The largest and most successful commercial Linux distributor has announced the release of the first Linux hybrid cloud platform that integrates with many industry cloud services. Until now, the only other hybrid cloud platform was Azure by Microsoft. The comprehensive package, which they are calling Red Hat Cloud Foundations, gives customers the ability to run applications in both public and private clouds.

Red Hat made the announcement this week in Boston at the Red Hat Summit, where they also announced new additions to the Red Hat Certified Cloud Partner Program, namely IBM, NTT Communications, and Savvis. Amazon Web Services was the first partner to join previously.

Red Hat was one of the first commercial Linux distributions that had a large following of desktop users. They gradually moved their business model to servers with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and have since made the natural expansion into virtualization and cloud computing. Many of the servers that power websites and web hosting providers around the world use their software.

Source: ComputerWorld

Continue reading: Red Hat Introduces Hybrid Cloud Platform

Today Canonical, the company responsible for the popular desktop Linux operating system called Ubuntu, also released their latest server edition, version 10.04 LTS. The “LTS” stands for long-term support, which Canonical will offer for five years (Normal Ubuntu versions are released every six months).

In the Linux server web hosting market, Red Hat (or derivatives like CentOS) has dominated. But Ubuntu promises many new features in an effort to lure business clients from the enterprise server arena.

Among the new features are:

More cloud computing support in Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud
Support from Dell on the PowerEdge-C server line
Five years of free security and maintenance
AppArmor security
Kernel hardening
Virtualization enhancements
Advanced storage capabilities
Mass deployment tools
and more.

Source: Ubuntu.com

Continue reading: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server Edition Released

As anticipated, the Linux giant Red Hat has released the first beta of the 6th version of its long-awaited enterprise server operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The new OS offers greater server scalability by increasing the strength and performance of KVM hypervisor, its kernel-based virtualization infrastructure.

Rather than a maximum of 16 CPUs under which KVM could run, it now can handle up to 64 and a terabyte of memory. Red Hat also focussed on increasing I/O throughput of the KVM virtual machines.

RHEL will run Linux kernel version 2.6.33 and will also have backwards compatibility with previous versions of RHEL kernels. They will continue to support kernel versions for 7 years. Although RHEL is a commercial Linux distribution that requires licensing, many smaller web servers also run run free and open source versions of it, such as CentOS. Red Hat’s primary business is enterprise-level Linux servers, with an annual revenue of $652 million.

Source: InformationWeek

Continue reading: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 Beta Released

OpenVZ is a free and open source virtualization solution for Linux. Here is an easy guide to installing OpenVZ on Redhat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, or Fedora.

Note: It is recommended that you use an ext2 or ext3 file system if you want per-container disk quota.

1. Add the OpenVZ YUM repository:

# cd /etc/yum.repos.d
# wget http://download.openvz.org/openvz.repo
# rpm --import http://download.openvz.org/RPM-GPG-Key-OpenVZ

2. Find out which kernel version you need and install it:

# yum install ovzkernel[-flavor]

3. Change the new GRUB bootloader lines created when you installed the kernel to look something like this in /boot/grub/grub.conf:

title OpenVZ (2.6.8-022stab029.1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.8-022stab029.1 ro root=/dev/sda5
initrd /initrd-2.6.8-022stab029.1.img

That’s it! You now have OpenVZ installed. Visit the OpenVZ wiki for more information about configuring your new installation.

Source: OpenVZ Quick Installation

Continue reading: How to install OpenVZ with yum

Question: How much memory will I need to run virtual machines on my server?

Answer: There is no simple answer to this question. Generally speaking, to virtualize an operating system you need at least as much RAM as is normally required to run the OS independently. Therefore, if your OS requires 512MB of RAM to run normally, it will require that in virtualization.

It is, however, not quite that simple. Depending on your application needs, server loads, and the amount of data being accessed and transferred, your needs could range from the low (512MB) to the high (4GB) or even beyond that.

Therefore, it is important to know exactly what you need and how much RAM you would normally need to run the applications you are trying to run. Some virtualization software also includes dynamic memory allocation so that you can set a base amount and allow the amount used to expand on an as-needed basis. As with anything that might tax your server’s load, use it wisely.

Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: Virtual machine memory allocation

Question: Is there any way to configure a dedicated Linux server without having local access and without logging in to the command line through SSH?

Answer: The short answer is that it is highly unlikely you will never need to use the command line interface on a Linux server, and if you don’t have physical access to the server, you will most likely not have a graphical interface at all.

The exception, however, is Webmin, a very powerful web-based Unix system administration tool. Webmin can be used to replace many of the common command-line tasks, such as creating users, configuring Apache, DNS, passwords, databases, and can even be used to reboot the server. It functions just like most other web-based control panels and comes with a customizable interface (using themes).

Webmin also includes sub-components such as Cloudmin for virtualization and Virtualmin for web hosting. Webmin is free and open source software released under a BSD-style license and is available for download and installation on numerous platforms and Unix-like operating systems.

Source: Webmin.com

Continue reading: Using Webmin for Linux commands and tasks

This week we have learned about several different server-ready operating systems. But what should you do if you need to run multiple operating systems? Should you fork out the cash for multiple servers? It really depends on your needs, but if you know you will not need an entire dedicated server for each OS, you can save money with virtualization.

