Oracle Linux Reviews

The ones I really appreciate are things like the fact that, from a costing perspective, it is only the support cost. That's the only thing you have to pay for.

There are the little hidden things like Kubernetes of packaging, OpenStack, it's all built in to the subscription as part of Oracle Linux. When you get Oracle Linux, you get OpenStack and Kubernetes which, is coming down the path.

Ksplice is a huge piece for us for supportability as well.

Pre-validated configuration is a huge benefit for us, because we're doing database installation all the time. 

I think the biggest benefits you'll see are things like rapid deployment, things like templates. Again, like I mentioned before about validated configuration. You don't have to set individual parameters, and set up settings. DBAs just run this RPM and, boom, you have an environment that's already pre-configured, pre-set for Oracle configurations.

Kubernetes, as I mentioned before, that's coming down soon. 

Stability and scalability, we don't have any issues. We're running it on PCA, we're running on bare metal, we're running on different cloud configurations, OVM. For us, UEK versions 2 and 3 have been very stable and very scalable. We run RAC on it as well.

That's interesting because I came from Oracle support, it's near and dear to my heart. One of the beauties of Oracle support is the fact that the guys who are in Oracle support actually came from Oracle database support. So when you make a call to Oracle support, if you're calling about a web or app server, especially a database server, they know exactly what you're talking about, because they came from that world. You don't have to explain to them what a database is, what a process is. They totally get it.

Very straightforward. Setting up Linux, we usually use templates, ISO images. We use Spacewalk, which is part of the subscription model, it's free; so we use Spacewalk quite a bit.

I always tell them, if you're running Oracle workloads like database, that's a natural fit for Oracle Linux. Because, like I said, It's pre-configured, you get to validate configuration, you get Spacewalk, support. It's a nice little bundle.

When selecting a vendor, the things we focus on are high availability, scalability, and business requirements. All those things come together. We figure out whether it's a RAC solution, OVM solution, virtualize, a middle-tier stack that all fit in together.

I would say it's a nine out of 10. Start using it. If you're familiar with Red Hat, you're going to be familiar with Oracle Linux. It's pretty much the same thing, so start investing time and testing it in-house.

When you look at Oracle Linux over the years, you've got to go back to the beginning of Linux. Nobody would accept it in the community because it was open source. A guy by the name of Larry Ellison said, "Let's put Linux on every app server we have in the company because I believe this is what's coming next." When I look at Oracle Linux, Larry really drove Linux, to some degree, into the market. 

But when I look at Linux and some of the value of it, you look at privacy, security, it's much more secure, much more private than other operating systems. It's very easy to install and a lot of people use it. It's very common.

I've been using Linux since it came out, a very long time.

Is Linux scalable? Let's see. It's on the fastest machines on planet Earth, which is Exadata. Does it scale? Yes. Proven in many clients out there, Exadata is the highest selling and best product that Oracle has ever put out in their history.

When I'm comparing Linux, I look at the things like Windows - and a lot of people call it "Windoze," d-o-z-e, like they're dozing off because it's so slow. Linux is extremely fast and that's why it took the entire market. It's why it's the standard right now. Oracle Linux, when I look at it, it's very fast, it's really not comparable to anything else. It's very good.

The setup of the solution is very common for people who are familiar with installing Linux. I don't see any issues there. Also, with Linux, they have patches that come out when there's any issue. That's why you get a lot of good security. The after-support, never really had an issue. Linux is pretty simple to where you set It up and it's done.

I recommend Oracle Linux regularly because it's a standard that works well with the Oracle Database, it works well with all the different needs. When you look at the topology in a general IT department, it fits very well. In the cloud, Linux runs the cloud. 

Linux is a 10 out of 10. Windows, not so much; maybe down at two or three, especially on the privacy side and security, in my opinion.

KSPlice feature that allows you to install kernel updates within a live environment without downtime.

Less downtime during updates installations.

The documentation of the product can be improved. It often lacks a lot of documentation, but so do a lot of Oracle solutions.

I am not the end customer, but I have been supporting the product for a year now.

No issues encountered during deployment. Very smooth deployment

There were a few stability issues because of the hardware that we used. For the most part, it is a very stable solution.

There were no scalability issues.

I do the technical support with the help of Oracle.

The setup was a straightforward implementation.

The product is a part of an Oracle Enterprise Solution. You only pay for support to use the product. It is a free product.

We wanted to implement a virtualized environment under the Oracle VM for x86. This was the right product for that, so we did not look at any other products.

