Monday Jan 23, 2017

MONDAY SPOTLIGHT: Whitepaper-Optimizing Deployment Flexibility and Increasing ROI

By Zeynep Koch-Oracle on Jan 23, 2017

IT organizations face the challenge of delivering services in sync with shifting business priorities - supplying strategic applications quickly, securely, and with the required quality of service. Solution architects look for deployment methodologies that foster agility, make efficient use of IT resources, and lower capital and operating expenses (CAPEX and OPEX). For this reason many IT departments are deploying applications as virtualized or cloud-based services using open source Linux. This approach is increasingly becoming the deployment standard for delivering enterprise application workloads.

Oracle Linux is an optimal Linux choice for enterprise application delivery regardless of whether deployments are traditional, virtual, or cloud-based. It is developed and extensively tested with demanding mission-critical workloads like Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Middleware, and Oracle applications (such as Oracle’s PeopleSoft, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Siebel Customer Relationship Management, etc.) as well as many third-party enterprise applications. 

In this white paper we cover optimizing deployments for flexibility and increasing your ROI with Oracle Linux. Here's an excerpt from this paper about Docker:

"Use cases for Docker technology include (but aren’t limited to) the following examples:

» Application isolation. As with Linux Containers, Docker enables application deployment in a lightweight, isolated

environment. In conjunction with LXC containers, Docker takes advantage of Linux kernel features such as

namespaces and Cgroups for resource management.

» Platform neutrality. Docker can help to mitigate issues surrounding application compatibility and server updates.

An administrator can deploy a Docker image and support a new application that runs on an older host in a

container.

» Rapid deployment. An administrator can install an application in a Docker container with Oracle Linux and save

the modified container as an image that can be propagated rapidly. For example, by building an image that

contains an Apache HTTP server on Oracle Linux, an administrator can deploy multiple web servers quickly,

installing them rapidly across many Linux servers in a data center.

» Software development and testing. Docker is ideal for development environments where it’s necessary to manage

pipelines and test code in consistent, known software configurations. When a Docker image is captured and

created, it contains the complete state of the environment, including installed packages and patches. Docker also

enables version control capabilities that resemble git capabilities. Storing Docker images in cloud-based

repositories (either publicly on the Docker Hub registry or in private internal registries) simplifies software

distribution, helping to streamline provisioning.

Customers that choose to use Docker can deploy it on UEK R4 (with either Oracle Linux 6 or Oracle Linux 7), and it

is fully supported by an Oracle Linux Premier Support agreement. In conjunction with Oracle Linux Premier Support,

Docker deployments can also take advantage of Ksplice updates. By running a Ksplice update in the main Oracle

Linux environment, for example, an administrator can easily apply the latest bug fixes and CVEs without impacting

applications running across numerous Docker or LXC containers."

Read more.

Category: News and Articles

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Thursday Jan 19, 2017

Training Thursdays: Stability and Performance with Oracle OpenStack

By Antoinette O'Sullivan-Oracle on Jan 19, 2017

Oracle OpenStack for Oracle Linux delivers the stability and performance customers expect for enterprise solutions and also aligns and integrates with Oracle products and total cloud strategy. Learn more about Oracle OpenStack for Oracle Linux by taking the Oracle OpenStack for Oracle Linux: Getting Started seminar.

You can take this one-day seminar as a:

  • Live-Virtual Event: Attend a live event from your own desk, no travel required. Events are added to the schedule to suit different time-zones.
  • In-Class Event: Travel to an education center to take this class.

Resources:

Category: Oracle Linux

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Tuesday Jan 17, 2017

Partner Spotlight: Solution-Soft

By Teri Whitaker-Oracle on Jan 17, 2017

Content contributed by Margaret Errington

Testing software systems for correct behavior requires precision and proper setting. As an example, when it comes to enterprise software systems, timing can be everything. Is the item of interest month-end, quarter-end, or year-end? Has the system correctly aged uncollected receivables? Have the systems amortized the debt correctly, over the correct period? These are examples of what could become date and time sensitive test cases. Time Machine, by Solution-Soft, enables strategically placed software virtual clocks to time travel the system being validated into the past or the future. What is strategic about the software virtual clocks is directly related to how the system queries the environment for the date and time and the underlying architecture of the environment itself. Time Shift Testing with Time Machine can result in enormous savings over the life of a project by eliminating the resource utilization and procedures associated with changing the system clock on one or many servers in the environment. Solution-Soft has been a proud member of the Oracle Partner Network for over fifteen years, providing the Time Shift Testing solutions for customers who write, deploy and execute software using products in the Oracle eco-system. Solution-Soft has developed specific solutions in the Time Machine Suite of Products for this eco-system using the Oracle Cloud, Oracle Linux and Oracle Virtualization products. The Time Machine Framework for Oracle and the Time Machine Framework for WebLogic were developed and tested using these platforms and services and are available on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace.

