Linux Distributions
As discussed here, the version and compile time configuration of a Linux® kernel enable support for zoned block devices and the features supported. This section gives an overview of the support provided by the pre-compiled binary kernels shipped with various Linux distributions.
Fedora Linux
Fedora® is a Linux distribution developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and primarily sponsored by Red Hat®.
The following table gives an overview of the kernel versions and configuration used with the latest releases of the Fedora distribution. A more complete list of kernel versions for all releases can be found here.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned | zonefs | btrfs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fedora 26 (EOL) | 4.11 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Fedora 27 (EOL) | 4.13 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Fedora 28 (EOL) | 4.16 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Fedora 29 (EOL) | 4.18 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Fedora 30 (EOL) | 5.0 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Fedora 31 (EOL) | 5.3 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Fedora 32 (EOL) | 5.6 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Fedora 33 (EOL) | 5.8 | Yes | Yes | Yes (after updates) | Yes | No | No |
| Fedora 34 (EOL) | 5.11 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Fedora 35 | 5.14 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fedora 36 | 5.17 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Support for the zoned block interface is present and enabled by default in the binary kernel of all releases of Fedora since release 26. Starting with release 27, the pre-compiled kernel packages also include the dm-zoned device mapper target compiled as a loadable kernel module. Fedora 33 also provides NVMe Zoned Namespace (ZNS) support after updating the distribution. Detailed information on how to download and install Fedora can be found here.
Debian
Debian is one of the earliest Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Debian can be shipped with different operating system kernels, such as Linux, kFreeBSD or GNU Hurd. The table below summarizes Debian Linux zoned storage readiness for the most recent distribution releases.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Stretch | 4.9 | No | No | No | No |
| 10 Buster | 4.19 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 11 Bullseye | 5.10 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a popular free and open-source Linux distribution originally based on Debian. Ubuntu is released every six months with long-term support (LTS) releases every two years.
A complete list of the kernel versions shipped with Ubuntu releases can be found here. The table below summarizes zoned block device support readiness for the most recent releases.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin | 3.2 | No | No | No | No |
| 14.04 LTS Trusty Tahr | 3.13 | No | No | No | No |
| 16.04 LTS Xenial Xerus | 4.4 | No | No | No | No |
| 17.04 Zesty Zapus | 4.10 | Yes | No | No | No |
| 17.10 Artful Aardvark | 4.13 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 18.04 LTS Bionic Beaver | 4.15 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 18.10 Cosmic Cuttlefish | 4.18 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 19.04 Disco Dingo | 5.0 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 19.10 Eoan Ermine | 5.3 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa | 5.4 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 20.10 Groovy Gorilla | 5.8 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 21.04 Hirsute Hippo | 5.11 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 21.10 Impish Indri | 5.13 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish | 5.17 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux®, often abbreviated RHEL, is a Linux distribution developed by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial server market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for several micro architectures.
The list of kernel versions shipped with all RHEL releases can be found here.
RHEL 9
The latest release 9 of RHEL is based on the kernel version 5.14. The default binary kernel shipped with the distribution is configured with zoned block device support enabled, which enable using SMR and ZNS devices. However, advanced features suh as the dm-zoned device mapper and file systems with zoned block device support are not available.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 9 | 5.14.0-70 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Users who require a more complete support for zoned block devices can reconfigure and recompile the RHEL kernel. Using such recompiled kernel may however conflict with Red Hat support. Users should contact Red Hat support for more information.
RHEL 8
RHEL 8 is based on the kernel version 4.18 which includes zoned block device support. However, as shown in the table below, this support is not enabled at compile time for the default binary kernel shipped with the distribution.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 8 | 4.18.0-80 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 8.1 | 4.18.0-147 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 8.2 | 4.18.0-193 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 8.3 | 4.18.0-240 | No | No | No | No |
Users who require zoned block device support can recompile the RHEL kernel after enabling zoned block device support. Using such recompiled kernel may however conflict with Red Hat support. Users should contact Red Hat support for more information.