It is a great product to have. It is even better to run it on Oracle hardware.

The most valuable feature in Oracle Linux is its design. Oracle Linux is built with features to align very closely with Oracle products and specifically the Oracle Database. For example, it’s delivered with the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel which is a kernel developed and optimized by Oracle for Oracle products.
It’s an important part of the system that makes Oracle Database so powerful.

The Oracle Linux system is configured, by default, to schedule I/O for database usage and this I/O management plays an important part in database performance.

Dynamic tracing could be improved. In Oracle Linux, you have some very powerful (for example "perf" or "systemtap").

If Oracle can deliver such tools like dtrace for linux (publicly), this would help albeit actually dtrace is delivered through the Unbreakable Linux Network.

I have used Linux since 1997 and Oracle Linux since its availability in 2007.

We have never encountered any stability issues.

We have never encountered any scalability issues.

I usually use forums, Google and My Oracle Support (MOS )Knowledge Base (a great tool) to find answers to my questions. I never used Support Engineers to resolve issues related to Oracle Linux.

I used Red Hat Linux solutions before, but Oracle Linux is better engineered to run Oracle products.

The initial setup is not complex. If you understand Linux basics, it won’t be a problem.

Oracle Linux support is not free but the product is free. You can use it and test it safely for your tests environments. As soon you run your production, purchase a support if you have to access patches etc.

We evaluated Red Hat Linux a couple of years ago, but both products are very close. Only Oracle Linux has specific features that can be optimized for Oracle products (Database, Engineered systems etc.)

If you are searching for an operating system build to run your Oracle products, then Oracle Linux is the best product to do that.

Starting with Oracle Linux 5, we’ve started to use ext4, which has provided us better disk performance. The unbreakable kernel has been very secure and has provided us a robust OS that has outperformed many of its counterparts. Starting with Oracle Linux 6, we’ve used LXC containers to lock down applications within the OS. We’ve been extremely happy with the scalability and performance of each version across a multitude of platforms.

The reliability of the product has increased our efficiency. With needing 99.98% uptime, the OS has been incredibly stable. In the 10 years I’ve been using the product, I’ve had to open zero product defects as it has functioned in every way we needed it to.

With many other operating systems, including this one, I would love to have the ability to upgrade the kernel in place. This currently requires a reboot of the OS. With today’s applications and customer needs, having the ability to perform in-place kernel upgrades with no reboots would be huge.

There are some capabilities with Oracle linux to do this, but it is not widely used. KSPLICE can be utilized but there are many features of it such as stack tracing after the fact you may not get what you need and a reboot would still be required. Starting with version 6 you can utilize KSPLICE. Most customers especially hours are hesitant to use such methods like KSPLICE. It does require a higher kernel version (4.x) and many many applications have not yet been supported on that kernel rev that myself and company support.

There is a product you can purchase from cloudlinux called kernelcare. It works well and has fewer nuances. Worth a look for POC at a minimum for any critical business applications. Much like KSPLICE, kernelcare will only work with Oracle linux 6+.

I’ve been using these versions starting with Linux 5 from Oracle since 2007.

We have not had any issues related to stability of the OS. Application-related issues have caused the downtime.

No problems at all with scalability. We’ve been able to extend clusters without issue.

Since I’ve not had to use technical support, I am unable to rate it.

We used to use RedHat. Support costs drived us to switch. We’ve saved thousands of dollars.

Setup is all straightforward; however, we utilize very complex installations. We use a variety of tools to speed up the acquirement of software, deployment of systems, patching, backup and recovery. We believe in segregation and following NIST/IRS/DOD standards in all of our builds. Straightforward is nice, but to protect our customers, we go the extra mile.

With everything from hardware to software, we recommend to analyze all options. Not every customer or application will fit the bill for the Oracle Linux OS products.

We evaluated a few other OS providers. Those include RedHat, CentOS, Debian and openSUSE.

Read the documentation, follow best practices and if you do not have standards in place, follow up on NIST/IRS standards for OS configurations to protect yourself and your client.

The most valuable features are:

• It’s free.
• Kernel 4.x.
• RPM-based.
• RedHat clone.
• Support for Spacewalk.
• Easy and stable upgrades.

We use Oracle Linux for all Oracle database servers.

Updates are very slow in our part of world (Slovenia). Now, we use Spacewalk for distribution of updates, but replication to Spacewalk is slow.

I have been using Oracle Linux for seven years.

We have not encountered stability issues.

We have not encountered scalability issues.

I have never used support for Oracle Linux.

