Red Hat and Novell Update Linux Enterprise OSs

Open source software vendors Red Hat and Novell released updates to their enterprise Linux OSs. Red Hat released Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, and Novell released SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP2.

According to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 team blog, the version 5.2 release includes enhancements in the following areas:

• Virtualization—Improved support for larger system configurations, including increased physical CPU support for to 64 CPUs per system, and memory support up to 512GB per system.
• Security—Introduced new asynchronous kernel crypto hardware driver APIs. Also added SHA-256/SHA-512 password-encryption support as well as RFC4303 compliant auditing support.
• Clustering—Introduced a Resource Event Scripting Language that enables sophisticated application failover capabilities. Also improved iSCSI support.
• Networking—Improved IPv6 compliance and SNMP IPv6 suppor. Now supports IKE 2 for IPv6 IPSec support. Also includes improvements for the DHCPv6 client and server.
• Desktop—Updates to desktop applications, including Open Office, Firefox, and Adobe Reader.

You can read the Red Hat press release at www.redhat.com/about/news/prarchive/2008/rhel_5_2.html, and the RHEL5 team blog at http://www.press.redhat.com/author/rhelgroup/.

According to a Novell press release, the SUSE Linux Enterprise SP2 improvements include:

• Virtualization—Full support for virtualized Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003. The company also says the SP2 release is now the only third-party virtualization solution that offers full support directly from Windows Server guests. In addition, extensive updates to the YaST management toolset encompass first-boot enhancements and network module support for new devices.
• Networking—IPv6 support.
• Hardware Upgrades—New network and storage drivers, and support for IBM cryptographic hardware.
• Interoperability—Improved Windows and Microsoft Office interoperability through local NTFS file-system support, and improved Active Directory (AD) integration.
• Wireless—New plug and play support for wireless broadband (i.e. UMTS,3G).
• Subscription Management—Introduced subscription management tool for SUSE Linux Enterprise. Company says it easily manage SUSE Linux Enterprise software updates while maintaining corporate firewall policy and regulatory compliance requirements.

  The Novell press release is at www.novell.com/news/press/novell-delivers-suse-linux-enterprise-10-enhancements-in-service-pack-2.