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hß · HardwareCurated

Unisys supports Linux on multiprocessor servers

Summary

In 2004 Unisys, until then a Microsoft partner focused on Windows, announced Linux support for its ES7000 servers. The machines with 4 to 32 Xeon or Itanium 2 processors were to receive Red Hat and SUSE with kernel 2.6 and dynamic partitioning. According to the COO it was a difficult decision, but authorities and financial service providers only wanted to buy the servers with Linux.

Ideas

  • Customer demand forced a Windows partner to support Linux.
  • Dynamic partitioning distributes processors across partitions according to load.
  • Unisys wanted to make the partitioning APIs available for the Linux kernel.

Insights

  • In 2004 authorities and banks made Linux a purchasing condition for large servers.
  • Vendor ties loosen when customers enforce their own choice of platform.

Facts

  • ES7000 servers were available with 4 to 32 processors.
  • The server distributions of Red Hat and Novell/SUSE were to be supported.

References

Critique

  • The report gives no schedule and leaves open whether the partitioning functions made it into the official kernel.

Recommendations

  • Make platform independence an explicit requirement in hardware procurement.
  • Check whether vendor-specific kernel extensions are maintained in the mainline kernel.

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