[lug] ksplice - rebootless updates ?

[Zan Lynx]

On 2/16/10 1:14 PM, Maxwell Spangler wrote:
> http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9153519/Ksplice_debuts_zero_downtime_service_for_Linux?source=CTWNLE_nlt_pm_2010-02-09
>
> Anyone want to comment on this ?
>
> The Cambridge, Mass., start-up has about 35 customers and several
> thousand servers using its paid Uptrack service, in which security and
> maintenance patches are automatically applied to Linux servers with
> minimal delay and no downtime, according to Chief Operating Officer
> Waseem Daher.
>
> "rebootless update".
>
> Usually in the commercial world when someone introduces something like
> this they've found a clever hack into Windows that lets them do
> something neat and they're ahead of the pack.
>
> But if there is a reasonable way to do this in Linux, usually someone
> figures it out and then shares the technique in the open and multiple
> methods / applications / services implement it.
>
> So how can ksplice have proprietary magic on an open system?
>
>
>

I remember reading about this a while back. I am pretty sure LWN ran an 
article.

As I recall, ksplice uses open source patches, but the software and 
methods that they use to create the patches are their own, and also 
quite a lot of work for them in testing, etc. It sounded like its worth 
every penny they can get for it because it's tricky to get right.

-- 
Zan Lynx
zlynx at acm.org

"Knowledge is Power.  Power Corrupts.  Study Hard.  Be Evil."