On this topic Newsletters Linux Security. Many high-level features have been greatly enhanced in the 2.4 kernel, including scalability and reliability, making Linux a very attractive option for enterprise OS implementations in which cost savings and high performance are paramount. And last week, much of the promise that Linux holds for large companies was finally made a reality with the release of Version 2.4 of the kernel, which boasts wider hardware support, superior scalability, and reliability improvements. Released a year later than first projected, the kernel was exhaustively debugged and improved. Members of the development team are currently working on in-depth security audits of Version 2.4 and the current stable kernels.
Scalability is another big issue in large environments.
Version 2.2 of the Linux kernel can scale well only to as many as four processors, whereas many high-end systems ship with eight and 16 CPUs. But the revised 2.4 kernel can handle 16 or more processors without taking a large performance hit in coordinating tasks among CPUs. Linux can now move into these high-end environments without creating a performance bottleneck. Of course, scalability is not limited to the number of CPUs in a serveer. Networking support and storage enhancements have also been made in 2.4.