Mainframe In Veritas’ Sights with Linux Initiative

support coming in 6-18 months

• By Chris McConnell
• 07/30/2002

With the announcement of its Linux initiative yesterday, Veritas Software Corp. said it plans to support mainframe Linux in the next six to 18 months. It also released versions of its most popular packages for Intel-based Linux.

The storage software powerhouse held an event in New York City yesterday to unveil its new Linux strategy. Speakers from the likes of Red Hat and IBM accompanied the announcement to validate Veritas’ commitment to the open source platform.

At the event, Veritas announced the availability of two of its products, Veritas ServPoint NAS and Veritas Cluster Server, on Intel-based Linux. Originally available for Solaris, ServPoint NAS enables administrators to “roll their own” NAS devices by using standard hardware, allowing them to repurpose older or slower hardware for storage, rather than buying a dedicated NAS device.

The second product, Veritas Cluster Server, is perhaps more critical to the future growth of Linux. Cluster Server allows multiple servers to be tied together for a single application, creating one system with high reliability. The lack of native clustering support is often cited as a reason that Linux is not quite ready for full-fledged enterprise applications. But Veritas Cluster Server “allows Linux to scale-out easily to database environments,” says Ryan Foster, a product manager at Veritas.

Veritas already supports Intel-based Linux with a number of its products, including its leading backup-and-recovery tool, Veritas NetBackup, as well as Veritas Foundation Suite.

Foster says the company is working to meet the needs of its customers, and “our customers are demanding those solutions on the Linux platform.”

Veritas also outlined its plans for mainframe support at the event. In the next six to 18 months, the company will begin to roll out its products for mainframe Linux versions, beginning with Veritas’ volume manager and NetBackup, then moving on to other products as demand dictates.

The shift from open systems to big iron presents a challenge, Foster says, since “the mainframe space is a new space for Veritas.” Working with the mainframe’s unique I/O systems and other features will present a support challenge for the company.

Other announcements included a roadmap for embedded Linux systems in Storage Area Networks (SANs) and support agreements with Red Hat and IBM allowing customers to have a single point of contact for Veritas’ Linux products.