[Gllug] Oracle and Linux

[Ian Northeast]

Chris Bell wrote:
> 
> Hello,
>    I have been asked about using Oracle with Linux, does anyone have any
> feedback? (I am using Debian, but it is a general question from someone who
> knows M$, and has heard about, but has not yet tried Linux).

Much as I like Debian I wouldn't use it as a base for Oracle. Oracle
only support the "Enterprise" versions of Linux, i.e. RH AS etc. and
SuSE SLES. I'm using it on SuSE, and the RDBMS is fine, as easy to
install and as fast and reliable as it is on any other platform. I would
not be happy with running Oracle without support. Linux is easy, no need
for formal support there at all, but Oracle is another kettle of fish
entirely. It can be a pig. This is not specific to Linux, Oracle is huge
and complex and can be troublesome on any platform.

The RDBMS itself isn't usually too problematic. Their other software is
usually worse. I had to raise two TARs (Oracle's term for a support
call) to get 9iASR2 working at all on SLES7, a certified platform.
Unless you term working for half an hour and then locking solid
"working". I don't. And a single installation takes two days, when you
include installing all the necessary patches.

If you're going to use Oracle on Linux without shelling out for one of
these expensive Enterprise Linux versions, choose a cheap one which is
as close as possible to a certified one. With SuSE this means something
like 7.3 (for products for which SLES7 is certified) or 8.1 (ditto
SLES8); I'm not sure how the RH versions correspond. You will not get
any support from Oracle for these.

If you're going to use Oracle in a serious commercial environment then
it's definitely worth using a supported Linux platform, as the cost of
the Oracle license is considerably more than the cost of the Linux
distribution license (600 quid per server for SLES8 IIRC; Oracle's
licensing is complex but it generally works out to a lot more than
that). And I can't see why you would want to use Oracle in any other
environment.

There's an Oracle on Linux ML,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oracle-on-linux/, but TBH it's mainly full
of "I am trying to install Oracle on Linux but have trouble working out
how to breathe" (I am being a little unfair here perhaps, I had many
years' experience of installing Oracle on UNIX before I ever tried it,
or indeed it existed, on Linux) and adverts for poorly paid (by UK
standards) jobs in Calcutta (Kolkata if you prefer, but my colleague who
was born there still calls it Calcutta). I've not found it useful. But I
do have an Oracle support contract. Which I have used. I have a SuSE
support contract too, but I've never used that.

Regards, Ian

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