Category: Oracle Linux Partners

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YOU ARE INVITED: Path to Open Cloud Events in North America and Asia Pacific

By Zeynep Koch-Oracle on Jan 17, 2017

This week we want to highlight our Path to Open Cloud events around the world. Come to hear about Oracle's open cloud offerings in these events:

NORTH AMERICA REGION:

Jan 17: Oracle CloudWorld – New York

Hilton Midtown

Jan 19: Oracle Linux Open Source Tech Event – Reston, VA 

Jan 24 – Feb 9: Oracle Cloud Days 

Jan 24 - Minneapolis 

Jan 26 - Denver

Feb 1 - Minneapolis 

Feb 8 - Houston

Feb 9 - Redwood Shores

Oracle Linux & Virtualization teams will make its first appearance at the Oracle Cloud Day events.   You will have an opportunity to spend the day learning about Oracle’s Cloud Solutions with cloud experts and 21 breakout sessions.  

Minneapolis

Jan 24th

IT Evite

Denver

Jan 26th

IT Evite

Costa Mesa (LA)

Feb 1st

IT Evite

Houston

Feb 8th

IT Evite

Redwood Shores 

Feb 9th

IT Evite

Jan 31: Path to Cloud Dinner in Dallas

La Cima Club

The Towers at Williams Square | 5215 N O’Connor Blvd, 25th Floor

Feb 2: Path to Cloud Dinner in Seattle 

The Metropolitan Grill

APAC REGION:

Jan 18:, Tokyo, Japan Seminar Series :Oracle Linux Overview

https://eventreg.oracle.com/profile/web/index.cfm?PKWebId=0x4127198a5d

Jan 18: Chinese Webcast - OpenStack and Docker Overview

Category: Events

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Thursday Jan 12, 2017

Training Thursdays: Container Technology in Oracle Linux

By Antoinette O'Sullivan-Oracle on Jan 12, 2017

Learn about popular container technology available in Oracle Linux

  • LXC provides application and operating system isolation without the need of a hypervisor.
  • Docker provides a means of building and packaging applications into lightweight containers.

To learn about these technologies and much more, take the Oracle Linux 7: Advanced Administration course. You can take this course in the following formats:

  • Training-on-Demand: Start training within 24 hours of registration, following streaming video of expert instructors at your own pace and booking time to get hands-on exercises when suits your schedule.
  • Live-Virtual Event: Attend a live event from your own desk, no travel required. Events are added to the schedule to suit different time-zones. Live-Virtual events on the schedule include 16 January, 6 and 13 February, 27 March and 24 April 2017.
  • In-Class Event: Travel to an education center to take this class. In-Class events on the schedule include:

 Location  Date  Delivery Language
 Brisbane, Australia
 20 March 2017  English
 Paris, France
 20 February 2017  French
 Hamburg, Germany
  27 March 2017  German
 Munich, Germany
  6 March 2017  German
 Milan, Italy
  3 April 2017  Italian
 Turin, Italy
  6 March 2017  Italian
 Johannesburg, South Africa
  6 March 2017  English
 Reston, VA, United States  30 January 2017  English
 Columbus, OH, United States  20 February 2017  English
 Roseville, MN, United States  20 February 2017  English
 Miami, FL, United States  24 April 2017  English
 Belmont, CA, United States  8 May 2017  English

If you are using an earlier version of Linux, take the Oracle Linux 5 & 6 Advanced Administration course in the following formats:

  • Training-on-Demand: Start training within 24 hours at your own pace.
  • Live-Virtual Event: Live-Virtual events on the schedule include 13 February, 13 March, and 24 April 2017.
  • In-Class Event: Travel to an education center to take this class. In-Class events on the schedule include:

 Location  Date  Delivery Language
 Munich, Germany  13 February 2017  German
 Auckland, New Zealand  27 March 2017  English
 Johannesburg, South Africa  6 February 2017  English
 Pretoria, South Africa  26 June 2017  English
 Irving, TX, United States  22 May 2017  English

Resources:

Category: Oracle Linux

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Monday Jan 09, 2017

MONDAY SPOTLIGHT: Technical Tips from an Oracle Ace

By Zeynep Koch-Oracle on Jan 09, 2017

In today's Monday spotlight blog, we want to highlight some of the technical articles and tips from our

Oracle Linux Ace - Johan Louwers.