Common proprietary virtualization solutions include VMWare and Microsoft’s Hyper-V. Open source solutions include Xen, VirtualBox, and OpenVZ. What virtualization allows you to do is run “virtual machines” within your main (host) operating system. For example, you might have a Linux server, but through virtualization, you can also run Windows and BSD on the same box.

Virtual machines can be customized to use specified amounts of resources. This ensures that you do not over tax your server. Furthermore, some operating systems might require more RAM, for example, than others. While the backend administration will make the virtualization obvious, users who login to the virtual machines will have no idea that they are working in a virtual environment.

Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: Using virtualization to host multiple operating systems

You may be aware that a VPS is simply a virtual dedicated server with a set amount of RAM and CPU power allocated to it, but how exactly is a VPS “built” ?

As the name implies, virtual private servers don’t exist in physical form. You can’t go to a hardware vendor and buy a VPS. But what you can do is use virtualization software like the popular Virtuozzo to split a dedicated server into smaller pieces.

A provider might, for example, have a server with 4 GB of RAM and a 2 GHz CPU. The owner could rent it as-is, or use Virtuozzo to split it up into any number of configurations. The resources could be evenly allocated between two users or sixteen. Either way, Virtuozzo will segment the server into different parts and each will operate as if it were its own dedicated server, complete with the ability to install and OS and reboot without disrupting the other virtual servers.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Virtuozzo VPS

Question: I am new to Linux server administration. Is there any way to create a test server without having to buy a new computer or dual boot my Windows machine?

Answer: Yes there is a way, and virtualization is the answer. There are many paid virtualization options like Vmware, but if you want a free option that allows you to run Linux inside of a Windows host, VirtualBox is probably your best bet.

With VirtualBox, you can run any number of virtual machines, booting into Linux and testing whatever you need to test. You can even give the virtual machine network access to test an actual live virtual web server.

First, you should download the appropriate Linux distribution of your choice. If your server will use Redhat Enterprise Linux, you can still download CentOS for free and learn the same skills. Similarly, if it is running SuSE Linux Enterprise, you can download OpenSuSE for free. Then, you do not even need to burn the CD or DVD. VirtualBox will boot directly from the ISO and install into a virtual drive on your computer. Finally, you will be able to play and learn Linux with no real world consequences. With VirtualBox the opposite also applies. You can run a Windows server within Linux.

Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: Creating a test server

Question: What are Xen, Vmware, and Hyper-V?

Answer: All three are popular virtualization software. Xen is a free and open source virtualization solution and is therefore included in some Linux distributions. Vmware is a commercial company with many virtualization products. Hyper-V, formerly known as Windows Server Virtualization, is a commercial Microsoft product.

Both Xen and Vmware are cross platform on the host side and client side, and Hyper-V is cross platform on the client side, released with Windows Server 2008. Virtualization allows the user to run guest operating systems within the default system. Theoretically, numerous guest OSes can run at once, limited only by RAM and CPU power.

For servers, virtualization has been an important evener in the web hosting market. Because you can run multiple OSes on one server, you can cut the costs of having to have separate servers for shared hosting users who prefer one over another.

Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: What are Xen, Vmware, and Hyper-V?

There are many reasons to use free and open source software on a web hosting dedicated server that go beyond simple financial savings. From increased security and flexibility in development release cycles to highly customizable and modular components, the possibilities are vast. There are several operating systems and software setups to consider.

Operating Systems choices include Linux (with choices such as CentOS, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE), BSD (OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and NetBSD), and Open Solaris. Each has its own list of features and release cycles. You should check each link and evaluate them. A large number of the Internet’s web servers now run one of these Unix-like operating systems or one of the many other choices.

For software, the opportunities are even more expansive. If you want a robust HTTP server, there is probably no better and more widely acclaimed than Apache. For something that is light but can handle heavy loads, you might prefer lighttpd. Most of the operating systems mentioned above will come with their own set of software packages for mail servers, DNS servers, firewalls, and other tools, but you can pick and choose the ones that fit your needs.

Continue reading: Running an Open Source Web Server

VMware announced today that it plans to purchase SpringSource, a leader in cloud computing application management. VMware specializes in virtualization and intends to extend their reach naturally into cloud computing. The deal will reportedly involve US$362 million in cash and equity, as well as US$58 million in stock options.

The goal of the alliance is to solidify VMware’s offering of platform-as-a-service, providing customers with integrated SpringSource Software and VMware’s vSphere cloud operating system. SpringSource also offers open source products and has a strong open source developer community base that VMware intends to honor and continue to support.

In a blog post, CEO Rod Johnson explained the opportunities as IT transforms itself. He wrote:
“The way in which people think about software stacks is changing. Virtualization is reshaping the data center, and cloud computing is set to drive far-reaching changes. Significantly, cloud computing blurs the division between development and operations, bringing new power (and responsibility) to developers…

SpringSource specializes in enterprise Java applications, including development support for Apache Tomcat, the open source Java application server. They also provide support for Apache HTTP Server, a web server application used by more web hosting companies than any other. VMware expects to finalize the deal in the third quarter of this year.

Source: ZDNet Asia
Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: VMware buys SpringSource for US$420M