Infrastructure Software

Vaibhav.Mishra wrote:
Hello Community,
I have a question.
What Unique Features does Oracle Linux have which makes it a good candidate to choose over other competitive Linux Vendor such as RedHat or any open Source Linux Version ?
Apart from the reason that we are moving to Oracle shop, does it bring any advantages ?
Regards
Vaibhav

The first would be that by using Oracle Linux, you are dealing with a single vendor ....  no room for pointing fingers to escape a problem.

The second, and more technical is that Oracle develops their own kernel, optimized for use with oracle databases.

Maybe Avi will chime in and expand on that.

What do you mean by "moving to an Oracle shop?" Is this some figure of speech, like "becoming a Microsoft shop?"

Well, what do you hope to accomplish? You don't want to choose the OS and then decide what runs on it. If you are planning on installing some Oracle product and Linux, then there are arguments in favor of Oracle Linux like the previous response already outlined. You also need to consider what Linux distribution your product or solution supports. While there is one Linux kernel, everything else depends on the Linux distribution, hence is not simply a matter of choice.

If you need vendor support for a product like Oracle database, you also need to have paid vendor support for the underlying OS. If you do not have any special technical requirements right now, comparing anything by technical matters would arguably be silly. Keep in mind that everything IT is subject to developments and trends, market share, profit, or whatever vendors want you purchase, regardless of what you choose.

The beauty of Enterprise Linux is stability and predictability. Don't fix what isn't broken, and you shouldn't expect changes unless these are absolutely necessary. There are different perceptions, but this philosophy is questionable assessing the fundamental changes we have seen in every major release since RHEL 6, almost a decade ago. Investing into Oracle technologies might give you a better return of investment. Oracle Linux is a competitor and primary target and victim of Red Hat for the better or worse similar to any other customer or OS derivative. Oracle, however, is in a position to provide long-term support for anything that Oracle sees useful, despite what Red Hat deems obsolete.

Some of use have experienced the rise and fall of computer technologies and big vendors. There is no too big to fail. At the end of the day, what remains, is perhaps the lesson, that the less you have invested into anything obsolete, the better. If costs matter, Oracle Linux wins. So, unless you have a specific technical requirement, or valid argument that speaks in favor of something else than Oracle, Oracle Linux at least won't be as heavy on your wallet compared to other solutions. Plus, you have a very nice and helpful Oracle Linux community.

Thanks @"Dude!" for such a descriptive Answer,

I was looking for Technical Advantages of Oracle Linux as compared to lets say RHEL

If we are to install Oracle Database on our Server, will doing it on an Oracle Linux give better Performance as compared to RHEL . As @"EdStevens" mentioned, that Oracle Linux Kernel is specifically tuned for Oracle Databases.

Long Long ago, I tried to play with Oracle Identity Management which I believe contained a package only available in Oracle Linux which obstructed me to completely set it up in RHEL. ( Apologies i dont recall much details so I might be inaccurate).

So I am assuming, there may be some Oracle Products which are designed to specifically run on Oracle Linux to give it a selling advantage.

By the line , becoming an Oracle shop, I meant buying everything from Oracle just because we are buying one of their products and if we run an Oracle product on an Oracle platform , it will run better 

Thanks @"Dude!" . That solves my question for now. !!!!!

A major advantage with Oracle Linux (OL) is the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) that is shipped tailored for enterprise-class deployments; most other distributions keep the default tuning settings: these are tailored for desktop workstations, not gigantic servers with terabytes of memory, hundreds of CPU, and a clustering facility.  UEK provides better performance out-of-the-box, especially when used in conjunction with Oracle Database and various other middle-ware. 

This is the perennial make .vs. buy decision, so only you can choose from the available options as best for your situation.

Oracle does not charge for open-source software products, so users can develop using the same software stacks as the deployed applications.  No for-developers rights-to-use.  A self-supported cluster can be deployed and incur zero cost.  If you need Oracle to help, only then does the support cost begin.

Perhaps also worth mentioning, while the Oracle UEK is optimized for Oracle database products, OL also ships with the RHCK kernel. So people can switch to the RHCK kernel when necessary, without loosing your free patch and errata options.

Dude! wrote:
 If I recall reading correctly, Oracle does not test its product portfolio for Linux with anything else than Oracle UEK

This is incorrect. We test our product stacks on both the RHCK and UEK. We do not test on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and certify that platform though testing on RHCK instead.

OK, I removed it so not to confuse anyone.

I just checked linux.oracle.com. Seems the OL vs RHEL cost calculator is no longer there. Well, I'm nor surprised.

Btw, when you click on Support::Support Forum, it shows "We can't find the page you were looking for."

Dude! wrote:
I just checked linux.oracle.com. Seems the OL vs RHEL cost calculator is no longer there. Well, I'm nor surprised. 

Red Hat have made it too difficult to compare costs these days as most of their pricing has disappeared.

Thanks for the pointer on the support page link breakage. I'll let the ULN folks know.