RFP News

Published on Sep 23, 2010

Oracle introduced a version of the Linux kernel, called the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel, optimized for running Oracle software on Oracle hardware under Oracle’s version of Linux.

Formerly called Oracle Enterprise Linux, with its support program known as “Unbreakable Linux,” the Oracle distribution has been renamed Oracle Linux, with customers having the option of choosing a look-alike version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux or one with the Oracle-modified Unbreakable Kernel at its core. The term “unbreakable” has no precise significance among Linux developers; it’s an Oracle marketing term.

While making it clear Oracle was departing from its past practice of offering only a Red Hat compatible version of Linux, Edward Screven, Oracle chief corporate architect, tried to emphasize, “We are not forking Linux. We are as compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux as before.” He made his comments in Monday’s keynote address to attendees of Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco.

On the other hand, he also emphasized that the modified kernel in Oracle Linux “is best for running the Oracle database and Fusion middleware.” One of the modifications is to make Linux run faster on large, non-uniform memory access (NUMA) servers. Screven didn’t cite particular examples, but the former Sun Starfire, Stratus Technologies servers, and models from Sequent Computer, now part of IBM, all produce NUMA servers considered power database servers.

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