Oracle Linux / An Important Part of the Red Stack ! - Support Subscription Types - Clear and Simple

I just wrote a blog post about Oracle Linux and its advantages for Oracle customers. Actually that blog post was insipired by the Oracle 's own documents.. However; I still felt the need for writing a blog post about that subject, Oracle Linux for Oracle Database, an important part of the red stack!

I wrote that because I still think that there may be some people out there who don't know the advantage of  'Oracle on Oracle' , yet. So, as I have given the info about Oracle Linux and its advantage, now it is time to take a look at the Oracle Linux support types given in this complementary blog post.

Before going further, I want to share a list of Oracle Linux documents which may help you on getting more info about Oracle Linux and having a general info about the hot topics in Oracle Linux world (Oracle Linux upgrades for instance)

1. Upgrading an Oracle Linux System
https://docs.oracle.com/en/operating-systems/oracle-linux/7/install/ol7-upgrade-cond.html
2. Oracle Linux FAQ
http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/027617.pdf
3. Why Oracle Database runs best on Oracle Linux
http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/linux/linux-for-oracle-database-wp-2068570.pdf
4. Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager (New Virtualization solution based on KVM)
https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/linux/oracle-linux-virtualization-manager.pdf

Anyways, let's give you some clear definitions of Oracle Linux support subscriptions and some relevant info for deciding the correct Oracle Linux support type according your needs.

First of all, Oracle Linux Support subscriptions are done per physical server.
The important metrics for deciding these subscriptions are the number of physical servers and the number of Cpu sockets. By the term Cpu socket, we are actually talking about physical cpus.

Core count is not important, multiple cores or hyperthreading is counted as a single physical CPU.
Even if your Oracle Linux runs on a virtualized environment like Oracle VM Server, Hyper-V or Vmware, the subscriptions are still in physical server and Cpu socket basis.
That is the count of Guest VMs is not important.

We have 5 subscription types. These are as follows;

Oracle Linux Network : This is like the entry level..  It doesn't provide any support services actually. Only the access to the Unbreakable Linux network and full indemnification for Oracle Linux...

Oracle Linux Basic Limited : This one is the same as 'Oracle Linux Basic'. Same support services that we have in Linux Basic support is provided with the limited one as well.. If your physical servers have 1 or 2 sockets, you can go with this one.

Oracle Linux Basic : Basic support offers the following support services:

• 24x7 telephone and online support
• Around-the-clock access to enhancements, updates, and errata
• Oracle Enterprise Manager for Linux Management
• Spacewalk support
• High availability with Oracle Clusterware
• Comprehensive tracing with DTrace
• Oracle Linux load balancer
• Comprehensive indemnificatio
• Oracle Container runtime for Docker

Oracle Linux Premier Limited : This one is the same as 'Oracle Linux Premier'. Same support services that we have in Linux Premier support is provided with the limited one as well.. If your physical servers have 1 or 2 sockets, you can go with this one.

Oracle Linux Premier : Premier support is like all inclusive. Premier support offers the following support services:

• 24x7 telephone and online support
• Around-the-clock access to enhancements, updates, and errata
• Oracle Enterprise Manager for Linux Management
• Spacewalk support
• High availability with Oracle Clusterware
• Comprehensive tracing with DTrace
• Oracle Linux load balancer
• Comprehensive indemnification
• Zero-downtime patching with Ksplice
• Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager
• Oracle Linux Cloud Native Environment, Oracle Container runtime for Docker, Oracle Container Services for use with Kubernetes
• Gluster Storage for Oracle Linux
• Ceph storage for Oracle Linux
• Oracle Linux software collections
• Oracle Linux high availability services support (Corosync and Pacemaker)
• Premier backports
• Lifetime sustaining support

As you see, very clear and simple.

Basically, if you have mission critical production environments, that must be up all the time and if you want to use the cool features like zero downtime patching , Gluster storage and etc, then you should go with the Premier support.

On the other hand, if you are not that much into it, but you want to be safe and almost fully supported in the main domain of Oracle Linux, then you can go with the Basic support.

You don't have to count your cores, threads, guest vms and so on.. You just need to count your physical CPUs and decide on Basic or Premier support level. That's it:)

Read for more ->  https://docs.oracle.com/en/operating-systems/oracle-linux/7/licenses/