Hans Forbrich Forbrich Consulting Ltd
Who am I Hans Forbrich Based in Alberta, Canada Principal consultant, Forbrich Consulting Group Programming since 1969 Oracle developer and DBA since 1984 (v4) Oracle Consulting 1996-2002 Oracle and Oracle University Partner since 2003 Oracle consultant and trainer Oracle University Instructor of the Year 2010 Oracle ACE since 2006, ACE Director since 2008
Based in Alberta, Canada
Operating System Choices Current list of Commercial Enterprise Operating Systems Linux distros Red Hat, SUSE, Asian Linux, Oracle Linux Other distros Solaris HP-UX AIX Windows BSD and variants Which one to choose?
Oracle Kernel Oracle has created a layered and modular approach to the kernel Visible through x$ tables 'Top' layers represent client Successive layers provide services Bottom layer is interface to operating system
DB Kernel Layers Oracle Call Interface (OCI) User Program Interface (UPI) Oracle Program Interface (OPI)... Execution Layer (KX) Access Layer (KA)... Lock Manager (KT) Kernel Generic (KG) Operating System (S)
Oracle's Development Platform Primary development on Linux As much as possible, the service layers are developed on Linux except when a different process model is required Ports to other platforms Primary is the OS Service layer Adjustments to other layers for performance
Kernel Operating Model Oracle uses the Process + Shared Memory Model heavily Unix heritage Visible in Linux /sys and /proc
The So far Process model, Shared Memory model Development platform Make *nix, and Linux, a preferred choice
Kind of Linux is Free? No license fee for source Need skills Many distros Some come with commercial support Some come with strong community Some are not supported
glibc The GNU 'C' Library is the 'public' developers' API to the kernel and to the major utilities Compatibility with glibc is crucial Kernel Devices Application Oracle uses it heavily
Distros Stability in glibc is critical for enterprise and commercial operations Development and alpha distros change release in 4-10 months Commercial distros change release in 18-36 months Companies need stability
Which distros Development, alpha and 'fun' distros OpenSUSE, Fedora Change too often for general business Commercial distros RedHat (+clones), Oracle Linux, SUSE, Asian Linux Stable, release cycle planned to be 18 months Technically free, but... 'vendor' support
Red Hat Powerful Commercial support available Excellent 'general purpose' enterprise Sometimes slow to test & release some fixes Can be tricky to get Need to pay support to get 'free' download Free clones WhiteBox, CentOS, Oracle Linux
Oracle Linux Originally Red Hat clone Oracle released 'Oracle specific fixes' Oracle has many Linux Kernel Maintainers btrfs, ocfs2, infiniband drivers, etc. ASM and ASMLib Freely downloadable Public YUM for updates http://public-yum.oracle.com
ASM, ASMlib ASM is the preferred cluster file system and volume manager for Oracle DB Resolves some problems Creates new problems because of RAW disk interactions ASMLib was a DEMO APP for vendors to get around the problems Kernel and glibc dependent
Oracle Linux UEK Oracle s kernel Oracle integrates ASMLib into kernel No recompile, pre-tested (Others decide not to do this) oracle-rdbms-server-11gr2-preinstall.rpm Available with Support OEM Cloud Control Integration Available with Premium Support Ksplice DTrace
ASM
KSplice Live kernel patch, no downtime Only with Oracle, or separate license
Documentation http://docs.oracle.com -> Oracle Linux
RHN / ULN Updates Subscribe to central out-of-firewall server Violates many customer rules Better to set up an internal YUM server RH has Satellite and Proxy servers Easy to configure Can be in DMZ Do not automate updates
Conclusion Even for learning, Oracle Linux is Free, and cheaper than 'community/fun' distros such as Fedora Easy to get (edelivery) Patchable (public-yum) Great for ASM learning For enterprise use Supported ASM and integrated ASMLib Monitored by Cloud Control (with support contract) 24x7 operations with Ksplice (with support contract)
Questions?
Thank You Hans Forbrich mailto:yathra@forbrichcomputing.ca http://www.forbrichcomputing.com