Kernel

The following kernel features are available as technology previews.

kexec Fast Reboot

The kexec fast reboot feature is available as a technology preview feature in Oracle Linux 8. This feature significantly speeds up the boot process by enabling the kernel to boot directly into the second kernel without first passing through the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). To use this feature, load the kexec module first, then reboot the system.

SGX Available

Software Guard Extensions (SGX) from Intel® protects software code and data from disclosure and modification. The Linux kernel partially supports SGX v1 and SGX v1.5. Version 1 enables platofmrs by using the Flexible Launch Control mechanism to use the SGX technology.

Extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF)

eBPF is an in-kernel virtual machine code is processed in the kernel space, in the restricted sandbox environment with access to a limited set of functions.

eBPF has a new system call bpf() for creating various types of maps and for loading programs that can be attached onto various points (sockets, tracepoints, packet reception) to receive and process data.

An eBPF component is AF_XDP, a socket for connecting the eXpress Data Path (XDP) path to user space for applications that prioritize packet processing performance.

Intel® Data Streaming Accelerator Driver

The driver is an Intel® CPU integrated accelerator and shares a work queue with process address space ID (pasid) submission and shared virtual memory (SVM).

accel-config Package

The accel-config package is available on Intel® EM64T and AMD64 architectures for managing data-streaming accelerator (DSA) subsystem in the Linux kernel. Also, it configures devices through sysfs (pseudo file system), saves and loads the configuration in the json format.