Category: Linux

New Linux Articles…

I wrote in my New Years Resolutions post I was considering writing some revision notes for, and ultimately sitting, the RHCSA and RHCE exams.

I’ve started on that journey now with a bunch of articles.

I’m trying to keep the articles focussed on the syllabus for the exams, which is not as easy as it sounds. It’s a battle between saying enough to be useful, without regurgitating the man pages. When I’m writing about Oracle I feel like I find that point quite naturally. I’m still a little hesitant about doing the same for Linux.

Having been a Linux fanboy for over a decade, there is little in the syllabus that is completely new to me, but already the background reading has sent me on a few interesting tangents. That’s one of the nice things about reading manuals. You go looking for one specific bit of information, then accidental veer off into something completely different which is much more interesting. 🙂

The articles will be grouped together in this location on the main Linux page of the site:

In addition to the new articles, some old ones have been linked there as they are relevant. Where necessary I will update the old articles in time.

I have no time scale in mind as far as preparing for the exams, but it would be nice to get them done before Oracle 12c is released, or they will get delayed for 18 months. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

 

Configuring VNC Server on Fedora 16…

When Fedora 15 rocked up it brought with it a replacement for the old init-style startup called systemd. In Fedora 15, it was pretty easy to ignore this change as everything (including vncserver) ran pretty much the same as before.

Fedora 16 is a little more “aggressive” about it’s use of systemd. When you issue and old-style service command, you are in no doubt that things have changed.

[root@homer system]# service nfs stop
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl  stop nfs.service
[root@homer system]#

Once again, not a big deal in itself.

So that brings me to the reason for this post. The configuration of VNC Server has changed completely between Fedora 15 and Fedora 16. By default you can’t get away with editing the “/etc/sysconfig/vncservers” file anymore. That issue prompted me to knock up a quick article to remind myself how to do the systemd-style setup.

I included the old method for the sake of comparison.

Cheers

Tim…

Fedora 16 and Oracle…

Fedora 16 came out yesterday and since it’s my main server OS it’s been upgrade crazy round here. All new installs and upgrades were straight forward. No real dramas at all (touch wood).

As usual, I’ve done the OS installation and Oracle installation articles.

Remember, installing Oracle on Fedora is just for fun. There is no real need to do it because you can use Oracle Linux for free and the latest version of VirtualBox has a Fedora 16 rpm, so there is no reason not to use Oracle Linux.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Database on Oracle Linux 6.1…

I mentioned the day before Open World I put a Virtual RAC on Oracle Linux 6.1 article live. Although the procedure was complete, some of the screen shots were from an old article as I didn’t have time to redo them before my flight. 🙂 I’ve just run through the procedure again and taken new screen shots. As a result, I’ve allowed the article to display on the front page of the website, which is why you will see it listed as a new article there.

This kinda rounds out the whole Oracle on 6.1 stuff as there has been a single instance installation guide out for ages and more recently the Cloud Control installation, which references it.

Remember, it’s still not certified yet, but it’s coming.

Cheers

Tim…

Update: It’s finally certified. See here.

Cloud Control 12c R1 Installation on Oracle Linux 5.7 and 6.1…

While I was at Open World I tried a few times to get hold of the new Cloud Control software, but the hotel network wasn’t up to the job, so I had to wait until I got home.

The installation is pretty simple compared to previous versions of Grid Control and it installs fine on both Oracle Linux 5.x and 6.x. As always it’s a little greedy on the memory front, with the recommendation for a small installation being 4G for the Cloud Control and 2G for the repository database. That’s not including the OS requirement. On the subject of the repository database, you can use a number of 10g and 11g versions, but anything before 11.2.0.2 requires additional patches, so I stayed with 11.2.0.3.

You can see what I did here.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Database 11gR2 on OL6 / RHEL6: Certified or Not?

There seems to be a little confusion out there about the certification status of Oracle Database 11gR2, especially with the release of the 11.2.0.3 patchset which fixes all the issues associated with RAC installs on OL/RHEL 6.1.

