LinuxONE is the mainframe with a special configuration for Linux compared to IBM zSystems for z/OS. The latest version is IBM LinuxONE 4. It has included quantum save technologies, Trusted Execution environments for Confidential Computing and different features with AI. Additionally, it is compatible with Hybrid Cloud environments as a platform for saving trustable and sensitive data. Here, you can choose between Red Hat OpenShift, SUSE Rancher Prime and MicroK8s by Canonical as container platforms.
It is well known that RHEL is the recommended Linux distribution supported by IBM. Besides that, Ubuntu and SLES exist with Enterprise Support for the architecture s390x on LinuxONE. But have you heard about community support on Mainframes already? You can use multiple community Linux distributions for free on IBM zSystems and LinuxONE. These include Fedora, openSUSE, Debian, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux.
All Linux distributions have one commonality: the joint possession of shared maintenance and support via the Linux Distributions Working Group at the Open Mainframe Project. Unimportant which Linux distribution is chosen from the list of Linux distributions above, there are trustable Representatives for each Linux distribution discussing latest topics, sharing their development experience for s390x, and supporting others together with IBM Representatives.
The difference behind the Linux distributions is due to special features and their own community/company cultures. All are runnable on IBM zSystems and LinuxONE. That creates a big diversity with open source technologies for IBM LinuxONE Systems.
Sarah Julia Kriesch is working as a Consultant for topics related to Linux and Kubernetes at Accenture. She is volunteering as a Release Engineer for openSUSE zSystems and as a (Co-)Chair of the Linux Distributions Working Group at the Open Mainframe Project to achieve equality for all Linux distributions on LinuxONE so that IBM customers can have a freedom of choice with the best possible community/Enterprise support.