Oracle Linux is mainly used for deploying Oracle databases. It can be used for a multitude of other functions. There are modules that can be implemented on systems to cater to your organization's needs.
Cyber security manager at Apparel
Highly secure, frequently updated, and great technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are performance, frequent update patches, and security."
- "The solution could improve by giving the client or customer more control."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are performance, frequent update patches, and security.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by giving the client or customer more control.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for approximately five years.
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Oracle Linux
December 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found the solution to be scalable. They have other options available, such as cloud and hybrid versions.
How are customer service and support?
If you have premium technical support it is great, they have been responsive in solving our issues.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is easy, there are readily available reference guides you can utilize to complete the installation. It took approximately two hours to complete the install.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment and maintenance are done by vendor teams.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a license required for this solution and we are on an annual license.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend this solution to others.
I rate Oracle Linuxan eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Vice President of Enterprise Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The stability and supportability are valuable. The vendor releases security fixes and bug fixes for this product first.
What is most valuable?
- Performance – Running on an operating system that is optimized for Oracle software provides significant performance gains.
- Stability – Oracle Linux provides a far more stable platform than Microsoft Windows.
- Supportability – Oracle releases security fixes and bug fixes first on Oracle Linux. Environments are more secure and easier to support.
- Cost – Oracle Linux is roughly half the cost when compared to other comparable Linux distributions.
How has it helped my organization?
When designing a new Oracle database platform, Oracle Linux provides built-in benefits for database customers that are not available on any other platform. This has improved the performance, availability, scalability, and security of our architecture.
What needs improvement?
While the Oracle Linux software is perfectly suited for our needs, the related support processes within Oracle can often be challenging. Having your ticket routed to a capable support engineer can involve several escalations, and there is then a risk that the ticket is transferred to another engineer when the original person’s shift ends, often resulting in a frustrating process of answering many of the same questions again.
Similarly, the time to receive a bug fix can often be longer than in open-source equivalents. Therefore, we always recommend that Oracle Linux implementations are handled with an experienced Oracle Partner, specialized in Linux, who can supplement Oracle’s own support structures with a deeper level of expertise and faster response.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used this solution for seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We hit a couple of bugs in the early days of Oracle Linux 5 but in the last few years, the platform has been extremely stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The platform is extremely scalable, either in a virtualized fashion or by using the available clustering technology.
How are customer service and technical support?
I would rate the support provided as a 6 our of 10, due to some slow responses and some delays on getting senior, experienced technical support personnel engaged.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In the past, we had primarily used either Oracle Solaris or Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a standard. Oracle Linux provided a more-agile, easy-to-deploy platform than Solaris, at a lower cost than Red Hat, and including optimizations not available in either of the previous platforms.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward for a basic server. However, there are complex configurations that can (and should) be added in for enterprise-level environments to provide better performance, stability, and redundancy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Oracle Linux is roughly half the cost in terms of licensing and support when compared to other comparable Linux distributors.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We had primarily been using Red Hat Linux in the past. We also evaluated SUSE Linux and CentOS.
What other advice do I have?
While it is very straightforward to set up an Oracle Linux server, seek advice from experienced Oracle Partners to ensure that your new servers are customized and optimized to provide the performance, availability, and redundancy you need.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Cintra offer a full suite of services including procurement, design, implementation and ongoing support for Oracle Linux.
Buyer's Guide
Oracle Linux
December 2024
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Oracle Database Administrator at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Ksplice allows us to apply kernel patches without rebooting the system. BTRFS detects file system corruption and fixes it.
What is most valuable?
Native support with Oracle database and these features:
- OCFS2 (Clustered File System): Open-source alternative to proprietary cluster file systems.
- Ksplice: Apply patches to the kernel without rebooting the system; zero downtime for critical security updates.
- Dtrace: Excellent diagnostic tool for analysis and troubleshooting ported from Sun Solaris.
- Docker containers: Full support, framework optimized and integrated with WebLogic Server Docker containers.
- Btrfs: Detects file system corruption and fixes it; improves backup operations and improves file system and storage capacity by reducing disk seeks and disk I/O operations.
How has it helped my organization?
Each month, my team makes a full update of the environment, including: Windows system, databases, Linux system and network systems. We reduced the downtime considerably on our Oracle databases by using Ksplice on our Linux systems.
What needs improvement?
Hardware vendors certified by Oracle for installing Oracle Linux are: Dell, HPE and Oracle. The product needs to be certified by more vendors to gain more clients and increase the size of market share.
For how long have I used the solution?
I started using this solution four years ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not had any stability issues. My databases servers have been up since the last maintenance and there have been no issues during the business day.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I own a RAC cluster with two nodes. It is a medium-size environment supported by Oracle Linux. Scalability never was a problem in my scenario.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is technically good, but the response time is high. It can take up to weeks to actually solve the problem.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but licensing costs with Oracle VM decreased significantly, which motivated the change.
How was the initial setup?
Setup was very complex, using cluster resources and fine tuning at the OS level to improve performance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If possible, use Oracle VM; prices decrease absurdly!
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I didn’t evaluate any other options, because we use Oracle Linux only for Oracle databases. And the Oracle database was in Red Hat and was supported only for two OSs available for my employer: Red Hat and Oracle Linux.
What other advice do I have?
Study and learn about the Red Hat kernel and follow the news releases on the manufacturer site. Read the rich manual that Oracle offers.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Linux System Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
There needs to be more rapid upstreaming of security fixes released by Red Hat or Fedora.
What is most valuable?