Currently, 11gR2 is *NOT* certified on OL6 or RHEL6. How do I know? My Oracle Support says so! Check for yourself like this:

  • Log on the My Oracle Support (support.oracle.com).
  • Click the “Certifications” link.
  • Type in the product name, like “Oracle Database”
  • Select the product version number, like “11.2.0.3.0”.
  • Select the platform, like “Linux x86_64” or a specific distro beneath this.
  • Click the “Search” button.

From the results you will see that Oracle Database 11.2.0.3 is certified on OL and RHEL 5.x. Oracle do not differentiate between different respins of the major version. You will also notice that it is not currently supported on OL6 or RHEL6.

Having said that, we can expect this certification really soon. Why? Because Red Hat has submitted all the certification information to Oracle and (based on previous certifications) expects it to happen some time in Q4 this year, which is any time between now and the end of the year.

With a bit of luck, by the time I submit this post MOS certification will get updated and I will happily be out of date… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Update: It’s finally certified. See here.

Oracle Linux 5 Update 7 Available…

Over the weekend Oracle Linux 5.7 was released, as noted here.

Upgrades follow the normal path. Do one of the following:

  • Boot from the DVD and upgrade that way.
  • Replace the “/etc/yum.repos.d/public-yum-el5.repo” file with the new version here, remembering to enable the appropriate entries.
  • Amend your existing “/etc/yum.repos.d/public-yum-el5.repo”, adding the following new entry.
    [ol5_u7_base]
name=Oracle Linux $releasever - U7 - $basearch - base
baseurl=http://public-yum.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL5/7/base/$basearch/
gpgkey=http://public-yum.oracle.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle-el5
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1

If you picked either of the last two options, you can upgrade by issuing the “yum update” command when logged in as root.

I’ve upgraded a couple of VMs running Oracle and everything seems fine so far.

Cheers

Tim…

Alternative opinions about Oracle Linux vs. RHEL…

Jay Weinshenker has written a couple of good posts in response to my recent post on Oracle Linux vs. RHEL.

I don’t agree 100% with his all his points, but I always think it’s good to hear different sides of the story and I certainly enjoyed reading them.

Cheers

Tim…

Which Linux do you pick for Oracle Installations?

There was an interesting thread on the OakTable mailing list the other day regarding the choice of Linux distros for Oracle installations. It was started by one member (the name has been withheld to protect the innocent :)) who said,

“I cannot imagine (but want to understand) why anyone would pick RHEL5.6 for Oracle as opposed to the vastly superior OEL with the UEK.”

I must admit I’ve kinda forgotten that any distro apart from Oracle Linux (OL) exists as far as production installations of Oracle software are concerned.

Some of the reasons cited for people not to pick OL include:

  • The customer has a long relationship with Red Hat and doesn’t want to jump ship.
  • RHEL is the market leading enterprise Linux distro, so why switch to Oracle?
  • The customer doesn’t want to be too dependent on Oracle.
  • The customer has lots of non-Oracle servers running RHEL and doesn’t want a mix of RHEL and OL as it would complicate administration.
  • The customer uses some software that is certified against RHEL, but not OL.
  • The customer prefers Red Hat support over Oracle support. Wait. Red Hat and support in the same sentence. Give me a minute to stop laughing…
  • The customer is using VMware for Virtualization and the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) is not supported on VMware.

I guess every company and individual will have differing justifications for their choice of distro.

So why would you pick OL and Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) for Oracle installations?

  • You can run it for free if you don’t want OS support. Using OL without support doesn’t affect the support status of the products (DB, App Servers etc.) running on top of it.
  • It’s what Oracle use to write the Linux version of the products.
  • It’s what Exadata uses.
  • Oracle products are now certified against the OL + UEK before they are certified against the RHEL kernel.
  • UEK is typically a much more up to date version of the kernel than that shipped by RHEL and includes all the patches vital for optimum Oracle performance.
  • Single vendor, so no finger pointing over support issues (from Google+ comment).
  • It is the only enterprise Linux distro that supports kernel patching without reboots thanks to Oracle’s newly aquired Ksplice.

For more information you might want to read this whitepaper or watch this webcast.

If you are looking at things from a purely technical perspective, I guess you are going to pick OL and UEK. Of course, many of us don’t work in a world where technology is picked purely on its merits. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Update: Check out this post by Jay Weinshenker for a different angle on this issue.