Oracle: Unbreak my Linux Heart

Wim Coekaerts clears FUD around Unbreakable Linux, and explains what has been going since the introduction.

Oracle now has an RPM which will update or install all required libraries for the RDBMS for you. libstdc++, glibc-headers, gcc, sysstat, and so on. All in one easy RPM .

While playing with Oracle Linux (OEL) and Oracle RDBMS, we waded through the lengthy install guide for Oracle. We had decided to install the 64 bit (x86_64) version of Oracle. The install guide showed that several 32 bit RPMs (libraries) are still required. Of course, you can't use the CD for this. Fortunately, the guide describes in (albeit lengthy) detail what to do, where to find the RPMs and so on. At point in time, we needed to know which architecture of a certain RPM was installed: 32 bit or 64 bit? Or both? An Oracle consultant provided us with a handy option for the rpm command to find out: rpm -qa <RPM_NAME> --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}.%{RELEASE} (%{ARCH})\n"

Oracle plans to release 37 security patches next week as part of its quarterly update cycle. The fixes cover as-yet-unspecified flaws in products including Oracle Database, Application Server, and E-Business Suite, among others. Some of the patches due to be released on Tuesday, 17 April cover flaws in multiple products. An unlucky 13 of the planned security updates include fixes for versions of Oracle's database. Three of these patches are particularly important since they cover flaws that might be exploited remotely without requiring login credentials. Two of the 11 flaws in Oracle's E-Business suite might also be remotely exploited by hackers, Oracle warns in a pre-release announcement . Source: The Register

The Dell white paper outlining the problem with NIC emumeration under Linux on a Poweredge 2950 also writes that starting with Linux: 2.6.19 Kernel , the kernel has been equipped with appropriate code to correctly detect and solve this issue.

I attended a seminar at Oracle about their new management product: Oracle Enterprise Manager. It's a consolidated tool to create, provision, manage and update Oracle nodes on Linux. RAC, Grid, stand-alone. Everything. While not rocket science from a management viewpoint, it is a nicely integrated tool that you are sure to use in a Linux and Oracle environment. However, the current version kinda drops you off the deep end and you have to take care not drown in features. A upcoming update will shield functionality based on access rights and roles. Download the (powerpoint) presentation in PDF at Oracle .

As we'll be using teaming of network cards (NICs) in Windows and Linux, I was searching for a manual for teaming (Word file) of the Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5708 Gigabit Ethernet cards. At the same time, I'm including a link to the Broadcom Driver FAQ ...

After severals days of banging head against wall, one of our network technicians discovered that Dell's PowerEdge 2950 switches eth0 and eth1 under Linux . *sigh* Fortunately, Dell has a solution or workaround for this problem that occurs with the on-board Broadcom NetXtreme II 5708 GigabitEthernet NICs. We have also found that after prolonged periods of inactivity, the Broadcom NIC seem to go down as if in powersave mode or so. I can't however confirm this issue, as we're still resolving and confirming it.

ZDnet reports: "One of the first converts to Oracle's support for Linux has revealed the public backlash it has endured since their decision to drop Red Hat. Melbourne company Opes Prime Stockbroking told ZDNet Australia that in the weeks following its announcement to adopt Oracle Linux, upset Linux enthusiasts phoned, e-mailed and wrote about the company online to complain at the decision. "People called us out of the blue to tell us we were idiots," said Opes executive director Anthony Blumberg. He also fielded a call from an unhappy Red Hat Australia and New Zealand managing director Max McLaren. "I said, this is probably the first call I've had from Red Hat since we've been a customer," Blumberg said... Read more at the source: ZDNet Australia

I've been working on the Linux servers the last couple of days and while the Intel PRO/1000 PT quad port server adapter works fine with Intel's lastest drivers and the on-board dual port Broadcom NetExtreme II was detected properly by Oracle Enterprise Linux (version 4.4 at this time), I still have some problems with network trunking and VLANs in Linux . A colleague found a brilliant start-up script that simply processes the /etc/sysconfig/networking directory and starts your interfaces in the proper order and activates VLANs prior to bringing up the interface (eth0, eth1, etc), using the vconfig command. Oh one note: you may have to activate the 802.1q trunking kernel module using 'modprobe 8021q' or it won't work. I had to...