

Oracle Solaris and Rocky Linux compete in the enterprise operating system category. Oracle Solaris seems to have the upper hand in enterprise-level features, whereas Rocky Linux excels in cost-effectiveness and community support.
Features: Oracle Solaris is recognized for its advanced features like ZFS, Zones, and DTrace, which provide high security and stability for enterprise environments. Its virtualization capabilities with Solaris Zones and Kernel Zones enhance hardware utilization and system isolation. Rocky Linux offers key features such as stability similar to RHEL, strong community support, and free distribution, making it a practical choice for those looking for a cost-effective operating system without sacrificing performance.
Room for Improvement: Oracle Solaris faces criticism for its limited support for non-Oracle hardware, expensive licensing, and a need for GUI enhancements. Improvements in hardware certification would benefit users. On the other hand, Rocky Linux could enhance its software completeness compared to CentOS, improve update speed, and further develop its integration with tools like Kubernetes and detailed documentation for ease of use.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Oracle Solaris is well-supported but presents challenges in accessing expert assistance quickly, often suiting on-premise deployments better. Rocky Linux, adaptable for both on-premises and hybrid cloud environments, receives praise for its straightforward customer service, efficient problem-solving, and helpful online resources, despite it being a newer player in the market.
Pricing and ROI: Oracle Solaris is considered costly due to its complex licensing model linked to specific hardware, though the integration with Oracle products can enhance ROI. Conversely, Rocky Linux is a cost-effective, free solution providing users enterprise-level functionalities without the financial burden, proving especially beneficial for businesses transitioning from CentOS.
In terms of ROI, there have been performance improvements because Oracle Solaris is lighter.
When it comes to return on investment, a lot of money is saved since we moved from a purchased license to the open source provided by Rocky Linux.
ROI has been good as we have significant open source community involvement.
I have seen a return on investment since there was definitely money saved at the time due to the lack of need for licensing since Rocky is available openly.
The technical support by Oracle is good.
The support level is extraordinary, providing on-time assistance.
We have not yet needed to contact a vendor regarding Rocky Linux.
Even if we raise a support ticket, we receive a resolution or a reply from the team within two business days.
Regarding vertical scalability, Oracle Solaris is probably one of the most scalable operating systems in the industry.
Even if the server is not responding and we want to attach the volume on another instance or a temporary instance, it is very easy and straightforward with no hiccups.
It has handled growth or changing needs well.
The scalability is quite good, though there are some issues with Rocky Linux.
Rocky Linux is stable, scalable, and it is very much easier to use.
Rocky Linux is stable.
The firewall must be more capable because security is the main concern of every organization and every user.
Oracle Solaris needs to improve its compatibility with office tools like Excel.
Oracle is going to discontinue it, so I do not think any improvement is possible in Oracle Solaris.
It is based on customer requirements, as they might want to use Rocky Linux or Ubuntu, depending on their needs.
Rocky Linux could be improved by having more integration with Kubernetes.
Currently, it takes more than one month to release a new package or kernel, so speeding that up would help reduce reported vulnerability remediations.
I find the pricing of Oracle Solaris to be affordable compared to competitors like Windows.
We switched to Rocky Linux because of the license price, and in our business, we don't need to have a higher cost as that is not a good idea.
There is no extra cost for a license if we are purchasing Rocky Linux from the AWS Marketplace.
Rocky Linux is free, and I can download it and deploy it in whatever environment I have, whether it be H3C, VMware, or Hyper-V.
The operating system is lightweight, which makes it easier to use on an average computer compared to systems like Windows.
Additionally, regarding security, you do not have to implement any antivirus software.
Oracle introduced a GUI environment with Solaris 11.5.
Rocky Linux has positively impacted my organization, specifically through cost savings, because we did not have to buy any licenses or extra licenses of other distros, such as Oracle or Red Hat.
For production deployment, Rocky Linux is a great choice because it offers full RHEL compatibility without licensing costs, along with strong community support.
Since migrating to Rocky Linux, I've seen specific outcomes such as improved security because CentOS stopped the project, and security patches aren't being released.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Rocky Linux | 12.2% |
| Oracle Solaris | 1.9% |
| Other | 85.9% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 21 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 5 |
| Large Enterprise | 32 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 5 |
| Large Enterprise | 14 |
Oracle Solaris is a trusted business platform that provides consistent compatibility, is simple to use, is always secure, and is designed to help you run your modern and legacy enterprise applications. The solution is the most recommended enterprise operating system for Oracle Database and Java applications and is engineered for large-scale enterprise deployments.
Oracle Solaris Features
Oracle Solaris has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Oracle Solaris Benefits
There are many benefits to implementing Oracle Solaris. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
Reviews from Real Users
Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Oracle Solaris solution.
A CEO at a computer software company says, “The most valuable feature is virtualization. They have attained virtualization and it's quite simple to create the Oracle Solaris zones. The solution is quite powerful. Oracle Solaris is great due to the fact that it actually is meant for high-end servers. The high availability is great. You can clone and you can do quite a number of things with them. There's also the ZFS File system which is very good. Is one of the best file systems that there is.”
Diego A., Oracle ACE - Specialized in Systems Technologies at Telecom Argentina, mentions, “The most valuable features for me are virtualization (Containers, Zones, Security, PDOM's, LDOM's) and Performance, ZFS, Debugging with Dtrace.”
A Service Manager at a tech services company expresses that the solution is “Stable, scalable, and has easy installation.”
PeerSpot user Marcel H., Oracle ACE Director "Solaris," CEO, Enterprise Consultant at JomaSoft, explains, “Solaris includes two virtualization solutions: LDoms for SPARC and Solaris Zones. Both solutions can be combined to create private clouds. Solaris Zones is ideal to separate applications and to migrate from older to current hardware. LDoms is very efficient because it uses the hardware hypervisor of the SPARC servers. Both technologies increase Security, because they separate the applications from each other. Using the Security Compliance Framework we are sure the systems are set up properly.”
Shafiq K., Senior Manager IT Operations at a financial services firm, states, “The reliability of the solution is excellent. The security has been very good overall. We've found the solution to have good availability. The backup capabilities are quite good. The solution has proven to be quite stable so far. The product can scale. The solution is 100% free to use. It doesn't cost a company anything as it's embedded in the hardware.”
Rocky Linux provides enterprise-grade stability and seamless Red Hat compatibility, coupled with extensive community support. Known for easy setup and minimal maintenance, its open-source nature ensures cost-effectiveness, making it ideal for critical systems.
Rocky Linux is an open-source operating system valued for its compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, making it an attractive choice for organizations migrating from CentOS. It focuses on stability, security, and long-term support, crucial for critical systems. Users benefit from seamless integration with automation tools and its strong community backing. While it offers ease of setup and package availability, areas like software availability and faster updates need enhancement. The system's UX design supports productivity, with potential improvements in documentation and security integration helping to maintain competitive advantages.
What Are the Key Features?Rocky Linux is widely implemented across numerous industries as a server platform and backend OS, supporting web hosting, big data projects, and cloud infrastructure. Companies in IT environments like Nutanix data centers and high-performance computing choose it for its compatibility with open-source tools, making it favored for automation with Ansible and monitoring through Prometheus.
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