Red Hat
Red Hat (http://www.redhat.com) offers
two versions of the Enterprise Linux operating system for data center computing,
Linux AS and Linux ES. Red Hat is an operating system vendor that supports an
array of processor platforms, including Intel Corporation's Itanium 2 and x86,
AMD's EM64T, and select IBM POWER series servers. For application hosting, the
Linux AS operating system platform is more common to the data center than the
Linux ES operating system, providing a more robust platform for hosting of
database and customer relationship management (CRM) type applications.
When selecting Red Hat Linux as
an operating system platform, several decisions must be well planned prior to a
purchase from a selected hardware vendor. First, the performance and
expectations of the application server must be determined. Once the server
expectations have been defined, the proper version of the operating system and
corresponding hardware must be selected. Not all platforms support the same
maximum quantity of RAM per server, ranging from 64 GB to as much as 8 TB. The
number and type of processor, either 32-bit or 64-bit, must be taken into
consideration when planning an application server, with vendor-defined limits
ranging from as few as 8 processors to as many as 64 processors per server. Some
platforms have theorized support for as many as 512 processors per server
platform.
To make the selection of
hardware easier for the administrator, Red Hat offers its Hardware Catalog of
certified and compatible hardware. Certified hardware is broken down into
classifications of server or workstation. For servers, each named product
includes a list of supported operating system platforms. As an example, the IBM
eServer xSeries 336 is listed as a certified and supported platform. Red Hat
certifies that this platform has been approved to operate the x386 and x86_64
base operating systems. The Hardware Catalog assists in determining which
platforms are supported by a given vendor if existing hardware supplier
relationships exist for an enterprise buyer. As with all data center–related
purchases, any given platform should be fully tested prior to being placed into
a production environment.
Red Hat provides several resources
for optimization and tuning of the Linux AS and Linux ES operating systems. Red
Hat's administrator documentation provides suggestions for tuning the Linux
operating system's kernel, which include command-line references, scripts, and
proper procedures for user and group permissions. Red Hat offers an
administrator's exam specific to system monitoring and performance tuning based
on a course that focuses on capacity planning and performance tuning. These
types of resources will aid administrators in recognizing performance trends in their application servers, as well
as offer guidance in suggested platform changes.
Interestingly, many administrators will
compile their own applications for their servers, which is where the application
tuning process begins. Tuning of the compiler will not provide optimal
application results; the application code itself must be written to perform in
an optimal manner. Administrators must have access to the application authors in
the event that changes must be made to the source code.
For database applications, tuning
must be done in several locations, including the operating system, file system,
and the database application itself. Many database applications require
extensive use of raw and defined file systems that host the database. For the
database to perform optimally both on the server and to the end client, the
kernel, the underlying file system, disk and partition configurations, and the
amount of physical RAM in the server are all considered. The amount of installed
physical RAM may also impact the exact size of any disk swap partition or
virtual swap files that must be created
Sections
Comments (0 posted)
Syndication