RHEL 7 and 6
As indicated in the table below, all releases of RHEL 7 are based on the kernel version 3.10 which lacks zoned block device support.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 7.0 | 3.10.0-123 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 7.1 | 3.10.0-229 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 7.2 | 3.10.0-327 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 7.3 | 3.10.0-514 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 7.4 | 3.10.0-693 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 7.5 | 3.10.0-862 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 7.6 | 3.10.0-957 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 7.7 | 3.10.0-1062 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 7.8 | 3.10.0-1127 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 7.9 | 3.10.0-1160 | No | No | No | No |
RHEL 6 being based on the older kernel 2.6.32, zoned block devices are not supported.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 6.0 | 2.6.32-71 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.1 | 2.6.32-131 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.2 | 2.6.32-220 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.3 | 2.6.32-279 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.4 | 2.6.32-358 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.5 | 2.6.32-431 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.6 | 2.6.32-504 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.7 | 2.6.32-573 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.8 | 2.6.32-642 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.9 | 2.6.32-696 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6.10 | 2.6.32-754 | No | No | No | No |
| RHEL 6 ELS+ | 2.6.32-754 | No | No | No | No |
CentOS
CentOS is a community maintained Linux distribution derived from the sources of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). CentOS release versions follow closely RHEL releases, reusing the same version and release numbers. More information on the distribution releases and kernel versions can be found here.
Due to this design approach, CentOS zoned block device support is identical to that of Red Hat Enterprise Linux: zoned block device support is not available by default with the pre-compiled kernels shipped with the distribution.
However, third party repositories such as The Community Enterprise Linux Repository provide recent kernels packages precompiled with zoned block device suport enabled. elrepo provides kernels version 5.12 and 5.13 for CentOS 7, CentOS 8 and CentOS 8 STream.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CentOS 7 | 3.10 | No | No | No | No |
| CentOS 7 + elrepo | 5.18 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CentOS 8 | 4.18 | No | No | No | No |
| CentOS 8 + elrepo | 5.18 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CentOS Stream 8 | 5.13 | No | No | No | No |
| CentOS Stream 8 + elrepo | 5.18 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CentOS Stream 9 | 5.14 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) is a Linux-based operating system developed by SUSE®. SLES is designed primarily for servers, mainframes and workstations. Major versions of SLES are released at an interval of 3 to 4 years while minor versions called "Service Packs" are released about every 12 months.
A complete list of the kernel versions used with SLES versions can be found here. The following table only lists the most recent versions under long term service support.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11.3 | 3.0.76 | No | No | No | No |
| 11.4 | 3.0.101 | No | No | No | No |
| 12.0 | 3.12 | No | No | No | No |
| 12.1 | 3.12 | No | No | No | No |
| 12.2 | 4.4 | No | No | No | No |
| 12.3 | 4.4 | No | No | No | No |
| 12.4 | 4.12 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 15 | 4.12 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 15.1 | 4.12.14 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 15.2 | 5.3.18 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 15.3 | 5.3.18 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
openSUSE
openSUSE, formerly called SUSE Linux and SuSE Linux Professional, is a widely used Linux distribution sponsored by SUSE Linux GmbH and other companies. openSUSE focus is creating usable open-source tools for software developers and system administrators while providing a user-friendly desktop and feature-rich server environment.
openSUSE is available in a stable base with the openSUSE Leap version. The openSUSE Tumbleweed is a rolling release which offers more up-to-date free software.
The list of kernel versions shipped with openSUSE releases can be found here. Zoned block device support with the shipped kernel for the latest releases is shown in the table below.
| Version | Kernel | ZBD API | ZBC, ZAC | ZNS | dm-zoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leap 15.0 | 4.12 | Yes | No | No | No |
| Leap 15.1 | 4.12 | Yes | No | No | No |
| Leap 15.2 | 5.3 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Leap 15.3 | 5.3 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tumbleweed | Latest Stable (5.9+) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |