RHEL 5.3 Brings Nehalem Support and OpenJDK
Red Hat has released its version 5.3 of Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Among its new features are support for Intel's Microarchitecture (Nehalem) processor and for larger systems. It also includes the Java SE6-compliant OpenJDK.
The new RHEL version is well suited for full fledged hardware, such as is found in virtual system hosts. Intel 64-bit machines can now have 126 physical CPUs and 1 TByte working memory. A virtual server can have up to 32 processors and 80 GBytes of RAM.
In addition, the new Enterprise Linux's new generation will run on Intel's 64-bit Nehalem (Core i7) processor and support its hyperthreading and power management capabilities. Red Hat makes the same claims of "green IT" power management for other supported processors.
For its Java environment, Red Hat chose the GPLv2-licensed OpenJDK as part of its distro, having passed the Java Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) test some time ago.
Further details about RHEL 5.3 are in their comprehensive release notes. Customers with RHEL subscriptions can get the update over Red Hat Network.