use of Thin Interrupts
[201174]
475350 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Dialog defaults for Linux on System z specific
Anaconda [201677]
475820 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Linux to add Call Home data [201167]
484296 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Automatic IPL after dump (userspace) [201757]
475530 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Extra kernel parameter via VMPARM [201726]
475557 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] DS8000 Disk Encryption [201740]
474942 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Add vmconvert option to vmur tool [201758]
475570 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Provide service levels of HW & Hypervisor in
Linux [201753]
468172 FEAT: 201085: cio_ignore entry in generic.prm for LPARs
474700 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Crypto Device Driver use of Thin Interrupts
[201174]
475350 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Dialog defaults for Linux on System z specific
Anaconda [201677]
475820 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Linux to add Call Home data [201167]
484296 [LTC 5.4 FEAT] Automatic IPL after dump (userspace) [201757]

30
S390-tools package rebased to Version 1.8.1
 The s390utils package has been rebased to version 1.8.1.
 This package provides the essential tool chain for Linux on System z. It contains everything
from the boot loader to dump related tools for a system crash analysis .
 News Features (excerpt)
 DASD related tools: Add Large Volume Support for ECKD DASDs
 Ipl_tools: Can be used to change the reipl & shutdown behaviour
 ziomon tools: Set of tools to collect data for zfcp performance analysis.
 lsluns: List available SCSI LUNs depending on adapter or port.
 lszcrypt: Show information about zcrypt devices and configuration.
 chzcrypt: Modify zcrypt configuration.
 cpuplugd: Daemon that manages CPU- and memory-resources based on a set of rules.
Depending on the workload CPUs can be enabled or disabled. The amount of memory
can be increased or decreased exploiting the Cooperative Memory Management
(CMM1) feature.
 chchp: Tool to modify channel-path states
 lschp: Tool to list information about available channel-paths.
 mon_procd: Daemon that writes process information data to the z/VM monitor stream.
 vmur: Tool to work with z/VM spool file queues (reader, punch, printer).
 zfcpdump_v2: Version 2 of the zfcpdump tool. Now based on the upstream Linux kernel
2.6.23.
 Plus various bug fixes

31
Kernel
 Control Program Identification (CPI)
 If your RHEL5.4 Linux instance runs in LPAR mode, you can now use the extended
control program identification (CPI) module, sclp_cpi and the sysfs interface
/sys/firmware/cpi to assign names to your Linux instance
 The names are used, for example, to identify the Linux instance on the HMC.
 This feature is only available while running in LPAR
 Extra kernel parameter via VMPARM
 Modify the IPL records to append extra parameters specified with the z/VM VMPARM
option to the kernel command line.
 Support for processor degradation
 Adds support for processor degradation, which allows processor speed to be reduced in
some circumstances (i.e. system overheating). This new feature allows automation
software to observe the machine state.
 TTY terminal server over IUCV
 Provide central access to the Linux console for the different guests of a z/VM.
 The terminal server connects to the different guests over IUCV.
 The IUCV based console is ASCII based.
 Fullscreen applications like vi are usable on the console.

32
Virtual Server
 Named Saved Segments (NSS)
 Using NSS the z/VM hypervisior makes operating system code in shared real memory
pages available to z/VM guest virtual machines.
 With this update, Linux guest operating systems using z/VM can boot from the NSS and
be run from a single copy of the Linux kernel in memory.
z/VM
Expanded Storage
z/VM Central Storage
z/VM Page
Space
Linux
Guest
Virtual
Disk
Linux
Guest
Virtual
Disk
0 MB
Linux
A
Guest
Storage
Linux
B
Guest
Storage
Linux A
mem=xxxx
Linux B
mem=xxxx
Shared Memory
vi
bash
Linux NSS

33
Networking
 HiperSockets Layer3 Support for IPv6
 How IPv6 support for HiperSockets devices running in layer 3 mode is available
 IPv6 is supported on:
 Ethernet interfaces of the OSA-Express adapter running in QDIO mode.
 HiperSockets layer 2 and layer 3 interfaces
 z/VM guest LAN interfaces running in QDIO mode.
 IPv6 is not supported on the OSA-Express Token Ring and ATM features.

