Oracle Linux Reviews

• 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.

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.

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.

We have used this solution for seven years.

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.

The platform is extremely scalable, either in a virtualized fashion or by using the available clustering technology.

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.

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.

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.

Oracle Linux is roughly half the cost in terms of licensing and support when compared to other comparable Linux distributors.

We had primarily been using Red Hat Linux in the past. We also evaluated SUSE Linux and CentOS.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I started using this solution four years ago.

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.

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.

Technical support is technically good, but the response time is high. It can take up to weeks to actually solve the problem.

We used Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but licensing costs with Oracle VM decreased significantly, which motivated the change.

Setup was very complex, using cluster resources and fine tuning at the OS level to improve performance.

If possible, use Oracle VM; prices decrease absurdly!

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.

Study and learn about the Red Hat kernel and follow the news releases on the manufacturer site. Read the rich manual that Oracle offers.

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.

We're able to deploy easily with the read-made templates for OVM.

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

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.

There were vulnerabilities during deployment due to extended lead-time releasing security fixes (e.g. shellshock).

We have had no issues with the stability.

We have had no issues scaling it for our needs.

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.

If I had to use an RPM-based distribution, I'd rather use CentOS or Amazon Linux.

The initial setup with the ready-made templates was nice.

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.

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.

Just don't do it, unless you're locked in by your vendor, or hardware, or project manager.

It is an operating system that is used for running some applications.

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.

I have been using this solution for a few years. I have been using version 8 of Oracle Linux.

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.

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.

The customer service and support team is okay, and it could be more responsive.

I used Solaris. We switched because Solaris is not fully developed as compared to Oracle Linux.

The initial setup is okay. It took around three hours to install and run the operating system.

We installed it in-house.

The customer usually buys the license, and it's a one-time purchase.

I would definitely recommend using the solution.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use the solution to manage the databases.

The solution's most valuable feature is its capability to provide a safe and secure environment.

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.

It is a stable solution.

The solution's technical support team answers all our queries.

The solution's initial setup is complicated.

It is an expensive solution for us. 

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.

We primarily use the solution as an operating system for our internal systems.

The solution’s valuable features are flexibility, stability, and security. It's secure in terms of the network, the viruses, etc.

They should improve in the area of entertainment applications for the average user. That includes music, video, and gaming applications.

We have been using the solution since the year 2005.

If you use the solution as an HTTP server, it can serve 1000 users simultaneously.

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. 

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.

We use this solution to create some scripts, and push, start, and stop our product.

It is a good solution, and the performance is good.

It has a very good operating system, and if anyone wants a secure one, Oracle Linux is a good choice.

Features related to use, feel, and user experience could be improved. It could also have a more user-friendly interface.

We have been using this solution for the past 15 years and are using the latest version.

The stability is very good.

It is a scalable solution.

The technical support is good, and we use the support sometimes. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Positive

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.

I rate this solution a nine out of ten, and I would recommend this solution to others.

We're using Oracle Linux to run virtual machines for their database solutions in the cloud. We're also using Oracle Linux to run an SFTP server.

We have several Oracle Linux 7s that support the databases. We have about ten of those. We have one SFTP server as well. That is the extent of it.

We do a lot of mounts so we can use shared storage. It has a good amount of mount points. I'm just getting very comfortable with it as far as the ACLs and the users go.

I cannot recall any areas that require improvement, or any missing features I have come across. 

Occasionally, we might get an alert to restart our database, and if we don't do it on our own, the system will do it automatically. That can cause downtime issues if your clients aren't expecting it.

I've used the solution for about a year and a half at this point. It hasn't been too long. 

The stability is very good. The databases are all VMs. Sometimes the database might have an underlying condition, hardware condition, and Oracle will send us an alert to tell us to please restart our databases so that they can be moved to another piece of hardware by a certain date. If we don't do it on our own, they will do it. That, however, leaves room for corruption. Also, you run the risk of not telling our customers ahead of time that there might be a little bit of downtime.

The solution can scale up or down easily. You can always scale up, scale down, add more storage, add more memory, that kind of stuff.

Since we have an Oracle cloud subscription and a tenancy, our service requests are answered by tech support from OCI tech support. It's pretty much whatever we need. However, I must say, their tech support usually addresses OCI problems, such as infrastructure problems. When it comes to the Oracle support, you really have to dig and you really have to get on them to actually get it down to the Oracle support. That said, I want to say, so far, so good. I'm happy with the support so far.

Before I worked on Oracle Linux 7, we were on-prem with Red Hat 6 or 7. It might have been Red Hat 6. Everything really just transfers very well as far as the commands and all of that. Oracle Linux 7 is basically Red Hat 7.

When it is in the could, the initial setup is very easy. When it's in the cloud, you just pick a shape and say, "Make me a machine."

What makes each shape different is the number of CPUs. The amount of storage comes with it. 

I'm just an Oracle customer and an end-user.

For those considering the solution, I would say, if you're familiar with Red Hat, there's very little change and the users should just go for it.

As far as dependability and ease of use go, I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.