Oracle answers on Linux (page 1 of 3)

1. What is Oracle's strategy on Linux?

Oracle is fully committed to supporting the Linux operating system. In fact, Oracle was the first commercial database available on Linux. By supporting Linux with Oracle's industry leading products, we are enabling customers to deploy enterprise-class solutions on the lowest cost hardware and operating system infrastructure. We believe that Linux is more attractive today than it ever was, as customers are looking for open, cost effective solutions.

Over the past few years Oracle and its customers have learned a tremendous amount about running Oracle on Linux for enterprise class deployments.

Combining this knowledge with the opportunity to drastically reduce IT infrastructure costs has provided the catalyst for Oracle to move to the next step, which is to provide Oracle customers with seamless and complete technical support for the Linux operating system in addition to support for the Oracle stack.

Oracle's delivery of a complete solution including direct technical support of the operating system is critical to our customer's success.

With technical contributions to enhance Linux, with code-level support of the key Linux operating systems, and with strategic partnerships, Oracle is offering an Unbreakable Linux platform for customers to safely deploy Linux in a mission critical environment.

2. What Oracle products are available for Linux?

All key Oracle products including Oracle Database 10g with Real Application Clusters, Oracle Application Server 10g , Oracle Collaboration Suite, Oracle Developer Suite 10g, and Oracle E-Business Suite are available for Linux.

3. Are all Oracle Database 10g options available on Linux?

Yes. Oracle Database 10g options are available on Linux. Oracle Database on Linux is the same product as on Windows, UNIX, and any other platform on which Oracle Database is available.

Oracle has been working with strategic partners such as Red Hat and Novell to make further enhancements to the Linux kernel to support enterprise class functionality and enable the Linux operating system to effectively run mission critical applications.

4. What distributions of Linux does Oracle support?

The following distributions are certified and supported by Oracle:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS and ES
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server
Asianux 1.0 : the products supported by Oracle, as part of Asianux, include Red Flag DC 4.1 Asianux Inside and Miracle Linux 3.0 Asianux Inside. Oracle provides Unbreakable support in APAC.

Oracle will continue to provide customer support for UnitedLinux 1.0, throughout its life cycle, on all the existing Oracle products that are already supported on UnitedLinux. The products supported by Oracle, as part of UnitedLinux, include :

Conectiva Linux Enterprise Edition powered by UnitedLinux
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 8 powered by UnitedLinux
TurboLinux Enterprise Server 8 powered by UnitedLinux

Oracle does not want to support fragmentation in the Linux operating system market. There are an indeterminate number of Linux distributions in the market.

Customers have consistently asked for stability, better performance, and reliability of the Linux platform as well as enterprise-class support. Oracle cannot be effective in servicing customers if we attempt to support a large number of different Linux distributions.