MontaVista Software announced version 5.0 of its Linux Carrier Grade Edition (CGE) for network equipment providers (NEPs). The new Linux CGE 5.0 provides new telco scalability features to handle unexpected jumps in protocol traffic, new functions to increase reliability, new field-serviceability features, and new NSA-level security protection.
The heart of MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition 5.0 is an embedded Linux operating system designed for telecom and network equipment, including ATCA- and MicroTCA-based platforms, such as SGSNs, GGSNs, and softswitches. Developers can add off-the-shelf Linux utilities.
Some release highlights:
- Linux 2.6.21 kernel support
- Run-Time Application Patcher: gives field engineers the ability to apply a binary patch to a live system while it runs, without incurring any downtime. Engineers can update software, fix bugs, and add new features to a live system without stopping it or rebooting.
- Flight Recorder: acts like an airplane black box to track and log system history. It keeps a scheduler history, which provides more information than a crash dump snapshot, and is user-extensible for customized tracking. It also performs advanced diagnostics.
- Field-Safe Application Debugger: debugs a live system without halting execution or affecting services.
- Live application core dump: with only a short (generally tens to hundreds of milliseconds) stop of the application, this new feature takes a snapshot of the running application. The application can continue running while engineers debug the snapshot to fix the application.
- Integrated real-time response: 100% native Linux with real-time performance features, including MontaVista enhancements plus integrated high resolution nanosecond timers (hrtimers) that avoid the compatibility and reliability headaches caused by non-Linux second-kernel add-ons. Additional real-time features include fast mutexes, threaded soft and hard IRQ handlers, and application-level priority inheritance and queuing, providing preemption response latency as low as 50 microseconds.
- Microstate accounting: provides the ability to measure process and thread utilization on a CPU.
- NSA-level security for carriers: includes Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux), developed by the National Security Agency (NSA). MontaVista SELinux protects the integrity of and controls access to files, network sockets, and all system objects by preventing an employee or external intruder from intentionally or accidentally taking control of the system.
- Integrated development environment: includes new runtime components that integrate with MontaVista DevRocket, an Eclipse-based IDE with development tools that enhance productivity for both kernel-level and application-level engineers. Integrated memory leak detection, performance profiling, memory usage analysis, and system tracing combine to accelerate system development and maintenance, and increase system availability.
- Multicore and SMP support: supports both single-core and multicore processors, and supports equipment built with multiple processing chips as well as synchronous and asynchronous multiprocessing on integrated chips.
- Carrier standards compliance: complies with the new Carrier Grade Linux Specification 4.0 from the Linux Foundation. CGE 5.0 also will comply with the SCOPE Alliance Linux Profile, and runs on hardware designed to support the PICMG Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) and MicroTCA specifications.
