Columns

A recent deal between VMware and LG brings virtualization technology to the mobile device world. Could the iPhone be next?

2010 was a pretty dramatic year in the server OS world, with one big name disappearing in a puff of logic, another selling itself off to the highest bidder and a third joining Oracle's 'evil' empire. Like any year, 2010 had some obvious winners, some downright losers and a quite a few merchants of 'meh.' Here are the 8 most notable server OS developments that took place in 2010.

If you've been wondering what's sucking the life out of your Linux laptop's battery or driving those higher electric bills in the server room, be sure to check out Powertop. The popular Linux tool profiles systems to help determine which programs are using the most power.

There are 10 forces driving you toward a more agile data center. May the forces be with you.

Oracle claims the top spot for Unix with Solaris and reveals it has its eye on the Linux top spot for its homegrown Linux distro, Oracle Enterprise Linux. Red Hat and HP express a mix of consternation and amusement. But is that the right reaction?

A tisket, a tasket, be sure to use the open source server tool taskset for priority tasks.

When Schneider Electric purchased APC, it set about building a new new data center outside of St. Louis, Mo. Although it was designed to consolidate both companies' server rooms, it also serves as a model of energy efficiency, illuminating Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure architecture for intelligent energy management.

InternetNews.com chose VMware CEO Paul Maritz to receive a 2010 CEO Vision Award. The leader of the virtualization king pin was selected for his leadership in continuing to push the technology's value proposition forward.

With OpenSUSE safe for the time being and Novell holding fast to its UNIX copyrights, many in the open source world have much to smile about this week. Ubuntu's announcement that it is not moving to a rolling release and yet another Chrome delay are also top of mind, as is some info on jailbreaking your Windows Phone 7.

Not an expert on cron? No need to worry -- just use the Corntab site or its iPhone app.

Got tools? Add these valuable and free server tools to your toolbox to make your computers, network and wallet very happy.

The announcement that Novell has agreed to sell itself is no surprise. The buyer -- Attachmate -- is, as is the agreed-upon price of $2.2 billion. Meanwhile, the future of Suse Linux Enterprise Server remains unclear, as does Microsoft's role in the deal.

lsof is one of the most useful utilities for Linux and Unix systems. At its most basic, lsof can help identify which files are being used by any given application and which network ports are open.

Is virtualization really all that new to HPC?

Faster and more integrated interconnects play a key role in this 'Asian invasion' of the semi-annual TOP500 Supercomputing list.

It's not unusual for a software release to trigger a hardware refresh. With the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, many OEMs are counting on it.

Want to see how your server is doing without SSH'ing into the system? One way to do this is to set up a Web page that shows the status of your Apache server. Here's how to get started.

There is no magic bullet when it comes to finding performance bottlenecks, but knowing where to look for them enhances your aim.

Virtualization isn't just about slicing and dicing. Sometimes it's about bringing systems together, as ScaleMP demonstrates with its latest release of vSMP Foundation.

Apple's phenomenal success in the phone and electronic gadget markets is making its legacy computer business look increasingly anachronistic. Here are five things you should know before you invest in anything to do with Mac OS X in your data center or enterprise.

Postfix is a great mailer, but if you're new to administering it, finding your way around can be difficult. Here's how to get started.

Virtualization and cloud were key components of two recent OS releases: Fedora Linux 14 and Windows Server 2008 SP1. Suddenly, the OS isn't such a dinosaur after all.

Windows Server 2008 R2's latest service pack adds appealing new features, including enhancements to desktop and server virtualization. In the developer corner, however, things are a bit dimmer with Microsoft expressing some confusing statement about the future of Silverlight at its Professional Developer's Conference.

When it comes to remote system administration, all roads lead to Vim. While Vim's capabilities are vast -- entire books have been written about it, and they still fail to capture all of its functionality -- knowing a handful of commands will enable you to do much of what you need to do.

The cost savings that comes with virtualization makes an easy selling point, but there are other reasons the technology makes sense. Here are 10 reasons to consider virtualization that, although not top of mind, are worthy of consideration.