We performed a comparison between Oracle Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux RHEL based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison of Results: Based on the parameters we compared, Oracle Linux seems to be the superior solution. Our reviewers feel that the question concerning whether or not Red Hat Enterprise Linux is easy to deploy, the difficulty that it has integrating with non- Red Hat solutions, and the fact that it is upstream from Oracle Linux make Oracle Linux a better investment.
"The stability is excellent and the initial setup is easy."
"The solution's technical support team answers all our queries."
"Oracle Linux is very secure making it one of the most valuable features. Additionally, it is easy to manage."
"The installation is straightforward."
"If we use Linux, Solaris, or some other operating systems, we have to build a lot of packages using RPMs (the packet manager). That's a difficult task. With Oracle Linux, we use a single command to update from the Oracle website."
"The solution has zero downtime and is easy to optimize right out of the box."
"It provides for stable Oracle deployments."
"It has a good amount of mount points."
"Everything is just stable and works well."
"Its scalability and ease of setup and configuration are most valuable. When we have a hardware failure, we just save the configuration files, and in about half an hour, we have another server running with the same configuration. It is really easy to replace servers. This is the best feature."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux is lightweight and can be run on almost anything."
"The product is optimized for resource utilization."
"I prefer it to Windows because of the level of configuration, level of control, and the ability to see the performance of processes on a given system. I prefer the control over logging and the ability that logging gives you to investigate a problem."
"It's more stable than the other operating systems."
"It is a good operating system. It is very stable. It does not take a lot of maintenance. You set it up well and it runs."
"We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Git apps in our closed environment to develop and run scenarios."
"There can be improvements to the documentation capabilities."
"I would like Oracle Linux to have more frequent updates."
"Kernel updates need improvement."
"Another notable aspect that could be improved is minor compatibility with Red Hat."
"I would want Oracle to explore more of Kubernetes and micro services."
"The solution could be less costly."
"The documentation has room for improvement."
"Oracle Linux could improve by having better compatibility with other solutions. Some aspects of the configuration are difficult. I was using Oracle Linux on a Mac computer and it was very difficult to set up."
"The cost could be lowered. We don't use RHEL in the cloud because Ubuntu is cheaper. Ubuntu factors support costs into the license when you're running it in the cloud, and it's a fraction of the cost of what RHEL is. I'm also not sure if RHEL supports open-source products. If they do, they don't advertise it. Adding stuff like Apache and other open-source tools like Tomcat to their support portfolio would help."
"There are a lot of file systems that are supported by other Linux distributions. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a little behind those. For example, Btrfs is a file system that is not supported by Red Hat."
"Network management can be easier. It is getting more complex."
"The adoption was slightly slow because the knowledge in the market is slightly less available. It's hard to find resources to actually support the product."
"The product should be made available on Oracle Cloud."
"All resources should be available on the website."
"I use Linux on Satellite with Ansible infrastructure. It would be great if there were a universal interface to control RHEL's policy from Satellite. It could be a dashboard showing which policies were enabled on what system and allow you to apply them from the dashboard."
"Right now, we need to get memory and CPU via the console."
More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Pricing and Cost Advice →
Oracle Linux is ranked 3rd in Operating Systems (OS) for Business with 108 reviews while Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is ranked 1st in Operating Systems (OS) for Business with 167 reviews. Oracle Linux is rated 8.4, while Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is rated 8.8. The top reviewer of Oracle Linux writes "The operational system is the best and is packed with free features like CapsLive". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) writes "Highly stable, good knowledge base, and reasonable price". Oracle Linux is most compared with Ubuntu Linux, CentOS, Rocky Linux, Oracle Solaris and Windows Server, whereas Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is most compared with Windows Server, Ubuntu Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Windows 10 and Rocky Linux. See our Oracle Linux vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) report.
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We monitor all Operating Systems (OS) for Business reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
I have been working on both Linux (RHEL from RedHat and OLE from Oracle) in many projects for more than 10 years now.
firstly, RHEL is the main Linux Distribution whereas OLE is just a clone version of RHEL with some enhancements in Kernel to makes it more compatible with Oracle hardware and software.
secondly, there is no point to use OLE in heterogeneous Data Centers which they are equipped with multi-brand hardware.
Third, Oracle's policies regarding open source projects are unacceptable. As far as I can remember, projects such as Open Solaris, OpenOffice, and etc were owned by Oracle disappeared. Moreover, Oracle releases OLE to keep its product list complete on the other hand Oracle Linux fans are most people and companies that work with Oracle products. And the lack of knowledge in the Linux field leads to accepting Oracle's recommendations that my Linux works better and should be used. Based on my experience in various projects as a Linux expert and SAN storage admins with an expert colleague in the Oracle database have obtained interesting results.
