Technical Blog Post
Abstract
What are the support options for Power Linux ???
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Blog: Ron Gordon, Mainline Information Systems
Title: Supporting for Linux on Power Options
As you begin to implement solutions on Power Systems with Linux, a key element of your planning has to be how to support the environment. There are several aspects of support and usually we first think of “how do I get fixes and updates”. This is only a part of what you need to understand and plan for as you also need to address areas such as: what can I do to insure the first installation is successful; how do I call support for issues; what level of support do you wish (9x5 or 7x24); how to get tuning support; how to keep up to date on latest information on Linux on Power; how can I communicate with the Power Linux community; and who are IBM and Business Partner resources I can call directly.
When you first order a Linux distribution for Power Systems, Redhat and SUSE offer subscriptions for one or three years. This entitles you to fixes, updates and releases for that time period. The updates and fixes are downloadable from the Redhat or SUSE networks at your convenience. Ubuntu has a similar concept but since they are no charge and the distribution is downloadable, the “subscription” is always in effect. Subscriptions do not allow you to call nor post issues that need to be resolved. This is called “support” and has to be added for a fee to the subscription. Support is available as “standard” meaning you can call 9x5 or you can obtain “premium” which allows 7x24 call support. You can obtain support from either Redhat or SUSE or from IBM at various price points. You could also get support from IBM and the distributor but that is redundant and has 2x the cost. Choosing IBM or distributor support is a choice you have to make based on who you want your entitlement and level one contact to be. Behind the scenes, if you use IBM support, and the issue is in the distribution, IBM will pass the issue to the distributor and if the issue is in the POWER specific code, IBM will fix it and forward the fix to the distributor for normal distribution. If you have the distributor as your support, then the reverse happens. Point is that IBM and the distributors work very closely on support of Power Linux. Ubuntu is community support and done via the web to the community. However, IBM does provide support for Ubuntu just as provided for Redhat and SUSE and at the same price. For Redhat, SUSE, Ubuntu, the IBM support is per server regardless of the number of virtual machines on the system. Redhat and SUSE support is per entitlement. This translates into different cost structures which can be significant. If you are using Debian or OpenSUSE or Fedora, these do not have support services available other than community and semi-regular updates to the code. One consideration that may help you decide on IBM or distributor support is where are you using Power Linux. If you are using Power Linux in the Power/AIX community, then IBM support may be attractive since you are calling IBM for AIX and now you can also call the same line for AIX or Linux. If on the other hand you are running Power Linux in the x86 department, you may want distributor support since that is most likely the entitlement process you are already using. So, that is the fix support options you have to choose from, all are good and you really cannot get it wrong.
Now, what about support to help in initial installations and tuning and hints and tips and quick questions, etc. IBM and Business Partners can help here. Linux is Linux but installing Linux on Power Systems is not exactly the same as installing on x86 systems. IBM does provide a no charge Installation Tools Kit that is downloadable that installs and “tunes” Linux on Power. This can be downloaded from
https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/lopdiags/installtools/home.html
An alternative or addition to the toolkit is to engage IBM Lab Services or a Business Partner for the initial installation. I have seen where customers familiar with installs x86 run into logic issues when attempting their first installation, and rather than have this happen, I suggest planning ahead with a resource to help you. There are also redbooks on this subject. And speaking of Redbooks, there is a large portfolio of Power Linux Redbooks, and I highly recommend reviewing them for various topic…rather than list them all I would point you to Google search or the IBM Redbook site:
Occasionally unforeseen issues evolve and you need an answer from users with experience. This could be usage or performance or error conditions. Of course your standard support structure can help but I also STRONGLY suggest you utilize the IBM DeveloperWorks site for Power Linux. (And you are reading this from DeveloperWorks so you already know that!!) This is a great source to ask questions to and also review what others in the Power Linux community are discussing. Here is the URL:
This site has Forums, Blogs, Wikis, etc and is really great to use and post information and questions.
So, this was a view of using the distributor for support, redbooks for knowledge and planning, people resources from BPs and IBM, installation aids and the DeveloperWorks forum. Planning and using these will provide you very good support for your Power Linux operations.
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