13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?1 Presentation to the AB/CO Technical Committee – Linux as the Future Console O/S Alastair Bland, 13 th May 2004

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?2 Summary of the talk Assumptions made during this talk Mea Culpa A little history Versions, installation and support (IT and AB responsibilities) Which window manager ? Which internet browser ? System level aspects

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?3 Assumptions made during this talk Any Linux Console made this year will be a PS Linux console (PS + CERN/IT Redhat Linux distribution) Any future CERN Control Center Linux Console will be a PS + CERN Enterprise Linux 3.0 distribution (anybody going to argue with me already?)

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?4 Mea Culpa When the decision to use Windows Consoles for SPS Operation was made I changed my own desktop from an HPUX Workstation to Windows (unlike the person who made the decision who stayed on a Mac!) I only use Linux for system administration, cross compilation and hacking Windows machines into shape I will probably move to a Linux desktop (unlike the person who made the decision who will stay on a Mac!)

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?5 A little history (1) The PS moved some time ago from an IT AFS based IBM AIX platform to an IT AFS based Linux PC platform –X terminals were only used in technical buildings. –All AIX software was ported to Linux. –The operators run programs on their own console. The SPS and TCR stayed on the SL NFS based HPUX workstations. –Control rooms (PCR, TCR, Fire Station, EA) were on HP X terminals until recently when Windows PCs were deployed running the HPUX programs via Exceed. –Some java programs (but not all!) are run natively on Windows. –Many of the X terminals in technical buildings were replaced with Windows

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?6 A little history (2) Most of the reasons for the PS/CO - SL/CO technical differences have not gone away with us all being in the same group. –Many SPS colleagues will not tolerate an operational IT dependency except for networks and databases. In particular for the HPUX world: The SPS has no operational file systems managed by IT The SPS has no operational CPU servers where IT manage updates (security etc.) The SPS is an AFS free zone –Many PS colleagues will not tolerate Windows in a Control System

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?7 Linux Versions The current CERN Linux is a “free for download” old Redhat distribution, kernel , with the latest security updates There will be two new Linux distributions at CERN – Redhat Enterprise Linux 3.0 ($$$) For Oracle Databases For Oracle Application servers –CERN Enterprise Linux 3.0 (free) Desktops Physics calculations Controls with Oracle clients only

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?8 Installation and Support (IT and AB responsibilities Nicolas De Metz-Noblat, Jean-Michel Elyn or myself will probably be the installers and maintainers of the thin PS layer above the CERN IT distribution. The PS layer adds: –NFS mounts of the AB/CO file servers –All AB Department AFS users + many TS and AT users –Adding Controls specific packages (java virtual machine, surveillance, cross-compilation for Front Ends) IT are responsible for –Correct functioning of Linux kernel + utilities –Oracle client integration –Native compiler –Security updates (we could limit when they are applied)

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?9 Which window manager ? PS consoles use Motif Window Manager then the C++ Console Manager (tightly linked with the PS Oracle Configuration Database) – there is also a Java console manager waiting in the wings Current SPS Windows consoles use Explorer, then the Java Yacoma Console Manager –Programs may be run as native java –X window programs may be run on HPs or Linux The future choice of Console Manager is beyond me! Note that non-operational users can choose KDE, GNOME or legacy MWM window managers at login

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?10 Which internet browser ? Mozilla seems to be the browser for Operation –Can display Java applets OK –Can load Java via JAWS –Can do EDH, MMM WebMail, DFS Web Access –Can do UBS transfers! –Used also as mail reader in offices KDE Konqueror and the Gnome equivalent are more integrated in the Desktop environment – probably not that important for Operation

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?11 system level aspects: 3 rd party software Who is responsible for 3 rd party applications, typically for development? –The fewer the better! –Linux system administrators do not believe in licenses! –Often they are configured better by the people who want them Will a Unix system administrator polish the latest and greatest Java IDE as well as a Java developer? May be better to give “sudo” root rights to the user in many cases

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?12 system level aspects: compatibility Basic binary compatibility between –Lxplus / lxbatch –PS Linux Console –PS/SL Linux Servers –PS Linux Front Ends –PS/SL PC LynxOS 4.0 Front Ends This will not always be the case however as they will evolve at different rates

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?13 system level aspects: making the Linux Console The PS Linux Console already exists – therefore there is no work to be done in this area The current RH will no longer be supported by RedHat or IT in a few months – the migration to RHEL 3.0 or CEL3 has to be done for the PS Linux Console anyway. Main difficulties are as usual: –Recompilation/linking of C++ code –Oracle library compatibility –Exceptionally some C problems Help is available to port HPUX X windows applications to Linux

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?14 Screen Dump: PS Console Manager and Linux port of XCLUC

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?15 system level aspects: hardware Consoles can be based on CERN desktop PC or rack mountable PC as used for WorldFIP gateways One, two or three screens possible –Two is easier than three as can use normal AGP graphic card Should be possible to have hardware timing for mission critical consoles! AB/CO/HT are working in this direction

13 th May 2004LINUX, which LINUX?16 Conclusion Linux Consoles running CERN Linux AFS available but not used for operation Operation uses NFS file system for applications, configuration Java and Legacy C/C++ code runs natively on the Console Questions?