We are still using RHEL 5.x, 6.x and 7.x, SLES 9,10 and 11 and CentOS 6.x and 7.x.

Setup is straightforward.

I recommend Oracle Linux to everyone who needs the stability of RHEL and the newest kernel.

We did not evaluate alternatives.

Just use it.

It provides us with templates and Oracle-validated configurations that allows quicker install and configuration of Oracle Database software.

The existence of Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel is special adjusted for the best performance of Oracle software. It updates the OS using Ksplice.

We have no downtime for OS upgrades, hence customer production isn't affected, and we have no security breaches and higher performance of Oracle stack software due to its usage of Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel.

Although Btrfs does a great job, I would like to see ZFS being part of future distributions.

Also, a distributed replicated block device (DRBD) feature would better provide a sort of mirroring over a network of block devices, becoming a superset of Oracle Database Data Guard for a range of applications with storage residing on related block devices.

From another perspective, the adjustments needed for implementing a powerful PPPoE server (PPP over Ethernet) in a similar way, what the guys from Mikrotik (www.mikrotik.com) did for X86 platforms (also starting from Linux kernel) could be interesting. Imagine how secure the connection to related OS using PPPoE would be, the simplicity of routing in the environment, and many more advantages.

We've been using it for two years.

For small and medium clients, there were no issues with deployment. For larger enterprises, Oracle VM is preferred.

For small and medium clients, there were no issues with stability. For larger enterprises, Oracle VM is preferred.

For small and medium clients there were no issues with scalability. For larger enterprises, Oracle VM is preferred.

They get an A for the outstanding customer service and technical support.

We had to choose this solution in order to have the technology used on the same line. Since Oracle Databases is the market leader, as well as other successful software platforms on the stack, the OS from the same provider needed to be considered and analyzed in-depth from technical and cost perspectives also. To keep the answer short, the balance leaned towards Oracle Linux and Oracle Solaris.

The initial setup was straightforward. The fact that the images can be freely downloaded from OTN allowed us to set up a lab environment and perform initial simulations of the targeted environment. The large number of existing templates saved lots of time for “in-depth” documentation, adjustments, configurations, and so on. Since the testing provided more than sufficient positive signs, the solution was chosen.

The operating system implementations were in-house. There is no need for a vendor team to perform the OS install once you have in-house system administrators with needed skills. Related skills can be quickly gathered by professionals familiar with various Linux flavors, and certification for Oracle Linux can be achieved by taking a rather simple exam in one of the many Pearson Vue centers. I've heard that for other Linux distributions the process isn’t as simple.

Yes, RedHat Enterprise Linux 6.5, but improvements in Oracle Linux and better support price incline the balance to that one.

My advice is to act on the pattern: Plan – Do – Check – Act. From the way the question is formulated, the first step is done. They should now download the product, install an in-lab environment along with the related applications, check how the framework responds to the specific needs, and make the Go / No-Go decision. My estimation is that for most cases the Go decision will be taken, but that can depends on specific other elements.

Another advice is to have one person providing infrastructure support with at least one Oracle Certification in this area, so easy issues become solved in agile style.

For me, I like that fact that Oracle Linux is very similar, of course, to CentOS and Red Hat. Plus, Application Testing Suit makes it a lot more customizable for us. We're also able to monitor it with our software. These features make Oracle Linux very simple with very little configuration changes needed.

When we work with customers who are more Oracle-based, then Oracle Linux seems to follow more along the lines of what they want to do. The licensing is simpler because they usually don't have to go to VMware, Microsoft, or any other company to get different things. The functionalities they need are already built-in.

The installation needs some improvements because, as my admins have told me, it's a little bit tedious compared to others. Also, it takes a little bit of time to actually find files, download them, and install them. That kind of goes for anything with Oracle in that unless you know exactly where to go, it can take a bit of time. But once it's installed, it just works.

We've had no issues with the deployment.

A handful of customers that are using it haven't had any issues with the stability.

We have been able to scale using Linux just fine.

I would say that the initial setup is pretty much straightforward. It falls along the lines of the others. Some of the newer versions of other flavors of Linux make it a little bit simpler, but overall it's straightforward and we've hadn't had any trouble once it's been installed.

We implemented it ourselves with our in-house team.

I would probably have them explain, at least to themselves, what they're going to use it for, what applications are going to be running on it. And if it's going to be Database or something more Oracle-based, it's going to be great for that. If it's going to be something else, it may not be the best fit, depending on exactly what they are going to do with it.