As 2023 comes to a close, it’s a good time to pause and reflect on the year’s accomplishments. There are many highlights along with great support and collaboration across our ecosystem and the open source community.
Keep Linux open and free
Oracle chief corporate architect Edward Screven and head of Oracle Linux development Wim Coekaerts reiterated our Linux strategy in a July blog post by stating, “We want to emphasize to Linux developers, Linux customers, and Linux distributors that Oracle is committed to Linux freedom.”
- In August, Open Enterprise Linux Association (OpenELA) was founded by CIQ, Oracle, and SUSE to collaborate on Enterprise Linux as an open source project to provide open and free Enterprise Linux source code. In November, OpenELA publicly released Enterprise Linux source code and achieved important technical and governance milestones. In December, OpenELA announced the creation of a user documentation repository for the community. These OpenELA announcements exemplify Oracle’s commitment to helping the open source community continue to develop compatible Enterprise Linux distributions and minimize fragmentation.
- The October webinar, State of the Penguin, with Wim Coekaerts and Robert Shimp, brought attendees up-to-date on Oracle’s contributions to the open source community and how Oracle and other vendors developed the OpenELA to create a common source repository dedicated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux compatibility. Watch the replay.
- The Oracle Linux engineering team continued to make significant contributions to the kernel, file systems, and tools. For example, Oracle is the #1 contributor to the Linux kernel in 6.1, responsible for the most lines of the code changes in the kernel. By developing innovative features that are shared with the community, Oracle’s Linux engineering teams strive to make the operating system better for all. You can find out additional details in our Linux kernel blog posts.
Product and service
Several new product and cloud service releases were introduced this year.
- The Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 7 Update 2, available on Oracle Linux 8 and 9.
- AWX and Ansible-based Oracle Linux Automation Manager 2.1 further enhances the flexibility and usability with new capabilities such as the private automation hub and the builder utility. Check out the code examples to learn how to use Oracle Linux Automation Manager to automate your IT operation tasks.
- Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager 4.5 delivers enhanced monitoring and reporting. The Leapp technology has been extended to offer support for users’ Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager upgrades.
- VirtIO Drivers 2.1 release helps improve performance for network and block (disk) devices on Microsoft Windows guests on Oracle Linux KVM.
- Oracle Cloud Native Environment 1.7 adds KubeVirt, Rook, and Oracle Linux 9 support. Arm is in technology preview. This allows users to test and evaluate Oracle Cloud Native Environment on Arm-based instances on the cloud and on bare metal servers deployed on-premises or at the edge.
- Oracle OS Management Hub was introduced to simplify the management and monitoring of updates and patches for Oracle Linux systems through a centralized management console.
Update CentOS Linux for free
CentOS Linux 7 will reach end-of-life in June 2024. CentOS Linux 8 ended in December 2021. If your organization relies on CentOS, you are faced with finding an alternative OS. The lack of regular updates puts these systems at increasing risk for major vulnerabilities.
With Oracle Linux you can continue to benefit from a similar, stable CentOS Linux alternative. Oracle Linux updates and errata are freely available and can be applied to CentOS Linux (not CentOS Stream) or Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) instances without reinstalling the operating system. Read this blog for a step-by-step guide to moving from CentOS Linux 7 to Oracle Linux 8.
Get more information from linux.oracle.com/switch.html and linux.oracle.com/switch/centos or contact an Oracle Linux representative to discuss the options.
Oracle Linux delivers on security and compliance
Cybersecurity remains a top priority for us all, and 2023 certifications include:
- Oracle Linux 8, Oracle Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), and Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager have completed certifications to address governmental requirements. As a result, Oracle Linux 8 and Oracle Linux KVM are included on the NIAP Product Compliant List. For more information, read Oracle Linux completes new Common Criteria certifications.
- Oracle Linux 9.2 received IPv6 Ready Gold Logo accreditation and is listed in the USGv6-r1 Product Registry, following Oracle Linux 8. These achievements mean customers can rest assured that Oracle Linux is ready for deployment in IPv6 commercial and government environments well ahead of the U.S. government’s deadline to move 80% of federal systems to IPv6-only networks by the end of fiscal year 2025.
Here is additional insight on this topic:
- Pillars of protection—A holistic view of enterprise security
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is augmented with ongoing innovations from the Oracle security team and technologies such as Oracle Linux. Read more about this in Behind the scenes of your most trusted cloud platform
- Launching Oracle Linux 8 STIG profile instances made easy
Infrastructure at scale
As the foundation for Oracle Cloud, with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) running on Oracle Linux in all cloud regions globally, we help ensure that customers receive a highly optimized operating system that delivers exceptional performance, scalability, and reliability. In this area:
- Oracle was named a Leader in the “2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Distributed Hybrid Infrastructure” as well as a Leader in the “2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Strategic Cloud Platform Services.”
- Several blog posts detail the significant role Oracle Linux has in OCI and its distributed cloud strategy:
- This case study highlights how the Advanced Laboratory for Economics and Finance (ALEF), a leading provider of financial market data and analytics, ran complex HPC financial simulations 30% faster with OCI.
Scientific breakthroughs enabled with compute infrastructure using Oracle Linux
One of this year’s most incredible achievements is from a long-standing customer, The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They conducted controlled fusion experiments and achieved net energy gain multiple times in 2023—meaning the experiment produced substantially more energy from fusion than the laser energy delivered to drive it. This endeavor requires a highly available and reliable IT/OT compute infrastructure. Read the story, “Ignition! Behind the scenes of Lawrence Livermore Lab’s fusion energy breakthrough“.
Growing Oracle Linux ecosystem
As a trusted platform for building robust and secure infrastructure at scale, the Oracle Linux partner ecosystem continued its steady growth.
- Arm-based solutions gained momentum. Together with Oracle Database running Oracle Linux on Arm, customers have powerful options on which to run their highly demanding workloads, whether in the cloud or on-premises. In June, Oracle Database for Arm in the cloud and on-premises was announced. Oracle Linux was the first and only supported Linux OS to run Oracle Database for Arm. HPE and Supermicro have certified their Ampere Altra Arm-based servers on Oracle Linux, including HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 server and Supermicro Ampere-based MegaDC servers.
The Hardware Compatibility List for Oracle Linux and Virtualization and the ISV Catalog provide information on hardware and software that is certified on Oracle Linux.
Free and comprehensive training resources
We constantly expand free and comprehensive training resources such as learning paths, tutorials, hands-on labs, and videos to help users develop applications on Oracle Linux and derive the best value from their deployments on Oracle Linux. Here are highlights of the new training resources added in 2023:
- Working with Custom Execution Environments in Oracle Linux Automation Manager
- Learn to deploy Oracle OS Management Hub with the video training series
- Oracle Database and Oracle Linux on Arm–quickly gain hands-on experience
- Develop cloud native skills and quickly gain hands-on experience
- Discover HAProxy on Oracle Linux Automation Manager and quickly gain hands-on experience
- Learn to profile and analyze application performance with gprofng
- Hands-On Training with Luna Labs
- Oracle Linux Automation Manager training resources
- Visit the new Oracle Linux Training Station
Resources
- Learn more at oracle.com/linux
- Download Oracle Linux
- The Value of Oracle Linux Support
- Oracle Linux documentation and training
- Oracle Linux and Virtualization ISV catalog
- Oracle Linux and Virtualization hardware certification list (HCL)
- Get the latest news, tech tips, and more by subscribing to the Oracle Linux and Virtualization monthly newsletter