What is Oracle Linux?

Oracle Linux is the Linux distribution from Oracle. To be more precise, Oracle Linux (earlier called Oracle Enterprise Linux) is a binary clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) distribution.

Some points to note:

  • RHEL is the upstream distribution
  • Oracle downloads RHEL, removes the trademarks, compiles it & creates a new distribution
  • Users can download the Oracle Linux distribution for free
  • The creation of a binary clone of RHEL is legal under the different open source license agreements covering the Linux distributions.
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Why is Oracle Linux important?

Apart from the compatibility with RHEL, Oracle Linux is important for license management.
Oracle has approved KVM – the virtualization technology within Linux as a hard partitioning technology. But there is a catch – this is approved only if the customer is using Oracle Linux.

What is KVM?

Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is an open-source virtualization technology built into Linux. KVM is the hypervisor embedded within Linux that allows a bare-metal host machine to run multiple guests or Virtual Machines (VMs).

Oracle allows KVM to be used as a ‘hard-partitioning’ technology if Oracle Linux is used.

What is Oracle Virtual Machine (OVM)? What happened to OVM?

Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is an open-source virtualization technology built into Linux. KVM is the hypervisor embedded within Linux that allows a bare-metal host machine to run multiple guests or Virtual Machines (VMs).

Oracle allows KVM to be used as a ‘hard-partitioning’ technology if Oracle Linux is used.

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