Success Stories

Red Hat and Intel keep critical applications running for Shanghai Baosteel Group Special Steel Branch

After successfully implementing Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Symantec Network Access Control network management solution, Shanghai Baosteel Group Special Steel Branch Company is very satisfied with RHEL 5 virtualization on the Intel Quad-Core platform. The Baosteel team took advantage of the increased software compatibility and quick deployment of guest operating systems.

Challenge
The customer, Shanghai Baosteel Group Special Steel Branch needed to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES3U4 on two sets of IBM BladeCenter HS21 systems and run Symantec Network Access Control and Sygate LanEnforce 5.1 for Linux.
The customer uses an application that can only operate on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) ES3U4. However, the IBM BladeCenter HS21 is a new platform with a new hardware infrastructure. Both the CD drive and the floppy drive use USB interfaces, and the hard disk interface is a LSI1064E-based SAS interface.

The BladeCenter HS21 is certified by Red Hat for Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 3U8, 4U5 and 5, but not for ES3U4. The customer attempted a direct installation of ES3U4, but the SAS hard disk could not be identified normally, mptsas hard disk drive could not be loaded, and the floppy drive provided by IBM could not be loaded. Therefore, the direct installation of RHEL 3U4 failed. Shanghai Baosteel Group Special Steel Branch decided to use the virtualization capabilities of RHEL 5.1, and host an instance of RHEL ES3U4 as a guest OS.

“IBM BladeCenter HS21 XM platform supports up to two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processors with up to 1333 MHz front-side bus with a shared 2x4 MB L2 cache. It delivers ultimate processor performance with eight cores using larger and better optimized 8 MB L2 cache.After the successful implementation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux + Syamnet NAC network management solution of Shanghai Baosteel Group Special Steel Branch Company, the customer is very satisfied with RHEL 5 virtualization, particularly the Intel Quad-Core platform and software compatibility as well as the quick deployment of Guest OS.”
—Mr. Ye, Director, Information Center, Shanghai Baosteel Group Special Steel Branch

Solution and Implementation
The customer IT team first checked the hardware architecture of IBM HS21 to confirm that the CPU of the model supported VMX  technology for full virtualization. Next, the team started the virt-manager virtual machine management procedure to build a guest OS of one new virtual machine, by selecting full virtualization installation. The installation source selects ISO image file of RHEL 3U4 to build virtual machine file, set EMS memory and vcpu amount of virtual machine and set up Internet mode and begin to install.

Given the fact that the customer need to install two servers, for simple maintenance and quick deployment, the customer IT team used img mirrow file to install the guest OS and meet the requirements of multiple machines deployment and quick recovery. Higher performance would be obtained if use partition mode to install the Guest OS.
After installation of Guest OS, the system operates normally. Network configuration of IP/Netmask/Gateway/DNS and SSH/Telnet/FTP services are the same as if the operating system had full control of the system.

The team used software FTP to transfer Symantec NAC LanEnForce 5.1 for Linux i386 to the RHEL 3U4 guest OS for the installation of rpm. After the installing NAC LanEnForce software, no configurations needed to be changed. LanEnForce service will automatically bind to the SSH port. If SSH logs on RHEL 3U4, the management interface of LanEnForce service will be seen. Guest OS RHEL 3U4 is logged on by means of remote client side of SSH; the management interface of LanEnForce service is seen. Log on management interface, all the deployment and management functions are regular.

Benefits
IBM BladeCenter HS21 XM platform supports up to two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processors with up to 1333 MHz front-side bus with a shared 2x4 MB L2 cache. It delivers ultimate processor performance with eight cores using larger and better optimized 8 MB L2 cache.

After successfully implementing Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Symantec Network Access Control network management solution, Shanghai Baosteel Group Special Steel Branch Company is very satisfied with RHEL 5 virtualization on the Intel Quad-Core platform. The Baosteel team took advantage of the increased software compatibility and quick deployment of guest operating systems.

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