My photo

Here's selection of his blogs in December that feature Oracle Linux:

Oracle Linux - Logging and analyzing your network

Oracle Linux - Peer cert cannot be verified or peer cert invalid 

Oracle Linux - transform CSV into JSON with bash

Oracle Linux – short tip #4 - grep invert-match

Oracle Linux – short tip #3 – showing a directory tree

Oracle Linux – finding the executable of a process

Oracle Linux - installing Consul as server

Oracle Linux – short tip #2 – reuse a command from history

Oracle Linux – short tip #1 – using apropos

Read more blogs from Johan Louwers .

Learn more about Oracle Linux. 

Category: Oracle Linux

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Thursday Jan 05, 2017

Training Thursdays: Oracle Linux is Modern and Open Source

By Antoinette O'Sullivan-Oracle on Jan 05, 2017

Happy New Year and best wishes to all for 2017.

Oracle Linux is modern, open source, and all changes are submitted to the mainline Linux. The Oracle Linux distribution is a truly open operating system - source code, patches, ISOs and errata all Free to use and distribute.

The latest version of Oracle Linux is Oracle Linux 7. Those familiar with Linux can come up to speed on Oracle Linux 7 by taking the Oracle Linux 7: What's New for Administrators course. You can take this course in the following formats:

  • Live-Virtual Event: Attend a live event from your own desk, no travel required. Events are added to the schedule to suit different time-zones. Events already on the schedule include 18 January, 15 March, 26 April and 31 May 2017.
  • In-Class Event: Travel to an education center to take this class. In-class events already on the schedule include:

 Location  Date  Delivery Language
Berlin, Germany 30 January 2017  German
Hamburg, Germany 30 January 2017  German
Utrecht, Netherlands 23 January 2017  English

To register for an event or to learn more about the Oracle Linux curriculum, go to http://oracle.com/education/linux. 

Category: Oracle Linux

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Friday Dec 23, 2016

Happy Holidays Oracle Linux Fans!

By Zeynep Koch-Oracle on Dec 23, 2016

Happy Holidays to all Oracle Linux fans, we wish you all the best for 2017.

Here are the top 5 blogs of 2016:

Deployment of Oracle Applications and Database with OpenStack Murano (Beta)

Take Action on Dirty Cow

Are Cloudlets in Your Forecast?

What is on tap for Linux Container strategy in 2016?

Training Thursdays: Learn about Oracle OpenStack for Oracle Linux

See you all in 2017!

Category: Oracle Linux

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Wednesday Dec 21, 2016

Linux Kernel 4.9 Released

By Honglin Su-Oracle on Dec 21, 2016

Linux Kernel 4.9, "the biggest release we've ever had",  was recently announced by Linus Torvalds. With more than 200 companies contributing to the Linux Kernel 4.9 release, Oracle is one of the top enterprise employers and contributed 14,425 lines of code in the 4.9 release. Oracle's strong support of Linux is evidenced by our numerous, on-going technical contributions to the Linux community.

Among the extensive list of features and enhancements in the Linux Kernel 4.9, here are a few that are noteworthy:

