Oracle announces production release of Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 for Oracle Linux

* Oracle today announced the general availability of the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 for Oracle Linux.
* Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 includes performance and scalability enhancements that allowed Oracle to achieve record database benchmark results (1,2).
* Based on the 3.0.16 mainline kernel, Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 includes improved memory and resource management, and is optimised to be deployed as a virtual guest.
* The Btrfs file system is now production-ready with this release. Standard in Oracle Linux, Btrfs supports data stores of up to 16 exabytes, is optimised for solid state disks, is easy to administer, and includes built-in data integrity.
* In addition, Oracle is offering technology previews of the very popular dynamic tracing mechanism, DTrace, and a powerful instance isolation capability, Linux Containers, to Oracle Linux support subscribers.
* Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 is included with Oracle Linux 5 and 6.
* To learn more, join the Oracle Linux Online Forum, 27 March.

Highlights of Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 (R2) include:

* Performance improvements: to the scheduler, memory management, file system layer and networking stack, all lend to performance advantages on any size system.
* Performance benchmarks: Oracle Linux with the Unbreakable Enterprise
Kernel R2 has recently delivered two record-breaking TPC-C benchmark results, on a small and a large system (1,2).
* Btrfs: the “next-generation file system” for Linux. With Btrfs included, Oracle Linux can support large files and file systems, snapshots and check sums for data and meta-data, provides integrated RAID and volume management, and simplifies administration.
* Transparent hugepages: automatically organises memory in larger units to reduce memory management overhead and improve stability for memory-intensive workloads.
* Optimised for deployment as a virtual guest: the same Unbreakable Enterprise
Kernel R2 kernel image, with full support for the Xen hypervisor included, can be used to run both in hardware virtualised and paravirtualised modes.

Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel R2 also includes the following technology previews:

* Built-in virtualisation: Linux Containers allow multiple isolated Linux instances (containers) to run on the same host. Processes running in containers can have their own private view of the operating system, file system structure and network interfaces, and their use of server resources can be tightly controlled.
* DTrace: provides a comprehensive dynamic tracing framework that is designed to quickly identify the root cause of system performance problems without rebooting the kernel and recompiling - or even restarting - applications.
* Running Oracle Linux with Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel R2 fully maintains existing user space application compatibility and certification without any modification.
* Oracle Linux with Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel R2 is extensively tested with the most demanding workloads, both on third-party servers and Oracle's, including Engineered Systems such as Oracle Exadata Database Machine, Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud, Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine, and Oracle Big Data Appliance - to help ensure superior performance and reliability.
* With Oracle Linux Premier Support, customers can implement zero downtime kernel updates for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel R2 with Ksplice technology.
* Oracle Linux is open source with a public git source code repository and compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Supporting quote:

“Oracle Linux continues to deliver timely Linux innovations, backed by real-world testing, providing users a modern, scalable and reliable platform for their business-critical workload demands,” said Wim Coekaerts, senior vice-president of Linux and Virtualisation Engineering, Oracle. “Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 further demonstrates Oracle's investment in Linux technology and the community, and delivers on our goal to make Linux better for everyone.”

Supporting resources:
* Oracle and Linux
* Oracle Linux Customers
* Wim Coekaerts Blog
* Oracle Linux Online Forum, March 27th
* New Innovations in Oracle Linux Webcast Visit Oracle Linux on Blog, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube