Oracle Linux Reviews

Most people see Linux as just Linux. However, in Oracle Database shops, Oracle Linux tends to have a little bit higher level of trust among DBAs as the more reliable solution.

I'm at a big Oracle shop right now, and although we do run Oracle Linux, it's not to the exclusion of another Linux flavor. We're standardized on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server because it tends to be cheaper.

Oracle Linux tends to be a little buggy and sluggish at the virtualization layer. It's been my experience that probably about 85 to 90% of the time certain features are about three-quarters baked. I don't like that.

We've had no issues with deployment really, except for that bugginess and sluggishness at the virtualization layer.

There are those bugs at the virtualization layer, though it's overall generally stable.

I've not had to experience scaling it at that level because I don't do a lot of architecture work. I don't see an issue with scalability, though.

If you've got a problem with Oracle Linux, because it's an Oracle product, you log a ticket. I've never had to log a ticket, but it should be a straightforward process.

Compared with my many, many years of experience in the commercial UNIX world, if we had a problem or didn't know how to fix a particular issue, we called IBM. With SLES, we just referred to the many different resources available.

If they decide they want to have all the tools, if you have to have the support and if the DBA's are calling the shots that, you know, it's a big Oracle shop and they decide they want to have all Oracle Linux and maybe there was a deal cut and maybe they got a better deal from them than they got from Novell who own SLES.

I am using the solution for a project that I am trying to migrate it to the cloud. My experience with the cloud is at the beginners level. I haven't tested the solution very much yet but according to the published documentation, opinions etc., I see that Oracle Linux is the closest to my needs for future migration to the cloud.

Once installed, the product is good, I like it. The core of the software is really good.

The installation documentation needs to be improved, especially the current installation guide. For example it states that it is needed to format and to store the installation ISO on a DVD, but this is not possible to do in 8.0+ versions, as the ISO files are 7-9GB - greater than 4GB and the regular DVDs do not support it. The actual 8.3 version ISO cannot be put on USB either, as a file  as the setup requires the 9GB ISO also as a file, but this imposes the use of exFAT instead of FAT32, which is not supported by the system boot. Therefore I installed 8.1 from USB, which went just fine and upgraded to 8.3 afterwards with YUM.

My network card is supported by 5.3 kernel (UEK), but not supported by the 4.x RedHat kernel used too, which I had to realize by chance. My video and network cards are not completely supported in the 8.1-8.3 versions, better compatibility with up-to-date hardware is needed. When looking for compatible drivers, there was no clear statement which drivers are supported. Better directions are needed regarding hardware drivers and how to obtain them.

From my experience with Oracle, I completely rely on its documentation and its presence, completeness and reliability was one of the reasons to choose Oracle Linux. The documentation I see worked for 8.1 or 8.2 setups, but not for 8.3. It needs update - Oracle Linux  8.3 changed the installation procedure and doesn't match the documentation. My experience with Oracle is that what is written in the documentation just works. This time it did not help.

The ability to update the look-and-feel of the Desktop UI would be beneficial - the current one is pale to my taste, it is black, grey and white.

They could provide more repositories of tested software, or at least refer to them and comment on their use.

I have been using the solution for less than two weeks.

The solution is stable.

I used CentOS for an year and a half. Now I had the chance to choose my OS considering my plans for cloud development and also the resent concerns about the future support of CentOS, I chose Oracle Linux 8.3

In the 8.1 version, the setup works fine but it is when trying to install from an USB instead of DVD as it is written in the documentation. There were issues with the 8.3 installation - see above.

The installation of version 8.1, however, was good and worked fine. Some my attempts to install compatible drivers for my hardware failed and I had to reinstall the whole OS. The third time doing the install, it only took me one hour, it was easy. I achieved some compromise between up to date video (nouveau instead of Nvidia) and wifi (iwlwifi of Intel) drives and the system now works really fine.

I decided based on my experience with CentOS, Ubuntu, Kali Linux.

I rate Oracle Linux an eight out of ten.

I value Oracle's commercial vetting of enterprise-grade Linux. I value the enterprise grade repo which has all the functionalities of what Red Hat offers -- but Red Hat wants to charge a fortune for self-sufficient end users like me who do not require support and who are qualified and capable of supporting themselves. Oracle does not do this and they value that I have an interest in their products and do not charge me an arm and a leg to build my professional knowledge of any of their products. 

This serves to benefit Oracle in that they are growing the knowledge base. Indeed, it is an ever expanding knowledge base, and with a larger knowledge base comes a larger customer base for them. They understand the needs of engineers who want to grow their skillset around Oracle product offerings as they know and understand, that it is people like me, who are down in the trenches of doing the actual work, that Oracle uses as a reference base for making inroads into a solid customer base.

Another thing that I value is that Oracle has a repo pre-installer entry that is explicitly for Oracle Database, and when installing the database on Oracle Linux, I'm able to simply install the 11g or 12c pre-install settings, and this provides the optimal Oracle Linux configuration to run an Oracle Database server. I really love this enhancement from Oracle in their Linux, on behalf of 11g and 12c database servers.

I have a beef with the installer (Anaconda / Kickstart) on occasion, especially between versions. What I find sometimes is that it has bugs and doesn't work. I have to burn up a lot of time in trying to craft workarounds and getting it to work. It doesn't happen all of the time, but the last couple of versions (7.0, 7.1, 7.2) had some nasty issues where the installer would just simply crash and burn. It's fine as long as the buggy version isn't your only version of choice, in which case, you would be up the creek without a paddle. Oracle need to make sure that their bare-metal installers work, as I don't want to have to debug their code for them.

