New Releases: RHEL 10.2 and 9.8

Red Hat has announced the availability of RHEL 9.8 and RHEL 10.2 for IBM Z and LinuxONE.

These updates continue to enhance security and virtualization efficiency on the platform.

Highlights

• openCryptoki support for standardized Post-Quantum Cryptography algorithms
  Both releases extend cryptographic capabilities by adding support for standardized PQC algorithms via openCryptoki. This enables applications to start leveraging quantum-safe cryptography using the familiar PKCS#11 interfaces and IBM Z cryptographic hardware.

• Established KVM default I/O tuning
  Default I/O tuning settings for KVM have been optimized out-of-the-box. This improves performance and consistency for virtualized workloads without requiring manual configuration.

As usual, these releases include various fixes and improvements across the stack.

For more details, refer to the official Red Hat documentation and release notes for RHEL 9.8 and 10.2.

New Release: Ubuntu 26.04

Canonical has provided a new releases of their enterprise distribution with Ubuntu 26.04.

Besides the obligatory updates to most of the packages, highlights from a Linux in IBM Z and LinuxONE perspective include:

• Strong data at-rest integrity protection for Secure Execution
• openCryptoki support for standardized Post Quantum algorithms
• KVM: Default I/O Tunings for improved performance

See the announcement on the mailing list here.

This release is very significant, since it marks a so-called LTS (Long Term Support) release, granting an extended service timeframe of up to 10 years, as illustrated here.

New Release: SLES 16

SUSE has released a new major version with SLES 16! Read all about it in their official announcement.

Of course, coming in 7 years after their previous SLES 15 release, it features loads of updates like a brand new installer (Agama), and lots of new components like a web-based admin interface (Cockpit), Network Manager for (oviously) network administration, SE Linux, Ansible support, and many more.

But it also ships, of course, all of the latest support for our IBM z17 and LinuxONE 5 machines, like support for the Telum II processor, including on-chip AI, Network Express adapters, all of the latest post-quantum support, passthrough support of Crypto Express cards in KVM, sustainability tooling, vertical CPU polarization, and many, many more.

Congrats to the SUSE team for reaching this important milestone!

New Release: Ubuntu 25.10

Canonical has provided a new releases of their enterprise distribution with Ubuntu 25.10.

Besides the obligatory updates to most of their packages, highlights include:

• Topology map information now available through new s390-tools command zmemtopo 
• With the upgrade to opencryptoki v3.25, there is now also support for ep11 token based import and export of secure key objects
• The new tool p11kmip that allows to import/export PKCS #11 keys from to a KMIP server
• Basic support for AES-GCM in CCA tokens
• KVM: PCI passthrough performance substantially improved  to the point where it can be considered for production use

See the announcement on the mailing list here.

Updated Publication: "Networking with PCI adapters and functions"

Coinciding with the switch to the new Network Express adapters, we have updated our documentation to include the new card here.

 From the introduction:

"This publication explores what PCI network adapters offer for network connections of Linux® on IBM Z® and IBM® LinuxONE. The publication applies to Network Express and RoCE Express2 or RoCE Express3 adapters."

New Release: SLES 15 SP7 on IBM Z and LinuxONE

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 is out! See the official announcement here 

Highlights include

• IBM z17 and LinuxONE 5 support, including​
• AI foundation enhancements​
• New Secure Execution and Crypto features
• Sustainability​
• Network Express support​
• Vertical CPU Polarization support​

See the IBM Z section in this blog post for IBM Z and LinuxONE support, and the release notes for everything else.

New Releases: RHEL 9.6 and 10

Red Hat has provided two new releases of its Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution: 9.6 and 10. See the RHEL 9.6 release notes, and the RHEL 10 release notes and blog entry.

Both releases ship, among many other highlights

• support for the new IBM z17 and LinuxONE 5 machines, in particular:
• AI Exploitation​
• New Secure Execution and Crypto features
• Network Express support​
• support for vertical CPU polarization

Announcement: IBM LinuxONE Emperor 5

We're announcing IBM® LinuxONE 5, performant Linux computing platform for data, applications, and trusted AI, powered by the IBM Telum™ II processor with built-in AI acceleration. This launch comes at a pivotal time, as technology leaders focus on three critical imperatives: enabling security, improving cost-efficiency, and integrating AI into enterprise.

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲:

• IBMs Telum II on-chip AI processor and the IBM Spyre Accelerator
• Advanced security offerings with confidential containers
• New integrations with IBM’s quantum-safe encryption technology

See the official press release,  the update in the IBM blog, and the formal announcement letter.

And don't forget to register for our IBM LinuxONE Client Virtual Event!

