IBM DS8000 manual Linux

	avg 13.97180 min 0.00004 max 57.54421 sdev 11.78066
time to next req(msec): avg		89.470	min	0.003 max 949.025 sdev 174.947
throughput:	81.8	KB/sec
utilization:	0.87

...

Linux

Linux is an open source UNIX-like kernel, originally created by Linus Torvalds. The term “Linux” is often used to mean the whole operating system, GNU/Linux. The Linux kernel, along with the tools and software needed to run an operating system, are maintained by a loosely organized community of thousands of, mostly, volunteer programmers.

There are several organizations (distributors) that bundle the Linux kernel, tools, and applications to form a “distribution,” a package that can be downloaded or purchased and installed on a computer. Some of these distributions are commercial, others are not.

Support issues that distinguish Linux from other operating systems

Linux is different from the other, proprietary, operating systems in many ways:

￿There is no one person or organization that can be held responsible or called for support.

￿Depending on the target group, the distributions differ largely in the kind of support that is available.

￿Linux is available for almost all computer architectures.

￿Linux is rapidly changing.

All these factors make it difficult to promise and provide generic support for Linux. As a consequence, IBM has decided on a support strategy that limits the uncertainty and the amount of testing.

IBM only supports the major Linux distributions that are targeted at enterprise customers:

￿RedHat Enterprise Linux

￿SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

￿RedFlag Linux

These distributions have release cycles of about one year, are maintained for five years and require the user to sign a support contract with the distributor. They also have a schedule for regular updates. These factors mitigate the issues listed previously. The limited number of supported distributions also allows IBM to work closely with the vendors to ensure interoperability and support. Details about the supported Linux distributions can be found in the DS8000 Interoperability Matrix:

http://www.ibm.com/servers/storage/disk/ds8000/pdf/ds8000-matrix.pdf

See also “The DS8000 Interoperability Matrix” on page 321.

There are exceptions to this strategy when the market demand justifies the test and support effort.

356DS8000 Series: Concepts and Architecture