Re: Oracle on Windows versus Linux

Thilo Riessner wrote:

> We plan to install an ERP software (blending from incodev) in our
> company. The software is only supported with oracle on windows and not
> with oracle on linux. But we would strongly prefer to run oracle on a
> linux system because of easier administration, security and performance.
> The manufacturer of the software (incodev) is not willing to make an
> installation with a oracle/linux system without intensive in-house
> testing. A result of this is of course a time shift in our project. Is
> it necessary to make this tests or can it be guaranteed that there is no
> difference between a oracle/windows and a oracle/linux system from the
> sight of the software (blending).

Some months ago I have seen a benchmark that compared an Oracle Windows Server and an Oracle Linux Server. The last one gave the best results. Unfortunately I have lost the URL. Try a Google search, it must be still there.

> Next question is which linux distribution is most advisable? There are
> quite expensive versions of RedHat and SuSE which are supposed to run
> oracle faster but are they worth their money? Or is it just a trick from
> the distributors to get more money from professional users?

The point is not that they run Oracle faster or slower, the point is that starting from Oracle 9.2 the only two certified Linux distributions are SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (and perhaps its successor United Linux) and RedHat Advanced Server. As far as I understood, the certification process takes a lot of resources, so SuSE and RedHat are charging you with some extra costs if you wish to buy an Oracle-certified distribution. Please keep in mind that you will have no Oracle support on a non-certified distribution so at the moment for a production server the choice is only between the two above. Yes, they are more expensive that the "desktop" versions, but their cost is only a small fraction of the cost of the Oracle software! Moreover, you get some extra services: SuSE, for example, will send to you by e-mail patches, fixes and updates for 1 year after the purchase.

Kind regards, Cristian Received on Wed Jul 17 2002 - 08:34:43 CDT