Re: Unix vs. Linux

Hi

Well it depends on alot of things. For starters me being a Linux Evangalist, I'd naturally suggest that one but then you need to look at the fact that you want to run Oracle on it. Oracle on Linux is new and version
8 at that, has yet to prove itself in terms of the stability the 7.3x has (remember thats on other OS's also :). Much more the fact that Oracle has just ported the 8.0.5 Server to Linux, and well there are problems. This news group bares testimony to that.

If you're a get down and dirty guy with time on your hands and the client is patient if a problem arises, then Oracle on Linux is the choice - after all the OS is free and VERY robust. Also you need to take an objective look at your skills. Is your Linux skills strong ? Remember being a good Oracle DBA means really KNOWING your OS, and also some of the qwerky things that Oracle has on particular OS's.

Every OS with Oracle has its problems. Some of which you may never discover until you do some esoteric operation. If you read some of the patches and TAR solutions out there you will find a problem that exists in one Oracle Server on Solaris that is solved on HP-UX and vice-versa. This "feature" is endless. No disrespect intended, Oracle is a big complex piece of sofware, and well bugs creep in.

This is just my two cents on the subject. Please guys, no flame wars. I'll decline getting into an argument with people that start making this an OS war or a "What do you know - I run Oracle on Linux on 10 different sites and the last time I had a problem was back when ...."

Maybe other people can add to my comments, but on the whole I hope more that you get an idea of whats at stake, and we all learn from this event, rather than it degenerating into product and OS bigotry.

Kugendran Naidoo
Independant Oracle DBA
South Africa Received on Fri Jun 04 1999 - 09:50:18 CDT