34
RAS
 Multi volume dump support for DASDs
 Added the ability to dump on multiple ECKD DASD devices, which can be necessary, if
the system memory size is larger than the size of a single DASD device.
 Service Levels of Hardware & Hypervisor
 A new Interface which provides service levels of hardware and z/VM service-levels to
the Linux userspace. Interface: /proc/service_levels
 Lstape support for SCSI Tapes
 With this feature it is now possible to list installed FCP-attached tape devices (SCSI
tapes) besides channel attached tapes using the lstape command
 Shutdown Actions Interface
 The new shutdown actions interface allows to specify for each shutdown trigger (halt,
power off, reboot, panic) one of the five available shutdown actions (stop, ipl, reipl,
dump, vmcmd).
 A sysfs interface under /sys/firmware is provided for that purpose.
 Possible use cases are e.g. to specify that a vmdump should be automatically triggered
in case of a kernel panic or the z/VM logoff command should be executed on halt.
 Automatic IPL after dump
 The new shutdown action dump_reipl is introduced. It combines the actions dump and
re-ipl, first a dump is taken, then a re-ipl of the system is triggered

35
Storage
 FCP performance data collection & reports:
 Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) performance data can now be measured. Metrics that are
collected and reported on include:
 Performance relevant data on stack components such as Linux devices, Small
Computer System Interface (SCSI) Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) and Host Bus Adapter
(HBA) storage controller information.
 Per stack component: current values of relevant measurements such as throughput,
utilization and other applicable measurements.
 Statistical aggregations (minimum, maximum, averages and histogram) of data
associated with I/O requests including size, latency per component and totals.
 DS8K Encryption Support
 This feature enhances s390-tools to be able to display if the Storage has its disk
encrypted or not.
 Kernel support to issue Control I/O to dasd on EMC Symmetrix arrays
 Support has been added to the kernel to issue EMC Symmetrix Control I/O. This update
provides the ability to manage EMC Symmetrix storage arrays.

Future Linux on System z Technology

37
Advanced Virtualization
 Dynamic Memory Add/Remove (kernel 2.6.27)
 Enable to attach and use standby memory that is configured for a logical partition or
z/VM guest.
 Memory Attach & Detach requires running Linux on System z as a VM-guest requires
z/VM 5.4 plus the PTF for APAR VM64524.
 Standby CPU activation/deactivation (kernel 2.6.25)
 Allow standby CPUs to be activated / deactivated
 Suspend / Resume (kernel 2.6.31)
 With suspend and resume support, you can stop a running Linux on System z
instance and later continue operations.
 When Linux is suspended, data is written to a swap partition. The resume process
uses this data to make Linux continue from where it left off when it was suspended.
 A suspended Linux instance does not require memory or processor cycles.

38
Storage Support
 HyperPav (kernel 2.6.25)
 HyperPav is addressing the need to access more data with good performance and high
availability!
 This feature, which required a IBM DS8000™ disk storage system in average leads to
a higher utilization, resulting in I/O transfer rates.
 Activated automatically when the necessary prerequisites are there (DS8000 with
HyperPAV LIC, z/VM 5.3). Transparent for the Linux on System z guest
 DASD Large Volume Support (> kernel 2.6.29)
 Large Volume Support is a feature that allows to use ECKD devices with more than
65520 cylinders. This features is available with DS8000 R4.0
 High Performance FICON (HPF) (kernel 2.6.29)
 Added HPF support to the DASD Device Driver
 HPF is an extension to the FICON architecture and is designed to improve the
execution of small block I/O requests.
 HPF streamlines the FICON architecture and reduces the overhead on the channel
processors, control unit ports, switch ports, and links by improving the way channel
programs are written and processed.

39
Usability & Serviceability
 Automatic IPL After Dump (kernel 2.6.30)
 Extension to the shutdown action interface which combines the actions dump and re-
ipl, first a dump is taken, then a re-ipl of the system is triggered
 Compiler Improvements (gcc 4.3/4.4)
– The latest compiler enhancements allow a customer to recompile existing applications
which can be optimized for the latest hardware generation without any changes to the
source code.
– This can lead up to a > 10 % performance improvement.
 Large Page Support (kernel 2.6.25)
– Support for a new access method to allocate larger chunks of memory, resulting in
performance improvements, especially in Java based environments
– This feature exploits z10 hardware features and provides a software emulation for older
systems.

40
Miscellaneous
 STP/ETR Support (kernel 2.6.27)
 Support for clock synchronization using the server time protocol (STP) or an external
time reference (ETR).
 Kernel vdso support (kernel 2.6.29)
 Kernel provided shared library to speed up a few system calls (gettimeofday,
clock_getres, clock_gettime)

42
Contact
 Shawn D. Wells
W/W System z Sales, Strategy, Marketing
sdw@redhat.com
Cell: (+1) 443-534-0130 (US EST)
 Hans J. Picht
Linux on System z RedHat Liaison
hans@de.ibm.com
Cell (+49) 175-1629-201 (CET)

2009-09-24 Get the Hype on System z Webinar with IBM, Current & Future Linux on System z Technology

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2009-09-24 Get the Hype on System z Webinar with IBM, Current & Future Linux on System z Technology