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Oracle Linux vs Oracle VM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
9.3
Oracle Linux provides cost efficiency, reliability, and performance gains, offering open-source benefits and reducing operational costs by ten percent.
Sentiment score
7.7
Users reported mixed ROI from Oracle VM, noting low costs and savings, while some found it expensive and challenging to assess.
Oracle Linux contributed to reducing our operational costs by about ten percent by saving us from the operating system and license costs we would have had to pay Microsoft.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Oracle Linux support is knowledgeable but criticized for high costs, delays, and communication; documentation aids in problem-solving.
Sentiment score
8.0
Oracle VM support improved over time; users appreciate knowledgeable staff, effective issue resolution, and global support availability.
Not all support engineers at Oracle are the same, so sometimes I experience good support that resolves issues quickly, while other times, it loops.
It is not as helpful or friendly as their application support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Oracle Linux offers efficient scalability and adaptability but may face integration challenges with non-Oracle platforms in hybrid settings.
Sentiment score
7.5
Oracle VM scales efficiently meeting diverse needs, though concerns exist over infrastructure limits and licensing costs.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Oracle Linux offers enterprise-grade stability and reliability, seamlessly integrates with Oracle databases, and competes well with major distributions.
Sentiment score
7.6
Oracle VM stability depends on configuration; certified hardware and proper setups enhance performance, reducing upgrade and compatibility issues.
Testing determines stability, as continuous Linux use and installations reveal more bugs.
Not every upgrade goes smoothly, and after an upgrade, it sometimes stops working.
 

Room For Improvement

Oracle Linux users seek better security patches, documentation, wider software integration, enhanced performance, and interoperability with Red Hat features.
Oracle VM users face stability issues, user interface inconsistencies, limited features, and demand better performance and integration improvements.
Having a user interface would make tasks easier, saving time by avoiding the need to remember command-line instructions.
Some applications supported by other operating systems are not supported, which is a pain.
If I have limited systems and there is maintenance on the hardware, the Oracle systems are impacted.
Not every upgrade goes smoothly, and after an upgrade, it sometimes stops working.
 

Setup Cost

Oracle Linux is free but requires a support license for updates, with costs ranging from $500 to $1600.
Oracle VM is affordable with zero license cost on Oracle hardware, though additional support may incur extra fees.
The cost of Microsoft OS is pretty high, and switching to Oracle Linux, which is free, reduced our costs by about 20% to 25%.
Oracle VM is not a very expensive solution.
 

Valuable Features

Oracle Linux offers strong performance, security, and seamless Oracle integration, making it cost-effective and favored for enterprise operations.
Oracle VM is praised for its features such as scalability, ease of use, free availability, and comprehensive virtualization capabilities.
Since it's from the same vendor as Oracle applications, it's easier to manage issues, making not just the solution cost-effective but also streamlined in management.
Oracle Linux offers an unbreakable system.
If there is an issue with the operating system running on top of it, there's no primary and secondary domain, rather segregated I/Os, disks, memory, everything assigned to a logical domain.
It is easy to copy or clone one Oracle workstation to another.
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Linux
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
112
Ranking in other categories
Operating Systems (OS) for Business (3rd)
Oracle VM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
Server Virtualization Software (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Oracle Linux and Oracle VM aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Oracle Linux is designed for Operating Systems (OS) for Business and holds a mindshare of 12.8%, down 14.6% compared to last year.
Oracle VM, on the other hand, focuses on Server Virtualization Software, holds 7.1% mindshare, up 6.1% since last year.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
Server Virtualization Software
 

Featured Reviews

Marcelo Muniz - PeerSpot reviewer
The operational system is the best and is packed with free features like CapsLive
It is important to work with a vendor who will sell you the correct product for your environment rather than just try to make the most money off of you. Study the solution and learn how to install it correctly and use it in the best ways. Follow best practices from Oracle and get some training in the operational system. The solution comes with a lot of features and options that you can use for free. It is reliable and you can even use an old version with no issues. It is not the most user friendly, but you can learn it with a bit of study. Overall, the solution beats other operational systems by a large margin. The solution is rated a nine out of ten.
Robin Saikat Chatterjee - PeerSpot reviewer
Low cost robust VM soln with ability to patch with no downtime and free Live migration
The ability to live migrate VMs on the fly from one hypervisor to another has been very useful.The ability to pin cores to reduce licensing costs for our clients runnning core based oracel producs is also invaluable.One important factor to note is that to use live migration its important to create specifc pools devoted to certain products for exampel a pool for weblogic and a separate server pool for database. live migration is not permitted when using cpu pinnning to reduce license costs.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Educational Organization
47%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Oracle Linux compare with Solaris?
When comparing Oracle Linux and Solaris, I believe that Linux is more secure and more flexible. It is also very suitable for enterprises that are already Oracle solution users. I found Linux to be ...
Which would you choose - Ubuntu Linux or Oracle Linux?
Ubunto Linux is a complete Linux operating system that is freely available with both community and professional support. This solution is suitable for both desktop and server use. It has a very app...
Which is better - Oracle VM or KVM?
I would prefer if KVM was easier to scale and not so limited. Overall the product has been helpful. It is easy to use, and was quite straight-forward to set up. Since I have been using KVM, I have ...
Which is better - Oracle VM or VMware VSphere?
Oracle VM seems to me to be kind of outdated. Nevertheless, it is fairly straightforward to use and maintain. The solution can just be set and you can forget about it, and the scalability is consid...
What do you like most about Oracle VM?
If you want to access the VM from anywhere over the Internet, you put it in a public subnet. So, VMs are linked to that. The subnets are linked to it. So, it's perfectly secured if it's a private n...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Oracle Enterprise Linux
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

See here
Ambulance Victoria, Australian Finance Group (AFG), Avnet Technology Solutions, CERN, cloudKleyer, Danish Tax Authority (SKAT), Data Intensity, Dubai World, Engineers Australia, Enkitec, Groupe FLO, Guerra S.A. Implemento, s Rodovišrios, Interactive One, IT Convergence, Jesta Digital, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, KT, Kyoto Prefecture, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory / National Ignition Facility, Multinet Pakistan, National Australia Bank (NAB), Navis LLC, Overhead Door, Overstock.com, Paragon Data, Parks Victoria, Pella, Sunway Shared Services, St. Louis Metro, Terminales Ro de la Plata S.A., University of Massachusetts, Versace,
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Canonical, Oracle and others in Operating Systems (OS) for Business. Updated: January 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.