What is Oracle Linux?

Oracle Linux (OL), formerly known as Oracle Enterprise Linux or OEL, is a Linux distribution package that is freely distributed by Oracle. It has been available since late 2006 and is partially under the GNU General Public License. Oracle Linux is compiled from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) source code, with Red Hat branding replaced by Oracle's. It's used by Oracle Cloud and Oracle Engineered Systems, such as Oracle Exadata. You can easily and freely download Oracle Linux and deploy it without cost. Oracle Linux is a binary application compatible with RHEL, which means existing applications run on it without any changes. It provides a secure, scalable, and reliable solution to complete any project.

Key Features

Oracle Linux comes up with several key features that define it as a unique Linux distro.

UEK

UEK stands for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel. Oracle Linux provides this feature which is an optimized kernel used for performance, scalability, and security. It provides many features like improved memory management, advanced file systems, support for modern hardware and many more.

Ksplice

Oracle Linux supports Ksplice. It is a technology that enables you to apply kernel patches without the need for rebooting your system. It helps in minimizing downtime and ensures security updates.

DTrace

DTrace is a powerful dynamic tracing framework that allows especially administrators and developers, to analyze system behavior. It troubleshoots performance issues and monitors applications in real time.

Btrfs File System

Oracle Linux supports Btrfs, which stands for B-tree file system. It is an alternative to traditional file systems. This alternative offers many features like snapshots, data compression, and integrated RAID support.

Spacewalk

Oracle Linux provides Spacewalk. It is an open-source management tool for system provisioning, patch management, and monitoring. It make possible administration tasks easy across large server environments.

Yum & DNF

In Oracle, these are package managers. Oracle Linux uses Yum, which stands for Yellowdog Updater Modified and DNF, which stands for Dandified Yum package managers. Both package managers are used for software installation, updates, and dependency resolution.

Security

Oracle Linux provides security features such as SELinux, which stands for Security-Enhanced Linux, firewall management, and auditing capabilities to protect your systems.

Integration

Oracle Linux is optimized for running Oracle Database, middleware, and applications. It's certified for use with Oracle products, ensuring compatibility and support.

Hardware & Software Compatibility

Oracle Linux is supported on various hardware architectures such as:

Hardware

x86 (32-bit), AMD x86-64 (64-bit) systems and Arm aarch64 (64-bit) systems.

ISVs, which stands for Independent Software Vendors, and IHVs, which is an abbreviation of Independent Hardware Vendors, associate together with Oracle to ensure their services are up-to-date, tested, certified, and entirely supported with Oracle Linux.

Software

Oracle Linux is completely application-binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). This means applications certified to run on RHEL can also run seamlessly on Oracle Linux.

Oracle Linux supports UEK and provides the latest Linux innovations while maintaining binary compatibility with RHEL applications. UEK updates support a wide range of hardware and devices, including 64-bit Intel, (x86-64), and (aarch64) systems.

Virtualization Support by Oracle Linux

Oracle Linux supports virtualization to accomplish various use cases and requirements in enterprise environments. Here are described the virtualization supported by Oracle:

Oracle VM

Oracle VM Server for x86: A free, open-source server virtualization solution that supports both Oracle Linux and other operating systems. It is designed for the efficient management of virtualized environments and is optimized for Oracle applications.

Oracle VM VirtualBox: A powerful, cross-platform virtualization software that allows users to run multiple operating systems on a single physical machine. It's popular for desktop virtualization and development environments.

KVM

KVM stands for Kernel-based Virtual Machine. Oracle Linux includes KVM, which is a full virtualization element for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions. Users can run multiple virtual machines on Linux or Windows images using the KVM. KVM is constituted into Oracle Linux's UEK. It mainly provides high performance and reliability for enterprise workloads.

Container and Orchestration Support

In Oracle Linux, the container and orchestration support is easy. But only in Oracle 6 and 7. The 8 and 9 versions of Oracle does not support these features.

Container Support

Docker: It is provided by Oracle Linux, which enables developers to create, deploy, and manage containers. The yum server hosts the Docker Engine, Docker CLI, and other tools. Not only this, Oracle Linux also provides Docker images for Oracle products, such as Oracle Database, through the Oracle Container Registry.

Podman: This is another container present in Oracle Linux. It is used to manage OCI containers and pods, and it does not require a daemon to run containers. The command line of Podman is the same as Docker's command line. That makes it easy for users to transition between the two.

Buildah: This tool in Oracle Linux is used to create the OCI container images. Buildah works without the need for a daemon and can be used with Podman.

Skopeo: This is a command line tool that performs various operations on container images and image repositories. It allows users to inspect images, copy images between different registries, and sign images.

Orchestration Support

Kubernetes: It is easily supported by Oracle Linux, which is an open-source system for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

Oracle provides the Oracle Linux Cloud Native Environment, in which there is a Kubernetes distribution that is certified by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). OKE) is a Kubernetes service that makes the deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

CRIO: CRIO is an open-source container runtime for Kubernetes that is compliant with the Kubernetes Container Runtime Interface (CRI). It is a lightweight in nature and specially used to work with Kubernetes. CRIO is considered as a runtime for running Kubernetes pods.

