May 22nd, 2008
SLES 10.2, RHEL 5.2 Linux upgrades offer better Microsoft, IBM support
The two largest commercial Linux providers have released updates to their distributions with enhanced virtualization features and better support for Microsoft and IBM environments.
On Wednesday, Novell announced availability of its SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Service Pack 2 and Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux 5.2 hit the streets.
Novell’s interoperability pact with Microsoft is evident in the update. SLES 10 SP2, for instance, features the Xen 3.2 virtualization hypervisor with support from Microsoft for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 guests as well as live migration of those guests across physical systems, Novell said.
Additionally, the SLES 10.2 Enterprise desktop offers enhanced interoperability with Microsoft Windows and Office in the form of local NTFS file system support, enhanced integration with Active directory and an updated OpenOffice.org 2.4 Novell edition.
Novell also integrated improvements to the SUSE Real-Time Edition and a new subscription management tool for SLES, both of which will be delivered within three months.
Meanwhile, market leader Red Hat unveiled an update to its Enterprise Linux that also offers enhanced virtualization, desktop, security, networking, and hardware support. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, for instance, delivers virtualization support for NUMA-based systems, systems with up to 64 CPUs and 512 gigabytes of memory and frequency scaling to reduce power use..On the hardware side, RHEL 5.2 offers enhanced support for x86-64, Itanium, power and IBM System Z, support for Intel’s dynamic acceleration technology and IBM’s Cell Blade systems.Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 Desktop includes enhanced support for the suspend/hibernate and resume, Firefox 3 and OpenOffice 2.3.
Paula Rooney is a Boston-based writer who has followed the tech industry for almost two decades. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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