ORACLE LINUX 5 & 6 FEATURES

ORACLE LINUX 5 & 6 COMPARISON

Specifications	Oracle Linux 5	Oracle Linux 6
Latest Version	5.10	6.5
Architectures	x86, x86_64, ia64*	x86, x86_64
Kernel Versions Available	2.6.39 Unbreakable Enterprise kernel Release 2**           2.6.32 Unbreakable Enterprise kernel Release 1***            2.6.18 (Red Hat compatible kernel)            2.6.18 (Red Hat compatible kernel with bug fixes)	3.8.13 Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 3 (x86_64 only)            2.6.39 Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2**            2.6.32 (Red Hat compatible kernel)
Minimum Memory Requirements	512 MB (x86)            1 GB (x86_64)	1 GB
Minimum Disk Space	1 GB	1 GB
Maximum Memory (RAM)	64 GB (x86)            2/4 TB (x86_64)****	64 GB (x86)            2/4 TB (x86_64)****
Max Number of CPUs/Cores	Unlimited	Unlimited
Compiler Version	gcc 4.1	gcc 4.4
GNU C Library Version	glibc 2.5	glibc 2.11
Cluster Administration	OCFS2 and Oracle Clusterware available	OCFS2 and Oracle Clusterware available
Supported File Systems		
Ext3 Max File Size	2 TB	2 TB
Ext3 Max File System Size	16 TB	16 TB
Ext4 Max File Size	16 TB	16 TB
Ext4 Max File System Size	16 TB	16 TB
OCFS2 Max File Size	16 TB	16 TB
OCFS2 Max File System Size	16 TB	16 TB
Btrfs Max File Size*****	16 EB	16 EB
XFS Max File Size		100 TB
XFS Max File System Size		100 TB
Btrfs Max File System Size*****	16 EB	16 EB
Oracle Value-Added Technology	
ASMLib ASMLib is a support library for the Automatic Storage Management feature of Oracle Database 10g that simplifies database administration.	Included	Included
OCFS2 Oracle Cluster File System 2 (OCFS2) is an open-source, general-purpose, extent-based clustered filesystem that Oracle developed and contributed to the Linux community, and accepted into Linux kernel 2.6.16.	Version 1.8 (Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2) Version 1.6.3 (Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 1)	Version 1.8 (Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2) Version 1.6.3 (Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 1)
Zero Downtime OS Updates with Ksplice With Ksplice, users can update the Linux operating system (OS) kernel, while it is running, without a reboot or any interruption.	Included	Included
DTrace A comprehensive, dynamic tracing framework, is now part of the default Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel and can be used for real-time tracing, troubleshooting and tuning.	Not available	Included, requires Unbreakeable Enterprise Kernel Release 3
Oracle Clusterware for Linux Cluster management software is integral to clustering, and Oracle Clusterware is available under a separate license to Oracle Linux support customers at the Basic and Premier levels at no additional cost.	Included	Included
Oracle IC Oracle Instant Client (IC) allows you to run your applications without installing the standard Oracle client or having an ORACLE_HOME. OCI, OCCI, Pro*C, ODBC, and JDBC applications work without modification, while using significantly less disk space than before.	Included	Included
Oracle Linux Test (OLT) Kit The Oracle Linux Test (OLT) Kit is a test framework designed to verify Linux kernel functionality and stability essential for the Oracle Database both in single node and in Oracle RAC configurations. OLT includes stress and destructive tests for network and storage failures.	Included	Included
Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c and Ops Center for Linux Management Available exclusively for Oracle Linux Basic and Premier Support customers, Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c and Ops Center for Linux provides an integrated and cost-effective solution for complete Linux server lifecycle management and more.	Included	Included
Oracle Validated Configurations Oracle Validated Configurations are pretested, validated architectures with software, hardware, storage, and networking components with included documented best practices for deployment.	Included	Included
Database Smart Flash Cache This feature allows customers to increase the effective size of the Oracle database buffer cache without adding more main memory to the system. Database Smart Flash Cache allows the database buffer cache to be expanded beyond the SGA in main memory to a second level cache on flash memory.	Included	Included
PHP OCI8 driver Oracle Call Interface (OCI8) database driver for PHP provides new, improved integration between PHP and Oracle Database 11g, to allow a server-side connection pool shareable across web servers and languages, significantly enhancing the scalability of web-based systems.	Included	Included
Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) ULN is a comprehensive resource for Oracle Linux support subscribers, and offers access to Linux software patches, updates and fixes, along with additional information and support policies.	Included	Included
YaST Yet Another Setup Tool (YaST) helps make system administration easier by providing a single utility for configuring and maintaining Linux systems. YAST is used as part of Oracle Enterprise Manager for Linux Host Server Management.	Included	Included
Yum The Oracle public yum server offers a free and convenient way to install additional RPM packages and errata for Oracle Linux via the yum package management client. Note that this yum server is offered without support.	Included	Included
Third-Party Validations
LSB Certification The Linux Standard Base (LSB) reduces the differences between individual Linux distributions and greatly reduces the costs involved with porting applications to different distributions, as well as lowers the cost and effort involved in after-market support of those applications.	Included	Included
EAL4+ Security Evaluation The Evaluation Assurance Level of an IT product or system is a numerical grade assigned following the completion of a Common Criteria security evaluation, an international standard backed by a U.S. Government initiative of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Security Agency (NSA).	Included	TBD

*Support for the ia64 (Itanium) architecture started with Oracle Linux 5 Update 4. ISO images are available on the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud and RPMs are available on the Unbreakable Linux Network.

**Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 (2.6.39) is available for x86 and x86_64 as a separate download for Oracle Linux 5 Update 8 (and newer) and Oracle Linux 6 Update 2 (and newer) from the Unbreakable Linux Network and the public yum repositories.

***Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 1 (2.6.32) for x86_64 was first included in Oracle Linux 5 Update 5. A version for x86 (32-bit) was included starting with Oracle Linux 5 Update 7. A version of the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 1 (2.6.32) for x86 (32-bit) was first included in Oracle Linux 6 Update 1.

****2TB max memory with the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 1 (2.6.32), 4 TB max memory with Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 (2.6.39).

*****Btrfs is only available and supported with the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 (2.6.39) and later.