Red Hat MRG 2.3 uses Realtime Linux 3.6 kernel
Red Hat has introduced version 2.3 of its Red Hat Enterprise MRG (Messaging, Realtime and Grid) operating system add-on. The realtime component of MRG is no longer based on Linux 3.2 and now uses Linux 3.6 instead. This kernel includes the Linux RT developers’ realtime patches, and it now also supports the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) that is said to offer better time synchronisation than the Network Time Protocol (NTP); however, this feature is currently still classed as an unsupported Technology Preview.
The developers note that the grid component now offers improved Kerberos integration and better supports the control groups (Cgroups) that are used in resource management. Red Hat says that it has improved the logging and ACL (Access Control List) support in the messaging element of MRG. Details on these and other new features are available in the product announcement, on the product web site, and in the documentation, which also includes links to the release and technical notes.
Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2.3 is optimised for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.2 or newer but can also be used with RHEL 5.7; the messaging and grid features are also available under Windows. The software is used in areas such as the financial sector, where components like the messaging and realtime features are important when processing transactions that require reliable response times. The grid features are used, for example, in clusters built to assist in drilling for oil or gas fields, in film rendering, and calculating circuit board layouts.