Red Hat Enterprise Linux Clones

technobard · 01-10-2005, 06:19 PM

Has anyone used any of the RHEL clones out there? I came across White Box Linux, which sounds promising. Basically, I'm working with a friend on a personal project to install an Oracle 10G RAC cluster on a firewire drive. RHEL is too expensive, so I'm looking for the next best thing. Oracle has certified RHEL and not much else.

Kernel_Killer · 01-11-2005, 12:55 AM

FreeBSD. They have it set to run Oracle on it even. I used RHEL for a bit, and didn't find it to really be much. Their Fedora Core isn't much different from the ES versions at all, except that FC actually has RPMs to add. Finiding the RPMs you need can be a really pain, even since they didn't add as much as you would think to a 7CD set.

If you really want something easy to use, then try out SuSE or ManDrake. Their compatibility with Oracle should match the RHEL compatibility.

Belisarius · 01-11-2005, 03:37 AM

What features of RHEL do you need?

technobard · 01-11-2005, 04:51 AM

It's not so much the features as the compatibility with a modified kernel that Oracle supplies for supporting shared access to a firewire drive. None of the latest 2.6 based distributions, for example, will work with that kernel. I saw a write up on some of the differences and how they affected configuring shared firewire and RAC, but I don't really remember the details.

I've been running Red Hat 9 for sometime on a different box, mostly running MythTV. The non-RAC version of Oracle works fine here. I heard of one group having success (after some effort) getting RAC to work on Fedora Core 1. The main reason I'm interested in RHEL or one of it's clones, is that I wanted to eliminate the distribution as a potential problem during RAC configuration. Getting RAC to work is not a smooth process even on commercial Unix distributions.

Thanks for the input.

Belisarius · 01-11-2005, 05:39 AM

So Oracle provides a kernel patch which only works with RHEL? And this patch allows you to install Oracle on firewire HD? Am I understanding right? I'm not too familar with Oracle, so I dont know what a RAC is exactly.

technobard · 01-11-2005, 06:38 AM

Belisarius, you're mostly right. Just a little background on RAC - In a RAC configuration, two or more nodes (i.e. separate machines) share a single database on a shared filesystem. Each node runs the binaries which can be shared as well and starts its own separate processes. The data can be accessed by connecting to either instance. It's meant to be a way to scale up database access. It can also be configured to work in failover mode, so that only one instance is accessed at a time.

As I understand it, Oracle has done a number of modifications to a 2.4 kernel and compiled it. It's available as a binary. I'm not sure about the source. The normal firewire HD drivers only support access by a single node. For multiple nodes to see the same drive, both connected via firewire cable, kernel modifications were required in addition to driver changes. There are also dependencies outside of the kernel, that aren't satisified by every distribution. I'm not sure what all of those dependencies are. RHEL is certified to work, as well as the SUSE Enterprise version. Oracle's position is that you're on your own if you pick anything else. I'm sure with enough effort, other distributions can be made to work, but I'm trying to avoid some of the headache.

Belisarius · 01-11-2005, 02:17 PM

Oracle uses their own filesystem, don't they? That must be why you need the patches. Can you install it on Ext3?

technobard · 01-11-2005, 04:42 PM

non-RAC Oracle can be installed on ext3. RAC requires a shared filesystem. Red Hat's GFS (formerly Sistina), which is available with RHEL, would work if you had a Storage Area Network. In other words, you're a corporation with some money. Firewire is the cheap man's solution and not really meant for prime time. You can use raw disk on firewire or OCFS (Oracle Clustered File System).

Belisarius · 01-11-2005, 05:10 PM

Ah well, out of my league. In my past experiences when a patch says "For use with X", they generally make sure you're using X, so you might be stuck with either paying up front or, if it's for a personal project, *ahem* "previewing" it.

technobard · 01-11-2005, 05:21 PM

Yeah. That's why I was looking at the RHEL clones. Even though Red Hat charges big money for RHEL, the source code is still available as open source. What the "cloners" have done is download the source, strip out the Red Hat artwork, etc., and compiled their own distributions. It's perfectly legal. I just don't know who does a better job of it. White Box Linux seems to be the most popular among the one's I've been able to find. I'm trying to convince the guy I'm working with on this to go that direction. I suspect this will be a lengthy project.

I'm currently unemployed, so I've got the time.

Belisarius · 01-11-2005, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by technobard

I'm currently unemployed, so I've got the time.

I know the feeling.

Kernel_Killer · 01-11-2005, 09:31 PM

I'll sell you my copy of RHEL ES3.

technobard · 01-14-2005, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kernel_Killer

I'll sell you my copy of RHEL ES3.

Ah, capitalism lives!

Are you sure we're not related. You sound a lot like my brother-in-law. Anyway, I went the lazy, cheapo route and purchased White Box Linux CDs from Linux Central for $8.95. They showed up yesterday. We're still working out the hardware we're going to use.

The current plan is to setup a couple of servers at my friends house (he lives across town). We have identical VPN routers, so tunneling through to his network is already a done deal. I can connect from the comfort of my home while he's at work.

I wouldn't mind having the servers here, but since my friend is single, he doesn't have to deal with complaints about more computers cluttering up the house.

Kernel_Killer · 01-15-2005, 03:28 AM

Let me know how White Box works out. I'm having to do about the same thing with a new contract with a University, except I'm going to give Gentoo a whirl in concerns to NIS, Oracle, & SmartBoard.

technobard · 01-24-2005, 05:29 PM

Just a minor update: My friend is in Hawaii this week on vacation. I've decided to try a few things while he's out. I installed VMware Workstation 5.0 Beta on my Windows XP machine. I setup a virtual machine in VMWare and installed White Box Linux. All I have to say is SWEEET! This is my first exposure to VMWare, but I like it. It probably won't let me do a RAC test, but it does let me do a lot of other things without the hassle of dual booting or screwing up my MythTV box. I added 1 GB to my original 512 MB and allocated 512 MB to the virtual machine running White Box Linux. Even with the debug code in the beta, the speed is more than acceptable. Then again, I haven't really run anything requiring major resources just yet.

If you haven't tried VMware, check it out at VMware Workstation