Linbit Partners With Novell

On May 19th, Novell announced the first service pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11. LINBIT  Information Technologies GmbH, in Linux High-Availability, has contributed a component to SLES, embraces Novell’s clear commitment to a Linux-Distribution for Enterprise businesses.

SLES SP 1 comes up with an array of new functions. Among them are improved virtualization support (Xen 4.0 and KVM) and significant advances in storage. The Linux Cluster stack was brought up to speed, too. That way, SLES 11 SP1 presents itself for environments where permanent availability is crucial.

LINBIT is the driving force behind DRBD, a solution for redundant data storage in High Availability configurations. DRBD combines free software flexibility with financial savings – in comparison to proprietary SAN solutions offered by hardware vendors. Over the last years, DRBD has become the standard solution when it comes to Enterprise data storage platforms with Linux. It has been an integral part of most Linux distributions for many years. Recently, DRBD made headlines when Linux head developer Linus Torvalds knighted it by merging it into the official 2.6.33 Linux Kernel release.

LINBIT and Novell offer Enterprise clients a stable base for their businesses by delivering well-tested, enterprise-grade Open Source solution stacks. SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 contains a complete and stable cluster stack, based on Pacemaker, which is now better than ever. LINBIT adds DRBD, the world’s leading solution for data replication, to SLE High Availability Extension (SLE HA). LINBIT and Novell are committed to Linux in the Enterprise market and offer customers an extraordinary combination of reliability, performance and support – for all components of a High Availability cluster with SLES, SLE HA and DRBD.

Florian Haas, LINBIT’s product manager, explains why SUSE Linux Enterprise Server SP1 is coming in at just the right time: "In the last year, there’s been some massive advances in terms of High Availability software for Linux. SLES 11 SP1 ensures that Novell’s Enterprise clients get the full benefit from these improvements. Just to mention an example, this new SLES release, with DRBD, can completely replace conventional SAN storage – for significantly lower cost. And virtualization solutions like LINBIT Virtualization Enterprise Cluster get even better now."

Kavan Smith, LINBIT North America, CEO is excited to see the top tier Linux vendor continue to officially support and recommend DRBD to their clients. "At LINBIT we feel it is important to be involved in both the grass-roots of the open source community, but also with Enterprise Vendors such as Novell. DRBD’s acceptance into the Linux Kernel, insertion into mainstream Linux distributions and an ever expanding user-base are tell-tale signs of the growing interest in LINBIT and DRBD."

"The partnership with LINBIT will ensure the best product quality and integration of Data Replication into the SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension," states Kai Dupke, Sr. Product Manager, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension at Novell. "Based on this, customers will take advantage using the highest level of protection and availability for their data."