Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Production-quality XenSource virtualisation is the main selling point here, with optional clustering and storage virtualisation to go with it. But there's a lot more besides, making the new Red Hat Enterprise Linux a compelling solution for businesses of all sizes.

Some two years in development, the latest version of Red Hat's Enterprise Linux platform, RHEL 5, was finally launched on March 14. The open source performance, functionality and security updates are all present and correct, but of greatest significance is the newly integrated Xen virtualisation technology -- marketed for the first time as suitable for production use -- together with a complete revamp of the way the product is licensed.

Virtualisation, virtualisation, virtualisation
The much-heralded virtualisation features are based on XenSource technology, which in RHEL 5 provides support for both "para-virtualisation" -- where guests are limited to modified Linux implementations (either RHEL 4.5 or 5) -- and the ability to run a guest operating system, such as Windows, unmodified. However, you will need a server with the latest Intel VT- or AMD-V-enabled processors to take advantage of the latter full virtualisation option.

Production-quality virtualisation based on the XenSource technology is a key selling point of the RHEL 5 release.

RHEL 5 supports both para-virtualisation and full virtualisation, although Intel VT or AMD-V enabled processors are required for the latter.

Command-line and graphical management tools are included with the XenSource software, although these aren't as well integrated as on rival Linux implementations, such as Novell's SLES 10, and nowhere near as comprehensive or as easy to use as those from Microsoft or market leader VMWare. Bear in mind, too, that Red Hat doesn't currently offer support for Windows guests running on its platform, although it has indicated that it may do so before long.