It is nice that it's ready made for deployment in OVM (Oracle VM for x86) with templates.
But, there's only some/limited vendor support when running on Oracle-branded hardware. There's no other reason I can think of to use Oracle Linux over any other Linux. If it were completely up to me, I'd be running the latest LTS version of Ubuntu Server.
How has it helped my organization?
We're able to deploy easily with the read-made templates for OVM.
What needs improvement?
From a product perspective, there needs to be more rapid upstreaming of security fixes released by Red Hat or Fedora.
Free vendor support? There's not much really. And Oracle Linux is feature-poor compared to other Linux distributions, and they're much slower than Red Hat, CentOS, or Amazon to release security patches and bug fixes
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for five years or longer. I've also worked extensively with Solaris, OEL (5 and 6) and OVM for X86 and OVM for SPARC (LDOMs). I'd still recommend Solaris, but not OEL. I haven't used OEL for 9 months since leaving my previous job. Where I work now we use exclusively Debian Linux 7.x Stable, with a view to migrating our cloud platforms to Debian Jessie Stable.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
There were vulnerabilities during deployment due to extended lead-time releasing security fixes (e.g. shellshock).
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have had no issues with the stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have had no issues scaling it for our needs.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support was average, and support for other Oracle products (e.g. Solaris) deteriorated substantially after Oracle bought Sun Microsystems. I do not like Oracle's support model one bit, and I loathe having to use WebMethods, which looks and feels and behaves like something from the 1990's.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
If I had to use an RPM-based distribution, I'd rather use CentOS or Amazon Linux.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup with the ready-made templates was nice.
What about the implementation team?
We performed the deployment with our in-house team only. The only assistance from Oracle has been with Oracle hardware issues in OVM for x86, and installation of Oracle applications on OEL.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'd only use it if I was forced to use Oracle x86 hardware. I'd opt for something else given the freedom to do so. OEL seems confining, restricted, and primitive.
What other advice do I have?
Just don't do it, unless you're locked in by your vendor, or hardware, or project manager.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Consultant at Hollomey Consultant GmbH
Straightforward setup and good compatibility with some applications
Pros and Cons
- "It is a scalable solution."
- "There were some problems when updating the operating system, which affected the system as a whole."
What is our primary use case?
It is an operating system that is used for running some applications.
What needs improvement?
There were some problems when updating the operating system, which affected the system as a whole.
I would like functioning updates, which make sure that after installing the patches, everything is working as before.
Moreover, there is room for improvement in technical support.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for a few years. I have been using version 8 of Oracle Linux.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Oracle Linux is a stable product, and I would rate the stability an eight out of ten because sometimes there are issues when installing patches or renewing licenses.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution. However, the number of users depends on the customer, sometimes several hundred, and sometimes the number of users is less than forty.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service and support team is okay, and it could be more responsive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Solaris. We switched because Solaris is not fully developed as compared to Oracle Linux.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is okay. It took around three hours to install and run the operating system.
What about the implementation team?
We installed it in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The customer usually buys the license, and it's a one-time purchase.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend using the solution.
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Project Manager at Closed Joint Stock Company Insurance Company TAS
It works stable and provides a secure environment
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's technical support team answers all our queries."
- "It is not a user-friendly solution."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to manage the databases.
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable feature is its capability to provide a safe and secure environment.
What needs improvement?
They should make the solution user-friendly. Also, they should add documentation and video lessons to guide us about its new features. We have a team of specialists who can train us on it, but we need help finding enough information.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support team answers all our queries.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup is complicated.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is an expensive solution for us.
What other advice do I have?
It is challenging to work with Oracle Linux, but it is a stable and secure solution. I recommend it to others and rate it as an eight.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Development Manager at Dxperia
The solution’s valuable features are flexibility, stability, and security
Pros and Cons
- "It is secure in terms of the network, the viruses, etc."
- "They should improve in the area of entertainment applications for the average user."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution as an operating system for our internal systems.
What is most valuable?
The solution’s valuable features are flexibility, stability, and security. It's secure in terms of the network, the viruses, etc.
What needs improvement?
They should improve in the area of entertainment applications for the average user. That includes music, video, and gaming applications.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution since the year 2005.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
If you use the solution as an HTTP server, it can serve 1000 users simultaneously.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is easy, but you must know your exact requirements. Oracle Linux has millions of features. You have to be precise in picking up the features, such as deciding whether you want an FTP server or HTTP server, or both, or you want more. Everything can be modified afterward. The deployment time depends on the server's configuration, but it takes around 30-60 minutes.
What other advice do I have?
I have always known that Linux is the real deal. I advise others to use Oracle Linux for a server or an enterprise where they have to host a service. The variations of Linux, like AIX, are complicated in implementation and maintenance. Oracle Linux is more accessible in that part. I rate the solution as an eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Sr. IT Analyst at NCR Corporation
A solution with a great operating system and helpful for creating scripts
Pros and Cons
- "It is a good solution, and the performance is good."
- "It could also have a more user-friendly interface."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution to create some scripts, and push, start, and stop our product.
How has it helped my organization?
It is a good solution, and the performance is good.
What is most valuable?
It has a very good operating system, and if anyone wants a secure one, Oracle Linux is a good choice.
What needs improvement?
Features related to use, feel, and user experience could be improved. It could also have a more user-friendly interface.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for the past 15 years and are using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good, and we use the support sometimes. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. We did not need an integrator for deployment and completed it ourselves. I rate the setup an eight out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution a nine out of ten, and I would recommend this solution to others.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: December 2024
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