We could, at some point, benefit from an enterprise-grade Linux solution without paying huge support fees to Red Hat. Besides, Oracle would already have a ready-made investment in people like me for getting Oracle Linux into their existing enterprise customer base. Simply by making it painless for people like me to learn how their stuff work as opposed to Microsoft and RedHat. They want to charge a fortune for the 'privilege' to be taught by them. They don't do this because they already know what I am doing and they are not going to force me to cough up thousands of dollars to learn how their stuff works. They have demonstrated that they are quite confident in their OTN users abilities to learn about their products simply by reading what Oracle has documented and what they have shared about their products. They have given us credit that we are all professionals and that we 'should' all know how to read, write and count to 10.

Now what I don't want to hear from Oracle is "oh, that's what we got from the master source tree from Fedora (or whoever they rely on)." So, I don't care if bugs fell in their lap - don't send those bugs out into the field. I really couldn't care less whose fault it is I just want them to fix it! And if they can't fix it, don't upset the customer by sending out software that they know good and well has issues in it and hope that no one notice. I notice and it only serves to upset us. Oracle needs to keep in mind that although I am an OTN user on their network I am also working with one of their largest customers in their customer base. Oracle doesn't need to forget this fact or take it for granted that I don't work for anyone important so, they need to simply handle all of their OTN users as if each one of us works for a very important customer of theirs.

I am using Oracle Linux for databases.

Oracle Linux's most valuable feature is flexibility.

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.

I have been using Oracle Linux for approximately five years.

I have found Oracle Linux to be stable. I'm not receiving any issues when I use it, when I connect it to the other parts with the setup, it has been stable.

Oracle Linux has good scalability.

The technical support is good. Whenever I'm having an issue that cannot be resolved, I get in contact with Oracle and then they resolve it fast.

The price of Oracle Linux could be less expensive for those who are running a small freelance company, such as I do. We use the solution fully but the income that you're receiving is slow.

I would advise others that are interested in implementing this solution to try it out. However, they need to know what they are doing first because if you don't know the solution well, you will not be able to implement it properly, and that will not yield correct results.

I rate Oracle Linux an eight out of ten.

The most valuable feature is the binary compatibility i.e. that Oracle Linux is 100% compatible with Red Hat Linux. In addition, Oracle Linux uses fewer resources than Red Hat, so the maximum resources are available to applications.

In the next release, I would like for Autonomous Linux to be available to all users so that the OS administration can be automated.

I've been using this solution for over twelve years.

Previously I worked with Red Hat Linux.

I would give this product a rating of ten out of ten.

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.

The most valuable features are performance, frequent update patches, and security.

The solution could improve by giving the client or customer more control.

I have been using this solution for approximately five years.

The solution is very stable.

I have found the solution to be scalable. They have other options available, such as cloud and hybrid versions.

If you have premium technical support it is great, they have been responsive in solving our issues.

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.

The deployment and maintenance are done by vendor teams.

There is a license required for this solution and we are on an annual license.

I recommend this solution to others.

I rate Oracle Linuxan eight out of ten.

We are using it as a DNS server.

We also have Oracle Vault and Oracle Fire installed on it. We are planning to use it as a model system, for learning.

The most valuable feature is its stability. I adore the stability.

It is easy to use. The patching, connectivity, and storage are all good.

The iSCSI support is helpful.

This product is very secure by default. You should be able to use everything that you want to use. If you need to employ any service then you should enable the security for it.

The user interface is comfortable and easy to use.

The GUI could be made more attractive.

I have been using Oracle Linux for three years.

it is very stable.

Oracle Linux is not really scalable.

We have two or three direct users, on top of 1,050 who use it indirectly.

We do not use any technical support.

We have also used Red Hat Linux, although we stopped using it about three years ago.

The initial setup is straightforward. It takes maybe two days to complete. the first day is for installation and preparation, and another day is required for patching. It takes a long time to complete patching and updates.

I deployed it myself. Only one administrator is required for deployment and maintenance.

This is an open-source product that can be used free of charge.

There are many different flavors of Linux but I haven't gone deep enough in them to compare them all.

Oracle Linux is a product that I recommend.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

I think the most valuable feature for me, as a database professional, is an operating system that has been modified to have more stability in terms of drivers, in terms of the kernel. We have found a lot of problems using other equivalent systems when upgrading the kernel. Using the unbreakable kernel, we have been able to stabilize many systems.

As an organization I would say that having the same company that provides support for Linux, for the operating system, and also the software on top of it -  in my case it's Oracle database - I think that it's closer to having better support, a faster response from support and, of course, better solutions.

I think that the only improvement is staying up with the pace of the technology evolution. As long as Oracle Linux supports all the recent technologies, there are really no more innovations it will need. If the technology itself evolves, as long as Oracle Linux supports it, it's the perfect product.

You start it and you shut it down only when you need to, really, but it never crashes. I have not experienced the crash of Oracle Linux recently.

Well, depending on what you mean by "scaling," in vertical scaling we have systems at my customers that go up to 700 gigabytes. I don't know if it's the most scaling, but definitely it's more than enough to have good database consolidation on the server.

I think it's good. It's not really necessary, too often, to need support for Oracle Linux. Sometimes it depends on hardware drivers, if there is the necessity to have something special. But in general, my impression is that it's stable and we don't need much support.

Again, I have to mention that I am an Oracle database professional, so I'm really focused on this technology. Of course, other operating systems often have many more problems in configuration, in stability, they need much more fine tuning. I don't want to mention them but I will say that many customers are trying to switch from, for example, legacy Unix systems to Linux.

We use, of course, a configuration management tool like Chef Puppet nowadays, or Ansible, so it's really easy to maintain the system. But, even installing for just one server, by hand, now is straightforward. It's not a whole day of installing Linux, that's not the case any more.