Database Reference
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Where previously Enterprise distributions were careful not to advance the version numbers too quickly, Oracle
now seems to pursue a middle ground between the community and the Enterprise distributions. Principal engineers
within Oracle have proposed that a modern kernel must keep up with hardware innovations, and they make that
argument probably having the Exa-series of offerings in mind.
The information available around the kernel states that the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel is based on 2.6.32-46
stable, and includes performance enhancements around IRQ management, virtual memory management, better
network performance, and finally improvements in the RDS stack. RDS is short for Reliable Datagram Socket which is
a part of the Infiniband family of protocols and is used in Exadata.
Since the release of kernel UEK Oracle has released a second iteration, named UEK 2. Although the uname
command in Linux will tell you it is version 2.6.39, the initial release of the kernel is based on 3.0.16. The choice to
keep a 2.6.x name was mainly made for compatibility reasons. Kernel UEK 2 can be installed on Oracle Linux 5.8 and
newer and 6.2 or newer. Oracle recommends users to switch to UEK2 where possible to benefit from new features and
development.
Why is Linux so popular?
The answer to this question has two dimensions for the author: the first one is personal, the second expands on the
first and shifts the focus to a business point of view. When I started to have a more serious interest in computing and
the needs of data processing, it was next to impossible to get hands-on experience with the relevant commercial
packages used in enterprises at the time. This includes databases such as DB2, Oracle, Informix, Adabas D, and others
which required platforms not available to me . What this meant was that the interested student of computer science
needed to go to a university to get access to the previously mentioned systems. The hardware platforms to run Solaris,
Tru64, HP-UX, or AIX were simply unaffordable to a student.
Linux changed all that inaccessibility. In the late 1990s many relevant applications had been ported or porting
efforts to Linux were underway. Thanks to its flexibility Linux ran on almost any student's hardware, and allowed
instant access to the Oracle database for example. Whenever you had an idea and wanted to try something out
(maybe LDAP integration with the database), you didn't have to dial in to the university campus network (those of us
were the lucky ones) or physically get to the campus. Instead you started your PC, selected Linux from the boot menu,
and began experimenting. This was taken further in the last few years where memory and disk space became cheaper
commodities, allowing users to use virtualization to build lab environments to be used with Oracle clustering and
RAC databases. Linux was the catalytic element by significantly lowering the entry hurdle to high tech. We have come
a long way since the initial ports of Oracle to Linux. No longer is it necessary to buy extensions to an operating system
to build a cluster. No proprietary interconnect technology had to be purchased, no expensive clustering software was
needed, no additional cluster logical volume manager, and so on.
Of course this trend is a double-edged sword, and vendors of specific clustering technology are under pressure.
And so are the traditional Unix vendors: some have disappeared altogether; others were bought. But the common
problem all of them face is the diminishing market share. The Intel/AMD platform certainly has played a major role.
Where Unix lost ground, Windows and Linux gained. Due to the nature of the Open Source model it is difficult to
get real numbers of Linux deployments. Oracle Linux is free to download and use, and I assume a great number of
deployments will never be counted. Any figure comparing Linux market penetration with other operating systems
therefore is to be viewed with this in mind.
The only serious alternatives to Linux on i386 at the time I started a serious interest in computing were SCO
Unix and UnixWare and Solaris. Sun, still independent at the time, had a few attempts at porting Solaris to the Intel
platforms but could not enjoy the same level of success as Linux. This does not do the Solaris Intel port any justice:
Solaris 11/Intel is a mature operating system despite its slow adoption.
If one considers that many students of computer science had exposure to Linux at university, and assuming that
experience did not put them off, this helps explain the success of Linux in the commercial world. A large number of
graduates are likely to prefer Linux over other operating systems leading to a generational change in corporations.
This again shows why Linux is gaining ground, and the lower initial cost of deploying Linux helps the proliferation.
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