The Red Hat Enterprise Linux advantages over Oracle Linux 1
RED HAT CONTINUES TO LEAD THE LINUX MARKET WORLDWIDE LINUX SERVER OPERATING ENVIRONMENT NEW LICENSE PAID SHIPMENTS/SUBSCRIPTIONS AND NONPAID DEPLOYMENTS BY VENDOR, 2008 2012 (000) Source:Worldwide Linux Client and Server Operating Environments Market Analysis and 2013-2017 Forecast and 2012 Vendor Shares: 3rd Platform Transitions Take Hold (IDC #242635, August 2013) 2
TOP KERNEL CORPORATE CONTRIBUTORS IN 2012 Source: The Linux Foundation, Linux Kernel Development; How Fast it is Going, Who is Doing It, What They are Doing, and Who is Sponsoring It, September 2013 * the developers who are 'known to be doing this work on their own, with no financial contribution happening from any company' are not grouped together as 'None' and instead are considered part of the 'long tail,' as are contributors of academic or unknown sponsorship. 3
Oracle s Linux offerings Oracle Linux (formerly Oracle Enterprise Linux or OEL) Derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux sources (origin unknown) Ships with 2 different kernels Oracle named Red Hat Compatible kernel Claimed to be functionally equivalent to RHEL kernel, not tested or certified by Red Hat or Oracle for RHEL compatibility The Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) for Linux The default non-red Hat Compatible kernel created by Oracle Contains Oracle-only code not accepted by the upstream open source community Oracle Linux Support (formerly Oracle Unbreakable Linux or OUL) Oracle's support program for Oracle Linux (OL) 4 Claims to offer support for instances of Red Hat Enterprise Linux
RHEL: Ten years of kernel stability and support OL & UEK: 27-month supported kernel lifetime Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Kernel 2.6.32 ) Supported kernel lifetime 10 years 6.0 2009 2010 6.1 2011 6.2 6.3 2012 6.4 2013 6.5 6.6 2014 6.7 2015 OL - UEK1 OL6 - UEK1 Kernel 2.6.32 Kernel 2.6.32 Supported kernel lifetime: 22 months OL - UEK2 Kernel 3.0.36 Supported kernel lifetime: 27 months (estimated) OL6 - UEK3 Kernel 3.8.13 Supported kernel lifetime: 27 months (estimated) 5 6.8 6.9 2016 6.x 6.x 2017 6.x 6.x 2018 2020 6.x
Plan for stability with documented interfaces Red Hat documents reliable interfaces for the life of Red Hat Enterprise Linux major releases. Where is the Oracle Linux equivalent? 6
Key points of differentiation Red Hat Enterprise Linux Oracle Linux Based on publicly available RHEL sources Developed collaboratively with the Linux Claims RHEL compatibility but no testing to community and partners Built on community-accepted and -supported validate Includes non-gpl code (dtrace & ksplice) open source code >62% share of the paid Linux market1 <3% share of paid Linux market1 >1000 ISV partners <100 total ISV, IHV, and SI partners2 New version releases average every 2.5-3 years, with updates every 6-8 months Certified for use on all major x86 hardware vendors including: HP, Dell, IBM, Fujitsu, Intel, AMD and Oracle Variants available for IBM-z, IBM POWER systems Certified and supported guest on VMware and Hyper-V Red Hat is the leading commercial contributor to the Linux community: sign-off authority for >37% of Linux kernel Dependent on Red Hat source, released only after recompilation and redistribution Vendor-certified for use on some HP, Dell, and Oracle servers; OL with Red Hatcompatible version not certified by IBM for use on IBM x86 servers x86 only Supported but not certified by Oracle as a guest on VMware Oracle makes minimal contributions to Linux kernel, specific to Oracle hardware and applications 71 IDC doc 236064; Worldwide Linux Client & Server Operating Environments 2012-2016 2 Based upon information from company's public website as of May 2011
Support: Red Hat vs Oracle Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription Oracle Linux support plan 10-year life cycle support for major releases <3-year life cycle for UEK EUS subscription to enable additional year of EUS support not available; users must upgrade support on minor releases to next minor release to continue to receive bug fixes Published list of supported APIs across major and minor releases Support staff has direct access to Red Hat engineering Subscribers have access to Red Hat engineering Access to complete road map available to subscribers for strategic product direction No published supported APIs Right to discontinue support for features or releases at any time Support staff has no access to Red Hat engineering OL customers cannot escalate requests to Red Hat Engineering Complete OL road map unavailable since RHEL road map unavailable to Oracle Continued... 8