The future of IT infrastructure with Linux and AI innovation

The future is now! Join us on May 13 to explore how you can build a secure, future-ready IT architecture, harness the power of Linux and AI, and accelerate innovation with cutting-edge technologies.

Don’t miss this chance to stay ahead in the AI era!

Reserve your spot here.

New Release: Ubuntu 25.04

Canonical released a new version of their Ubuntu server offering Ubuntu Server 25.04!

Highlights include IBM z17 support, in particular:

• Exploitation of the AI facility in the Telum II processor
• New Secure Execution and Crypto features
• Network Express support​
• Power consumption reporting​
  

See the announcement on the mailing list here, and the blog entry at Canonical with all Z-specific highlights here.

IBM z17 announced!!

Our latest offering in the IBM Z family, IBM z17, was announced yesterday. General availability will be June 18.

See the official announcement, the updated Linux support matrix, and the Technical Guide with all the insights you will need.

Something Big is coming...

The countdown is on! Join us at IBM Z Day: Special Edition, on April 8th, to learn how you can unlock more business value by bringing advanced AI to mission-critical data and workloads on our next mainframe platform. Register Now - ibm.biz/ibmzday2025-se

Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization adds Support for IBM Z and LinuxONE

As detailed in the release notes of  Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Virtualization here, support for IBM Z and LinuxONE is now available as a technology preview.

This marks the first time that KubeVirt technology is becoming available for our platform!

 

Setting up a Multiarch Environment for s390x

A multiarch environment allows the execution of binary executables for multiple architectures: The host architecture, and any other architecture that support is added for. Multiarch environments can be used for cross-platform development and (limited) testing of user-space programs for a foreign architecture.
This can be very helpful in case access to IBM Z or LinuxONE hardware is limited: By utilizing multiarch environments, developers can conveniently develop code e.g. on their laptops in an environment of their choice.

See full instructions on how to set up a multiarch environment for s390x here.

New Release: Ubuntu 24.10

 

Canonical released a new version of their Ubuntu server offering Ubuntu Server 24.04!

A definite highlight is the inclusion of our new support for vertical CPU polarization aka HiperDispatch. This technology can yield substantial performance improvements for CPU-intensive workloads on highly utilized CECs

See the announcement on the mailing list here, and the blog entry at Canonical with all Z-specific highlights here.

New Release: SLES 15 SP6 on IBM Z and LinuxONE

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 is out! See the official announcement here 

Highlights include

• HSM support for Secure Execution
• Concurrent HSM master key change for openCryptoki
  

See this section in the release notes for an in-depth look on IBM Z and LinuxONE support, including a detailed list of all new features.

New Publication: "Enriching Linux on IBM Z Workloads with AI"

A new Redbook titled "Enriching Linux on IBM Z  Workloads with AI" is available for download here.

Check out the abstract as follows:

This Redbook publication helps clients with the initial steps on their AI journey. The continuously increasing interest in AI led to a great variety of frameworks and tools. Implementing an AI solution requires to make selections. This publication explains which frameworks have been optimized to make best use of IBM Z and LinuxONE, and demonstrates ways to obtain them. AI applications can benefit from the ongoing full-stack optimization work reaching from the unique IBM Z and LinuxONE hardware enhancements over compiler optimizations to the topmost software layers of an AI stack. 

The exploitation of the unique IBM Z and LinuxONE hardware capabilities such as the Integrated Accelerator for AI allows Linux AI applications to run as part of transactions on the platform. Thus clients can use AI in security-sensitive environments with strict latency requirements to implement solutions, such as in-transaction fraud detection and natural language processing.

New Release: RHEL 8.10 on IBM Z & LinuxONE

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.10 is out! See the press release here, and Red Hat's blog entry here!

Both releases ship

• s390-tools v2.29 (renamed to s390utils)
• smc-tools v1.8.3
• openCryptoki v3.22
• qclib v2.4.0
  

Further information can be found in the release notes for RHEL 8.10.

New Release: RHEL 9.4 on IBM Z & LinuxONE

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 is out! See the press release here, and Red Hat's blog entry here!

Both releases ship

• s390-tools v2.29 (renamed to s390utils)
• smc-tools v1.8.3
• openCryptoki v3.22
• qclib v2.4.0
  

Further information can be found in the release notes for RHEL 9.4.

New Release: qclib v2.5.0

qclib v2.5.0 is now available for download here. Most prominent changes:

• Removed support for textual hypfs, as previously indicated with v1.4.0
• zname, zhypinfo: Added a new command line switch -d for debug messages on the console
  

For more information, see the README.