These projects have used OLE, RHEL, and CentOS Linux with IBM or HP servers also EMC, HPE or Hitachi storage.
And we found that:
1-RHEL Linux is better compatible with different hardware.
2-Not only are RHEL Documents more clear but also Red Hat has better support compared to Oracle.
3-RHEL and CentOS have better repositories and quicker security patching compared to OLE.
Finally, Red Hat (RHEL, CentOS, Fedora) communities are much greater and active than the Oracle Linux community.
Hi Nawazish,
I have worked with both products. I strongly recommend Oracle Enterprise Linux.
The reasons are as follows :
1. Oracle Enterprise Linux has some key features which are suitable for running enterprise class workloads. KSplice is one of such key feature.
2. If you are planning to run Oracle database / MiddleWare / E-Business on Intel/ Linux then select Oracle Linux. Because you get one support portal "Metalink" to manage your support issues for all the software components. In case you run RHEL, you will end up in managing Oracle and RHEL support separately.
3. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) runs on Oracle Linux, and Oracle Exadata runs on Oracle Linux. In case you plan to migrate your Oracle workload to Oracle Cloud (OCI) or Exadata in future, the migration will be seamless.
4. Oracle has announced Autonomous Linux during Oracle Open World few weeks back. I am sure they will get all Autonomous features in Oracle Linux in future versions.
5. Commercially Oracle Linux gives you better price as compared to RHEL. Simply compare Oracle Linux Standard Edition with Ref Hat Linux with 24x7 support and you will understand the difference. This is because Oracle Linux support comes from Oracle Metalink 24x7 by default. Thats not the case with Red Hat
Let me know in case you need additional help.
Thanks
Shrikant
Hi, Did you see this Oracle Linux review ? -> www.itcentralstation.com
Is the information given in that review enough for satisfying your curiosity? If not, please update.
Just the location of the repository for the most part. If you're running Oracle databases on RHEL I recommend purchasing Oracle X-8 hardware and running Oracle Enterprise linux instead, you will save a lot of money in the long run.
The biggest advantages OEL has is that if you buy the Oracle hardware you get support for the OS for free. If you run databases on Oracle hardware your core licensing costs are usually cut in half. Oracle Linux on Oracle hardware also allows for the use of OVM (like vmware) The main disadvantage of the OVM over VMware is that the OVM software is still underdeveloped a little and requires a little more effort for disk functions.
Oracle Linux is developed by Oracle Corp. Oracle ULN (unbreakable Linux (UEK) as they call it, has come into existence since the time Oracle started to invest in Cloud computing. It is again Kernel-based under GNU license. It is now majorly used in Oracle cloud platforms and Oracle Exadata or Oracle Database appliance.
RHEL Linux is developed by Red Hat which also uses Kernel-based under GNU license. RHEL can be used in local desktop, servers and also it can be used on IBM mainframe Hardware (Z13/Z14) as Zlinux and LINUXONE platform as well. They both have similar interfaces (GNOME) except Oracle has KDE as well. Moreover, they use the same terminology and commands to execute on their Linux versions. Oracle Linux uses RPM packages where RHEL Linux using RPM as well as YUM packages and both support containerization and dockerization.
Oracle Linux is best suited for Oracle products because of its support and compatibility with the Oracle products.
Hi Nawazish,
I have experiences with both products and both companies.
Both Linux distributions are binary compatible with very similar functions and utilities. The same is also CentOS, that is build on the same source codes.
I choose RHEL for:
1. better support (at least for problems that I faced with)
2. quicker security patching
3. additional products that are build on RHEL (RHEV, Middleware products, GlusterFS)
I'm not sure about the performance of Oracle DB on Oracle Linux with comparing to RHEL. I would like to see some independent performance analysis.
I like Red Hat more as a company, because It is not Evil like Oracle. I have very bad experience with Oracle products licensing and software audit.
These is the reasons, why I chose the RHEL.
Regards,
Petr
I share this article with you, the publication is from this year, where this difference is explained. I hope this information is useful.
www.muylinux.com
Oracle Linux is RHEL, rebranded. It includes the Oracle Unbreakable Kernel which you can read about on the Oracle website. I have found no practical extra value from it.
Redhat support of the Redhat OS is better than Oracle support on a Redhat OS.