Unix Services
Supported Operating Systems
Brookhaven National Lab has taken a relatively liberal approach to
supporting a wide number of operating systems (OS), especially compared to
other National Labs. It requires much effort to vet mandatory software
packages for all OS releases and architectures. This does necessitate
limiting number of OS.
Supported OS are limited to the list provided below and restricted to
those releases which are still supported by the developer of that OS.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
RHEL is "the world's leading open source application
platform". It is an open source operating system which
has the added benefit of paid commercial support. In
combination with the Red Hat Network
(RHN) service, RHEL provides a stable operating system for
users.
- Scientific
Linux (SL)
SL a RHEL derivative designed/maintained by
Fermilab and
CERN, and various other
labs and universities around the world. Its primary purpose
is to reduce duplicated effort of the labs, and to have a
common install base for the various experimenters.
- Fedora
Fedora (formerly known as "Fedora Core") is the development
platform of RHEL. Fedora's benefits are a short
development cycle and the available of cutting-edge
software. The major drawback is the short support
lifespan. Fedora's official support is for 13
months after release date.
- Debian
Debian is a freely available Linux based operating system
with a wide assortment of available software packages.
- Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a Debian linux derivative designed for desktop and
laptop environments. The base operating system is
built upon Debian, however, more development work has been
put into the user interface. It has a shorter
development cycle which provides access to more cutting-edge
software.
- Sun
Solaris
Sun's Solaris operating system is still a major player in
the BNL computing environment. ITD carries a
maintenance contract with Sun for security patches and
updates.
- AIX 5L for Power
(releases 5.2 and 5.3 only)
Support for IBM's AIX operating system is provided for
legacy compatibility on the QCDOC network.
- SGI
IRIX
For legacy SGI systems still in service in the lab, IRIX is
the only operating system available.
- HP-UX
(B.11.11 through B.11.31)
Some legacy systems still in production require support for
uncommon OS.
- Tru64
Formerly a product of Compaq, now owned by HP, Tru64 is
designed for DEC Alpha processors.
 Last Modified:
February 14, 2011
To reach ITD Unix Services for any support issues, please contact the
ITD Helpdesk via email (itdhelp@bnl.gov)
or call x5522. In any communications, please include the name of the
machine(s) in question, as well as their operating system, software package
and other relevant information which will allow ITD to help you more
effectively.
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