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SubjectFENRIS Final Release for NwFs 1.4.X
Date
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Linux Kernel Community,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We appreciate the patience of the Linux community
with this project.&nbsp; We are happy to announce that we are now feature
complete on the FENRIS NwFs Source Base and all of the final regression tests
have been completed in all areas for the FENRIS Core.&nbsp; We will post release
1.4.6 officially next week at ftp site 207.109.151.240.&nbsp; This release
contains Volume Suballocation, RapidFATs, Extended Directory Support for OS2 and
MAC, full Mirroring, Re-Mirroring, Read and Write Hotfixing, NetWare Directory
Services Support (Databases), Striping, and Fault Tolerant Failover for
mirror/duplex failures.&nbsp; </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This release still runs on Linux Stock Kernel
2.0.37, however, it is a feature complete NetWare file system.&nbsp; We have
also completed the ports to the Linux 2.2/2.3 VFS Architecture.&nbsp; The 2.2
version is in system testing with (<A
href="mailto:langus@timpanogas.com">langus@timpanogas.com</A>) for the next
several weeks.&nbsp; Anyone needing a status on when stuff will be posted should
contact Larry.&nbsp; He runs the release schedule (we will serve no wine before
It's time).&nbsp; When these regression tests have run to completion, we will
post this code base.&nbsp; We have deliberately withheld the utilities that
create and manage NetWare file systems on Linux.&nbsp; This has been
intentional.&nbsp; We have numerous licensees of FENRIS for&nbsp;projects other
than Linux who have come to us with issues&nbsp;about our release of these
utilities to the public.&nbsp; Most of the folks who&nbsp;license from us use
the core file system&nbsp;library for SAN switches, disk-cloning products,
etc.&nbsp; These licensees have voiced their concern that were we to open source
the utilities that create and manage Netware file systems, that this would harm
their businesses because it would allow other folks to get access to the
technology without going through us for a license.&nbsp; TRG has NO contractural
prohibition that would prevent us from open sourcing these tools.&nbsp; As such,
we have decided that we will open source the tools, but will do so when the
FENRIS project has been fully completed and integrated into the Linux
core.&nbsp; This means that if Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox choose to roll NwFs
into the Linux Core proper, then we will Open Source the tools for everyone to
use.&nbsp; If they do not roll NwFs into the Linux Core, then we will provide
everyone access to binary versions of the tools, but will not publish the source
code.&nbsp; </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The performance numbers for FENRIS on Linux are
**POOR** in comparison to this IDENTICAL code base running under Windows NT 4.0
and Windows 2000.&nbsp; Both run circles around&nbsp;Linux, even on Linux 2.3 by
a factor of about 55%.&nbsp; We&nbsp;are&nbsp;attempting to figure
out&nbsp;why.&nbsp; Ingo's Page Cache does really help get the performance up to
the same levels as Windows NT in some scenarios, however, when the buffer cache
get's heavily loaded, Linux seems to get into some serious trouble vs. NT and
Netware.&nbsp; We are attempting to figure out why.&nbsp; The performance of
FENRIS on Linux vs. Native Netware from our tests show that Netware is about
240% faster than Linux running this identical code base.&nbsp; We created a
VSWITCH plug-in (Novell's equivalent of an IFS)&nbsp;of FENRIS on Netware to
compare our identical code base running unde Netware 4.x vs. Linux.&nbsp;
Netware **KICKS** Linux's butt.&nbsp;&nbsp;Logic analysis with a bus analyzer
shows that Linus's heavy use of trap gates for system calls and TLB flushing
during process context switches is a serious&nbsp;factor.&nbsp; Both NT and
Netware use page level protection, however, these two OS's perform some
optimizations that are absent in Linux.&nbsp; There are also some severe
parallelism issues with the Linux code base proper and the way shared
synchronization is done (or rather isn't done) that reduces the parallelsim of
Linux and the file systems.&nbsp; </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We will be locking down final code for 2.0.37 next
week.&nbsp; 2.2/2.3 will post in about three to four weeks.&nbsp; We may post
earlier versions if Larry Angus gives us a green light on these code
bases.&nbsp; </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We are also pleased to let everyone know our next
Open Source Linux project in Novell's Netware Directory Services on Linux as an
Open Source Intiative.&nbsp; We are about 60% complete on an Open Source NDS for
Linux.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We want to thank Alan Cox, Linus(x), Al Viro, Steve
Spicer, and all the wonderul Linux folks who really helped out with this project
and helped us get it tested and out the door.&nbsp; Special thanks to Ray
Noorda, founder and former CEO of Novell who funded this Open Source project for
the benefit of the Linux Community then asked us to Open Source the File System
portion for all to use and enjoy.&nbsp; </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This isn't the last time you'll hear from us, stay
tuned, NDS is next for Linux from us.&nbsp; We will post an announcement next
week&nbsp;during the Linux&nbsp;show.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Very Truly Yours,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jeff Merkey and Darren Major</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>TRG, Inc.</FONT></DIV>
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