Sergio's Blog

Thanks Sergio.

Actually all OEL 5.x users are able to upgrade to 5.4 by using yum update.

Regarding OEL and CentOS, the commonsense is that OEL is based on RHEL (or rebranded RHEL). Never heard anything like OEL is based on community maintained CentOS;-)

I think it's a good idea to put a topic in the OEL FAQ on the homepage to avoid misleading customers.

Hi

The oracle enterprice is so reliable and suit my enviroment perfectly

for tco

I use Fedora for my desktop but worry about security. I want to switch to Redhat but I keep hearing about Oracle. Is is good OS for daily desktop use?

@Steve:

With the Unbreakable Linux support program and the Oracle Enterprise Linux software, we focus on servers, not desktops. OEL is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform, which doesn't include productivity software such as Openoffice. We do provide some of these tools via Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) for support customers.

Sergio

Good news and I wanted to ask if after x86, x86_64 and now ia46 is there any plan for OEL s390x for IBM z or not?

@Steve: I prefer Ubuntu as a desktop linux!

@Mehdi:

I'm not aware of any plans for OEL s390x. I'll send you an email to find out more about your needs.

Sergio

I don't think that's fair to compare OEL and CentOS.
Whether both are free to use, OEL is built by full-time paid development staff, this is not the case of CentOS.
So what's the point to compare the date release between them ? Of course, CentOS has no chance to be the first, and don't want, since it is not a race.
The usage and targeted customers also are differents, probably the shops which use CentOS are smaller and/or don't want to pay a support to get fixes (eventhough I have no stats) : since OEL and CentOS are based on same RHEL, then why pay (OEL bugs fixed) something you can have for free (CentOS bugs fixed) ?
You should better to look for arguments for the RHEL clients (and other paid OS).
The following link could be interesting to read :
http://news.cnet.com/openroad/?keyword=Oracle+Enterprise+Linux

Nicolas.

@Nicolas,

I'm not comparing OEL to CentOS or suggesting there is any sort of race. I'm merely dispelling the rumor I've heard from several sources, that OEL is based on CentOS by pointing out that it is impossible based on the release dates of each.

You are probably right that CentOS has a distinct customer base and that's great. This is one of the advantages of open source.

Sergio

Hi All,

I've downloaded Enterprise Linux Release 5 Update 4 Media Pack for x86_64 (64 bit) on DVD a number of times now. When unzipping, I continually receive a CRC error or something indicating that the archive is corrupt.

I've been able to download and unzip the 32 bit version.

Has anyone else experience this problem? Know the fix?

Mark

@Mark,

I've seen a handful of reports like yours so far, but I don't believe there any conclusions yet. Can you review this thread on the OTN OEL forum and add details such as:

-- O/S w/version
-- Browser w/version
-- Download Manager (if any) w/version
-- Connection (wireless, DSL, LAN, ...)

http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=3638845

Also, where are you on the planet?

Sergio

I use both centos and oel in my environment. The only reason to use oel were screams from all management and IT/oracle support than centos is not supported by Oracle. That's why OEL is for oracle db servers and centos is for everything else (coherence, weblogic etc servers)

I do not see a big difference between both except that installation is less than pleasant with OEL and it took some time to figure out how to update packages etc.

@Oleg

I'm curious why you say that "installation is less pleasant with OEL." Can you elaborate?

Sergio

How do you install centos? Download iso file with wget, burn dvd (or mount for network installation) and proceed to installation.

How do you install OEL? Login into edelivery site, go through several pages of lawyer's stuff, click button to download zip file.
Forget using cli, have to have a graphical interface - pain.
Since commonly used zip utility does not support more than 2GB files, you have to install a custom zip utility just to unzip iso file. This "oracle" zip utility is packed as well, more installation pain without reason.
Installation is trouble free as it should be after you get iso file.
I also got crc errors, I think because I used standard zip utility instead of oracle's one.

I work with linux systems for 10 years or so and OEL has the most inconvenient way of delivering installation files.
BTW I sit some 2500 miles away from production network, and production servers do not have graphical interfaces. It means I had to download iso file to my office desktop, then to production servers. It all takes a lot of time to transfer over office t1 line.

Most of the problems will disappear when you stop archiving iso images. I bet it will not increase your Internet bandwidth bill.
I also wish there will be an option to download file using a direct url. You can generate a temporary path to the file that will expire after certain time of inactivity easily if needed.

Sergio,
We're running Oracle Financials on OEL 4. How do I upgrade it to OEL 5? Is there a ML Note that you can suggest? I've tried up2date, but it only does OEL 4 packages.

Thanks,
Eugene

@Eugene,

While upgrading from, say, OEL4 update 4 to OEL4 update 8 is supported, there is no supported upgrade path from OEL4 to OEL5. We recommend a re-install.

Sergio