Oracle Solaris vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Solaris
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
198
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2024, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Oracle Solaris is 3.8%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 12.2%, down from 13.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
Unique Categories:
No other categories found
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

it_user488778 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 28, 2016
By standardising the infrastructure, we were able to reduce the number of physical hosts.
Built-in virtualisation (Zones / LDOMS), ZFS, SMF, and FMA By standardising the infrastructure, we were able to reduce the number of physical hosts. We got rid of file system corruption (thanks to ZFS). Enlarging the file system was as easy as eating the candy. The product itself is great. I…
Sachin Patil - PeerSpot reviewer
May 28, 2023
Provides various logs and event triggers that assist in monitoring the operating system's security
One challenge we've faced is with databases. Configuring and implementing DBs is much easier in non-Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems, especially in Microsoft. However, as a partner, we faced some challenges with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, particularly when it comes to enterprise applications, especially on the IBM side since it's an IBM core company. There are still several IBM products that need to mature on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Additionally, we require more comprehensive documentation. We face difficulties with the limited availability of documentation for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It's a different community compared to the Microsoft market, so we need the right documentation to encourage end users to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Solaris's best features are high availability, robustness, and database hosting."
"Oracle Solaris is pre-installed in our environment. Thus, it is simple to customize."
"One of the main features of this solution is the ease of use."
"The backup capabilities are quite good."
"We use the solution as an internal operating system."
"Oracle Solaris was the preferred operating system for their customers to run their databases on and to get the best performance. It performs well with Oracle applications. Additionally, there are some features inside that are called zones which are Linux containers."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"Solaris is scalable because they have their own file system, like CFS."
"OpenShift is the most valuable feature because it can be used to create applications on the fly."
"Red Hat has introduced a fast server, where Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be integrated or connected to via a client."
"Customer support is valuable."
"It is consistent. It is geared toward security."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux has a good file system type and good kernels."
"Things like packaging and the stability you get from things being downstream are valuable. A lot of times, upgrades are more security-based and not feature-based, so things do not break API-wise as we go forward a lot of times"
"It has improved our organization. It has standardized processes."
"RHEL's effect on our organization's management and efficiency is noticeable because we check all the compliance boxes when we run STIG machines."
 

Cons

"I would love to see improvements in SVM, so file systems could be increased or migrated without downtime to the environment, similar to what ZFS is capable of."
"Solaris is not easy to use. It needs better GUI, UI, and configuration tools."
"Oracle customer service is slow at times."
"Oracle Solaris can improve by supporting all the recent features that are in the market from other competitors."
"There is an issue where Solaris doesn't give the correct figures for memory use when checked."
"More monitoring tools could be included in the product."
"The primary drawback with this product is the lack of version updates."
"The Solaris code is open, and the documentation is accessible to all, not only to registered users. Also, the documentation does not support some solutions, and there are no other options."
"Continuous improvement is essential to enhance user experiences and address evolving needs."
"I feel like it is going all over the place now. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what is going on. I would like more guidance."
"We had issues migrating from the old to the new RHEL version in the virtual environment. It forced us to spin up a new virtual environment to have the new RHEL version."
"Considering an area where the solution lacks, I think we can look into a lot more automation and integrations with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and other products."
"Red Hat training is phenomenal, but it is expensive. There has to be a better way to onboard new engineers into Linux to really and truly compete with Microsoft."
"Network virtualization resources could be better. When you have any kind of trouble with network virtualization, such as with OVS, which is like a switch in a virtual environment, it takes many hours to find what is happening. Other vendors, such as VMware, and even other Linux implementations for network virtualization have better resources. It is much easier to escalate, and there is better documentation."
"The solution should provide demos so that users can learn to use it and improve their environments."
"Red Hat Insights are instrumental in identifying vulnerabilities. I am still learning, but my understanding is that it is not directly connected to your environment to deploy a patch or vulnerability fix. It is going to give a YAML playbook to do that. It does not actually execute it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is not good and needs to improve."
"If you buy Oracle hardware it's supported free with the hardware. If you're putting it on non-Oracle hardware, that is when you buy the support license, which is also very reasonable. It is $1000 dollars per year, so it's not overly expensive."
"Solaris is highly priced compared to other solutions, but since it's a niche product, this is to be expected."
"The annual license cost is fair and reasonable."
"As a private user or individual, I wouldn't recommend it to others, considering it is a costly product."
"The product is inexpensive."
"The current setup with hardware devices involves a higher cost, but the performance is top-notch."
"There are no licensing fees but you can opt to pay for support."
"RHEL has a decent pricing model. It's a subscription, which makes sense. The OS itself is free, but you pay for the support. I have never heard any complaints about the pricing."
"The pricing is a bit on the expensive side, mainly because of the support they provide. However, it is quite affordable if you are an organization. If, as a small company or individual, this is an expensive option, I would recommend CentOS, which is an exact replica of RHEL, minus the customer support."
"We are coming from CentOS, so technically, our total cost of ownership has gone up, but it is still cheaper than Windows for a database server and things like that."
"We get our licenses directly through Red Hat."
"RHEL is expensive."
"It is expensive. Everything is. I was happy to get a three-year Red Hat Enterprise Linux contract for our initial rollout."
"This is a cost-effective solution."
"For the basic operating system, its price is fair. It is not cheap, and it is also not expensive. For the OpenShift or OpenStack implementation, the cost is a little higher than what I would expect, but it is doable. For a storage solution, it is almost impossible to pay. In comparison to open-source competitors, RHEL has the most cost-effective open-source subscription model."
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Comparison Review

it_user281973 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 24, 2017
It's improved our company's system environments that run Oracle databases.
Red Hat is mission critical to our environment Red Hat has improved the mission critical environments running Oracle databases, while CentOS has improved our web environment and MySQL. Oracle and SAP Environment and all HPC environments. 10 years No issues Very stable i don´t find any problem…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
 

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 ...
What do you like most about Oracle Solaris?
We use the solution as an internal operating system.
Which would you choose - RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or CentOS?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is fantastic. It is an inexpensive solution that has excellent security, performance, and stability, and also lots of features. I specifically like that the solution has fe...
What do you like most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
It is open source. We can customize it as per our requirements.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
It is expensive. Everything is. I was happy to get a three-year Red Hat Enterprise Linux contract for our initial rollout. It is less expensive than other solutions. It is a growing company.
 

Also Known As

Solaris 11, Solaris
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Siemens, IVV
Travel Channel, Mohawk Industries, Hilti, Molecular Health, Exolgan, Hotelplan Group, Emory University, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, HCA Healthcare, Paychex, UPS, Intermountain Healthcare, Brinker International, TransUnion, Union Bank, CA Technologies
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Solaris vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and other solutions. Updated: June 2024.
787,779 professionals have used our research since 2012.