Helm: This is a package manager for Kubernetes that is used to manage Kubernetes applications. Helm charts make it easy to define, install, and upgrade Kubernetes applications. Oracle Linux provides Helm support which enables users to manage Kubernetes deployments.

Oracle Container Runtime for Docker: It is an enterprise-grade container runtime that comes up with robust security features, support, and integration with Oracle Linux.

Oracle Linux Cloud Native Environment: This environment provides a set of open-source tools and components used to develop, deploy, and manage cloud-native applications. This cloud-native environment includes Kubernetes, Istio, Kata Containers, and much more.

Deployment Inside Oracle Corporation

You can use a number of tools and platforms to deploy applications inside Oracle Corporation. It ensures scalability, reliability, and security. Here is detailed information on how Oracle Corporation handles the deployment of applications with the help of containerization and orchestration:

Development Environment

Oracle Linux: Developers use Oracle Linux as the base operating system because of its several features such as stability, security features, and performance for Oracle products.

Containerization:

• Docker and Podman: These tools are mainly used to containerize applications and make sure that they can run robustly over several environments.
• Buildah and Skopeo: These two tools are used to create and manage container images and to transfer them between registries.

Container Orchestration

Kubernetes:

OKE: It stands for Oracle Kubernetes Engine. It is used to manage Kubernetes clusters and it is used to set up and manage Kubernetes.

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)

• Oracle Developer Cloud Service: This feature provides an integrated CI/CD pipeline that automates the building, testing, and deployment of applications.
• Git Integration: This is used to manage code repositories.
• Jenkins: It is mainly used for orchestrating CI/CD pipelines. In addition, it is integrated with Kubernetes for easy deployments.

Application Deployment

• Oracle Container Registry: It hosts Docker images for Oracle products and custom applications. It ensures the secure and versed distribution of container images.

Monitoring and Logging

• Oracle Management Cloud: It provides extensive monitoring, log analytics, and IT analytics to make suere that applications are performing good.
• (OCI) Monitoring: It stands for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. It comes up with metrics, alarms, and notifications for services running on OCI.
• Prometheus and Grafana: These tools are used to monitor Kubernetes clusters, with Grafana to visualize metrics and create dashboards.

Security and Compliance

• Oracle IAM: It ensures secure access to resources and applications with robust identity and access management features.
• Kubernetes RBAC: It stands for Role-Based Access Control. It also manages permissions and access controls within Kubernetes clusters to ensure secure multi-tenancy.

Deployment Process In One Section

Here are all the steps provided that you need for deployment:

• Developers write and take a look at code regionally.
• Applications are containerized using tools like Docker or Podman. Buildah is used to create pix, and Skopeo is used to control them.
• Container snapshots are driven to the Oracle Container Registry.
• Jenkins or Oracle Developer Cloud Service triggers automatic builds and checks. Successful builds are deployed to staging environments.
• Helm charts are used to set up packages to Kubernetes clusters managed by OKE.
• Applications are monitored using Oracle Management Cloud, Prometheus, and Grafana.
• Kubernetes handles scaling primarily based on calls for. Rolling updates and patches are managed via Helm.

Version History of Oracle Linux

Here are all release versions and their release date for Oracle Linux.

1. Oracle Linux 4

It was launched in 2006 and is primarily based on RHEL 4. It offers balance and compatibility for enterprise applications. It is especially focused on enterprise customers who are looking for a reliable Linux distro.

2. Oracle Linux 5

It was launched in 2007 and is based totally on RHEL 5. It added the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel, which presents better performance and reliability. It provides more suitable virtualization and improves the security features.

3. Oracle Linux 6

It was launched in 2010 and is based on RHEL 6. It offers numerous capabilities, which include performance, scalability, and protection. It furnishes new file systems and advanced networking features. It continued the development of the UEK to optimize performance on Oracle hardware and software.

4. Oracle Linux 7

It was released in 2014 and is based totally on RHEL 7. It provides some critical updates, including systemd, firewalld, and other middle additives. It effortlessly supports Docker and containerization technologies.

5. Oracle Linux 8

It launched in 2019 and is based totally on RHEL 8. It modernized the software management with DNF by replacing YUM. It brought application streams for faster entry to to modern-day tools and frameworks.

6. Oracle Linux 9

It was released in 2022 and is based on RHEL nine. It is based totally on hybrid cloud and container deployments. It also extended automation with progressed information monitoring equipment.

Conclusion

Oracle Linux is a free enterprise distribution of Linux developed by Oracle. It is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It provides high compatibility with RHEL, which features both the Red Hat Compatible Kernel and the Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel. Oracle Linux supports a wide range of virtualization options, including Oracle VM, KVM, and many more. It offers a number of advanced features, such as Ksplice for live patching and optimizing for performance, security and reliability in an enterprise environment.