  • The XFS filesystem has gained support for shared extents — ranges of file data that can be shared between multiple owners — and a copy-on-write mechanism to manage modifications to those extents. That, in turn, allows XFS to support copy_file_range() along with other nice features like reflink and data deduplication.
  • SELinux now has support for overlay filesystems to secure container deployments.
  • Xen features and fixes such as switching to new CPU hotplug mechanism and support driver_override in pciback.
  • The virtually mapped kernel stacks work has been merged. This changes how kernel stacks are implemented on the x86 architecture, allowing the kernel to detect stack overflows and respond accordingly for improved security and better diagnostic output.
  • The system calls for the memory protection keys available on new Intel processors have been merged. These are a user-controllable, coarse-grained protection mechanism, allowing a program to deny certain types of access to ranges of memory. 
  • A new set of resource limits has been added to control how many namespaces may be created within any given user namespace. The primary purpose of these limits is to stop programs that malfunction and attempt to create a huge number of objects before the malfunction becomes a system-wide problem.
  • The perf tool can break a function down to "basic blocks" and track events on each.
  • The NFS server now supports the NFS4.2 COPY operation, allowing file data to be copied without traveling to the client and back.
  • The build system can also perform dead code and data elimination. This option is potentially hazardous, since, without some extra effort, the linker may see some needed code as being dead, but it can also reduce the resulting image size considerably.
  • A new set of files under /sys/kernel/irq describe the interrupt lines on the system. They are a replacement for /proc/interrupts and are meant to be easier for programs to parse.
  • The bottleneck bandwidth and RTT (BBR) congestion control algorithm has been merged to get better results in a network characterized by wireless links, meddling middleboxes, and bufferbloat.
  • The netfilter module supports a new "quota" mechanism designed to enable the enforcement of byte quotas. There's also a new random-number generation module intended to enable the random distribution of packets (across multiple queues, for example).
  • The filesystems in user space (FUSE) module now support POSIX access-control lists.
  • The hardware latency tracer (which seeks to flush out latencies caused by the hardware itself) has moved into the mainline from the realtime tree. The tracer hwlat_detector is a special purpose tracer that is used to detect large system latencies induced by the behavior of certain underlying hardware or firmware, independent of Linux itself.
  • The watchdog subsystem has a new "pretimeout" mechanism to allow the system to respond just prior to the expiration of a timer. Two new "governors" are provided; one simply prints a log message, while the other will panic the system in the goal of generating more useful information for debugging the problem.
  • Read the announcement from Linus Torvalds for a full list of changes merged into the Linux Kernel 4.9.

We do upstream Linux Kernel development with enhancements that benefit Oracle Database, middleware, applications and hardware, as well as our broad partner ecosystem. These enhancements are distributed to customers through the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel for Oracle Linux. Some of the innovations from upstream may come sooner into an enterprise Linux distribution such as Oracle Linux. You can read the recent announcement about the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 4 for Oracle Linux 6 and Oracle Linux 7.

For more information about Oracle Linux and Virtualization, visit oracle.com/linux.

Category: Announcements

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Tuesday Dec 20, 2016

Great choices for third-party backup and restore on Oracle Linux and Oracle VM

By Teri Whitaker-Oracle on Dec 20, 2016

This post is courtesy of Margaret Errington. 

In an era where storage is very affordable, collecting and storing data is no longer an issue. This explosion in data growth within the enterprise can bring new headaches, that of protecting it. Additionally,  if we are to add budget constraints, high service-level agreements, and technologies, such as virtualization to the mix, the capabilities of traditional backup and recovery processes may be a bit strained.

Customers are looking for backup/recovery solutions that address scalability, the ability to backup applications and databases both in the cloud and on-premises, and at the level of files to complete VMs.

In collaboration with Oracle, Backup and Recovery Software Partners have certified solutions for enterprise infrastructures built on Oracle Linux and/or Oracle VM. These solutions are available whether the customer’s IT environment who are on-premises or in the cloud. Below are some partners with currently supported data protection solutions:

Visit: Oracle Cloud Marketplace; Oracle Cloud; Infrastructure for Open Cloud: Oracle Linux; Oracle VM

Need more information? Contact us at: ol-ovm-info_ww at oracle.com. 

Category: Oracle Linux Partners

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Monday Dec 19, 2016

MONDAY SPOTLIGHT: Patching User Space with Oracle Ksplice

By Robert Chase on Dec 19, 2016

Oracle Ksplice is a powerful tool that allows administrators to increase the speed of deployment of critical patches and helps eliminate downtime.

The Ksplice enhanced client extends the ability of Ksplice to enable in-memory patching of critical user space libraries in Oracle Linux. The ability to patch these libraries in-memory without rebooting not only increases system security but also reduces costly system downtime. Recent exploits such as Heartbleed can be patched automatically without administrator intervention, maintenance windows or downtime. 

Before you enable Ksplice, you need to disable any prelinking of binaries that may have occurred. Oracle Linux 6 systems come with the prelink tool installed by default which must be removed to prevent conflicts with the Ksplice enhanced client.  Oracle Linux 7 systems do not have prelink installed by default.

# prelink –au
# yum remove prelink

Installation of the Ksplice enhanced client is simple for Oracle Linux servers that are registered to the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN).

