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Critical Server Needs and the Linux Kernel (Linux Journal)

[Posted October 22, 2004 by ris]

Linux Journal looks at Linux kernel features needed for mission-critical server environments. "This article provides some examples of features and mechanisms needed in the Linux kernel for server nodes operating in mission-critical environments, such as telecom, where reliability, performance, availability and security are extremely important. Here, we discuss four such features: a cluster communication protocol, support for multiple-FIB, a module to verify digital signatures of binaries at run time and an efficient low-level asynchronous event mechanism."

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Posted Oct 22, 2004 17:38 UTC (Fri) by mmarq (guest, #2332) [Link]

Missing indeed !??...

" One feature missing from the Linux kernel in this area is a reliable, efficient and transparent interprocess and interprocessor communication protocol that we can use to build highly available Linux clusters "

Can't the "Desktop", if an IPC can be said to be Desktop or Server oriented, D-BUS just evolve to adress this need ?

If so, then that feature is not really missing, it just need more development...

Would be a pitty to have fragmentation in this department, in name of marketing differentiation,... , and everybody will be served:-)

Critical Server Needs and the Linux Kernel (Linux Journal)

Posted Oct 22, 2004 22:01 UTC (Fri) by hch (guest, #5625) [Link]

The article is written by the usual DCL/CGL crowd. It's full of bullshit and you shouldn't take it too serious.

Critical Server Needs and the Linux Kernel (Linux Journal)

Posted Oct 22, 2004 23:08 UTC (Fri) by hmh (subscriber, #3838) [Link]

ECC support with software scrubbing on IA32. Most other archs have it.

The only reason this is not critical for enterprises is that proper server hardware has hardware scrubbing. But for entry-level servers and workstations with no hardware scrubbing, ECC support would be a nice thing to have.

(ECC support means that the kernel actually tells you if the hardware detects and corrects ECC errors, so that you know you are experiencing them. Scrubbing is needed, either in software or hardware, so that a second error in that memory cell will not cause real data loss).