Support: Red Hat vs Oracle Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription Subscribers participate in feature requests and product direction Oracle Linux support plan Limited customer ability to drive new features and functions into the OS OL binaries based on RHEL sources; delivery Delivers Red Hat authored, signed, and tested binaries and eventually delivers RHEL delayed while Oracle rebuilds sources Collaborative engineering relationships with hardware providers 9 Competitive relationship with other hardware vendors
Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux: Red Hat vs. Oracle Red Hat Third party hardware issues Red Hat identifies and resolves driver and other hardware interaction issues Red Hat submits the resolution upstream Oracle Third party software issues Red Hat works with the customer s ISV to resolve Red Hat Enterprise Linux issues and either issues a patch or advises the ISV engineers 10 1 And our authorized business partners In order to claim that patches and updates delivered by Oracle are built from the same code as RHEL, Oracle would have to wait for a Red Hat patch to become available and then rebuild and redistribute it. Working with Red Hat ISVs to fix bugs in Red Hat Enterprise Linux or RHEL-certified applications would be less likely than Oracle waiting for Red Hat to issue a patch. If resolution requires an OS upgrade, the user must convert to Oracle, or try an older version of the application, as Oracle is not authorized to and doesn't deliver Red Hat Enterprise Linux minor or major releases. Oracle patches applied to Red Hat Enterprise Linux may invalidate the hardware and software support policies of those vendors, and will invalidate security certifications.
10 questions for which customers should ask Oracle for a written response 1. Red Hat has engineering and support relationships with HP and IBM to ensure that Red Hat Enterprise Linux performs well and reliably on those vendors platforms. Does Oracle have the same level of relationship to ensure that Oracle Linux works as well and has full support on IBM and HP server hardware? 2. How can Oracle claim 100% binary compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux even if they have no copies of the OS running in-house and they don't do any compatibility testing? 3. The Oracle Linux FAQ states that Oracle takes source code that Red Hat makes publicly available. What is the site they use to obtain Red Hat source code? 4. Doesn't Oracle have to wait for Red Hat to fix a bug in Red Hat Enterprise Linux and make the source code available to the public before Oracle can rebuild and redistribute it? How long does that take? 5. Are there cases when this delay has been or can be many weeks? 11
10 questions for which customers should ask Oracle for a written response (cont d) 6. Under what circumstances would I be required to purchase both a Red Hat Enteprise Linux subscription and an Oracle Linux subscription for my RHEL server? 7. Can Oracle guarantee that all of my Red Hat Enterprise Linux certified applications and hardware will be supported by their respective vendors after I switch to Oracle Linux? 8. Will I be able to continue leveraging my investment in Red Hat Satellite Server for Oracle Linux deployments? 9. Does Oracle provide us with the same Extended Update Support that Red Hat provides for its minor releases? 10. Can Oracle provide me with a complete road map for Oracle Linux? 12
Beyond the bits: A Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription 13
KNOWLEDGEBASE SUBSCRIPTION MODEL CUSTOMER PORTAL & FORUMS HARDWARE & SOFTWARE CERTIFICATION SOFTWARE ASSURANCE GLOBAL SUPPORT SERVICES UNLIMITED 24/7 MULTI-LINGUAL MISSION-CRITICAL AWARD-WINNING SUPPORT MULTI-VENDOR CASE OWNERSHIP STABILITY WITH PRODUCT LIFECYCLE OF UP TO 10 YEARS UPDATES, PATCHES & UPGRADES SECURITY RESPONSE TEAM OPTIONAL TRAINING CURRICULA AVAILABLE We came to the decision that Red Hat would be better for our environment because the support we received from Red Hat was outstanding DAVE DIPIAZZA, Manager, Internet services
Product documentation https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/ 15
Knowledgebase 16
Reference architectures, tech briefs, videos, and webinars 17
Reference architectures, tech briefs, videos, and webinars 18
Online user groups 19
Production support Service Level Agreement 20
Severity level definitions 21
Questions? 22