Login to the ULN web interface, select the system you want to enable Ksplice on, then click on Manage Subscriptions.  Next, enable the Ksplice-aware user space packages channel for that server.

After enabling the Ksplice-aware user space packages channel, use yum to install the Ksplice enhanced client on the server:

# yum install –y ksplice

Once the Ksplice client is installed, retrieve your access key for Ksplice from ULN and add it to the Ksplice configuration by editing /etc/uptrack/uptrack.conf.

Next, use yum to install the Ksplice aware versions of the user space packages installed on your server, without updating any other packages on the system, by running following command:

# yum --disablerepo=* --enablerepo=ol7_x86_64_userspace_ksplice update

A single reboot is required to activate the newly installed Ksplice aware libraries. After you reboot the system once, you will then be able to apply any future patches to both the kernel and critical user space libraries without rebooting. 

In addition to patching both kernel and critical user space packages, Ksplice can also be used as a diagnostic tool by Oracle Support to load diagnostic kernels without rebooting the system. 

The following white paper provides the workflow of using Ksplice as a diagnostic tool with Oracle Support: 


The full Ksplice User Guide can be found here: 


Are you ready to take back your weekends and increase the security of your systems with Ksplice?

Category: Oracle Linux

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Thursday Dec 15, 2016

Training Thursdays: What Students Say About Oracle Linux Curriculum

By Antoinette O'Sullivan-Oracle on Dec 15, 2016

The Oracle Linux curriculum contains courses that are very popular with students. Here is what students have to say about the Oracle Linux system administration courses:

  • Highly enjoyable and informative
  • The contents of this course corresponded exactly to my expectations.
  • I got a good understanding of Oracle Linux through this training.
  • This training helped me fill my knowledge gaps.
  • This training was a great experience and very applicable to my new job responsibilities.
  • The labs corresponded very well to what we covered in the lectures
  • This training struck the right balance between practical learning and volume of topics.
  • Very good practical environment. This course was relevant to my job function.

Join these satisfied students by delving into the Oracle Linux curriculum. Learn more about the courses, delivery formats and schedules at http://oracle.com/education/linux.

Category: Oracle Linux

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Monday Dec 12, 2016

MONDAY SPOTLIGHT: Updated Docker images for Oracle Linux

By Avi Miller-Oracle on Dec 12, 2016

Docker is becoming even more popular for customers and users to optimise their deployment processes, particularly when integrated into a Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) pipeline. Docker forms the basis of several Oracle Cloud products, including the Oracle Developer Cloud, Oracle Application Container Cloud and Oracle Container Cloud.

As part of Oracle's ongoing commitment to security, we regularly release updates to the official Oracle Linux base images hosted on the Docker Hub and in the official Oracle GitHub repository. In the past month, we have released 5 updates across the Oracle Linux 5, 6 and 7 images to cover several CVEs that have been fixed.

Learn more about ensuring your Docker images are built using the latest images provided by Oracle. 

[Read More]

Category: Oracle Linux

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Thursday Dec 08, 2016

Training Thursdays: Learn about Oracle OpenStack for Oracle Linux

By Antoinette O'Sullivan-Oracle on Dec 08, 2016

Oracle OpenStack for Oracle Linux maintains the flexibility of OpenStack, while allowing you to deploy different configurations and integrate with a range of software and hardware vendors.

The, JUST RELEASED, Oracle OpenStack for Oracle Linux: Getting Started seminar is ideal for those new to OpenStack. You can take this one-day seminar as a:

  • Live-Virtual Event: Attend a live event from your own desk, no travel required. Events are added to the schedule to suit different time-zones.
  • In-Class Event: Travel to an education center to take this class.

Be the first to influence the schedule for this course by registering your interest here. To learn more about the Oracle Linux curriculum, go to http://oracle.com/education/linux.

Category: Oracle Linux

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Monday Dec 05, 2016

MONDAY SPOTLIGHT: Journey to Cloud with Oracle Private Cloud Appliance

By SHayler-Oracle on Dec 05, 2016

Many customer are using Oracle Linux and Oracle VM in private clouds integrated with Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control. With the update release of Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 13c R2 (13.2.0.0), customers have greater benefits to manage Oracle Linux,  Oracle VM, and Oracle Private Cloud Appliance within their existing or future private clouds.

Read  How to Manage Oracle Private Cloud Appliance with Oracle Enterprise Manager 13c Cloud Control.

[Read More]

Category: Oracle Linux

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