| SUSE Linux goes "real time" |
Oct. 25, 2006
SUSE Linux is often found on the edge of the enterprise as webservers, in branch offices on fileservers, and in the data center running heavy database loads -- but not in "real time" financial services applications. Things have just changed, with Novell's release of SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time (SLERT).
SLERT enables the use of Linux for real-time applications such as online stock trading, process control and operation, and telecommunications. SLERT does this by adding real-time technology from Concurrent Computer Corporation to SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) 10.
SLERT offers support for 32-bit and 64-bit processor architectures, including AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon, predictable interrupt response time of less than 30 microseconds, high-resolution timer support for enhanced scheduling, user-level control of simultaneous multithreading, and processor shielding.
In tightly-coupled symmetric multiprocessing systems, SLERT allows individual CPUs to be shielded from interrupt processing, daemons, bottom halves, and other Linux tasks. Processor shielding provides a highly deterministic execution environment where interrupt response and the time it takes to execute a transaction can be guaranteed.
The SLERT kernel also allows multiple processes to execute in the kernel simultaneously. The kernel protects key data structures and critical sections of code with semaphores and spin locks to preserve system integrity.
Processes executing in the kernel can also be preempted -- that is, forced to relinquish a CPU involuntarily. The kernel can transfer control from a lower priority process to a higher priority process, except when the lower priority process is executing in a critical kernel section. To provide deterministic response, many critical sections of the kernel have been tuned and optimized to dramatically shorten non-preemptible conditions. This enables a high-priority process to respond immediately to an external event, even when the CPU is currently in use.
To make all this work, the operating system's FBS (Frequency-Based Scheduler) is a high-resolution task scheduler that enables processes to run in cyclical execution patterns. The FBS controls the periodic execution of multiple, coordinated processes utilizing major and minor cycles with overrun detection. A performance monitor is also provided to view CPU utilization during each scheduled execution frame.
Taken together, this real-time technology eliminates spikes in latency, ensuring consistent performance and stability. The solution is already being used in trading floor and market data servers in financial services, advanced imaging in patient healthcare, and enterprise data centers with time-critical requirements, according to Novell.
This new SUSE Linux from Novell also comes with a full set of tools for efficient development of time-critical applications. In addition to the usual GNU C, C++, and FORTRAN compilers, users also have the option of developing in Concurrent's MAXAda 95.
The operating system also supports Concurrent's powerful NightStar application development tool set that includes a source-level debugger, run-time analyzer, periodic scheduler, data monitor and performance tuner. NightStar also provides a robust graphical interface for non-intrusive control, monitoring, analysis, and debugging of multi-threaded and/or multiprocessor applications.
How good is it? According to benchmarks ran by Novell with Wombat Financial Software, a financial trading software company, customers were able to achieve aggregate simultaneous publishing rates of 200,000 messages per second from the feed handler, which is roughly twice the rates generated by any other data feed product in the market today.
In Novell's internal benchmark testing, SLERT also set a new record for query response time with the Ingres database. In tests performed at the Ingres Performance Center, the average response time of SLERT was one-third that of a competing standard Linux distribution. This test simulated 16 threads of complicated queries hitting the Ingres database. In part, this was because SLERT's CPU shielding kept other system activity from interrupting the database thread, so the queries finish more quickly than in an unshielded environment.
Carlos Montero-Luque, vice president of product management for Open Platform Solutions at Novell, stated, "With SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, we are giving them the improved performance and lower costs of Linux along with the deterministic response and predictable quality of service their businesses demand. Backed up by Novell's vast ecosystem of services and support, customers can be confident that this real-time solution will enable them to serve their customers effectively even as it improves their bottom line."
Wombat COO Daniel Moore agreed. "Customers across the capital markets continue to hunger for technologies that give them a real performance edge. With SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, Wombat customers are able to benefit from low-latency, high-performance solutions for their market data needs."
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time is now available from Novell and Concurrent. For more information, visit Concurrent's SUSE real-time website.
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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