Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 based on Redhat Enterprise Linux 7.6 with an enhanced 4.14 Linux Kernel has been released
Oracle is pleased to announce the general availability of Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 for the x86_64 and Arm architectures. You can find the individual RPM packages on both th Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and the Oracle Linux yum server. ISO installation images will soon be available for download from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud and Docker images will soon be available via Oracle Container Registry and Docker Hub.Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 released
Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 ships with the following kernel packages:
Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) Release 5 (4.14.35-1818.3.3) for x86-64 and Arm
Red Hat Compatible Kernel (3.10.0-957) for x86-64 only
Application Compatibility
Oracle Linux maintains user space compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), which is independent of the kernel version that underlies the operating system. Existing applications in user space will continue to run unmodified on Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 with UEK Release 5 and no re-certifications are needed for applications already certified with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 or Oracle Linux 7.
Notable new features in this release
Pacemaker now supports path, mount, and timer systemd unit files. Although previous releases of Pacemaker supported service and socket systemd unit files, alternative units would fail. Pacemaker can now manage path, mount and timer systemd units.
Package installation and upgrade using rpm can be tracked using audit events. The RPM package manager has been updated to provide audit events so that software package installation and updates can be tracked using the Linux Audit system. Software installation and upgrades using yum are also tracked.
Features specific to the x86_64 architecture
Clevis support for TPM 2.0. The Clevis automated encryption framework that can automatically encrypt or decrypt data, or unlock LUKS volumes, has been updated to support the encryption of keys in a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM2) chip. Note that this feature is only available for x86_64 systems.
Features now available as a technology preview on the x86_64 architecture
Block and object storage layouts for parallel NFS (pNFS)
DAX (Direct Access) for direct persistent memory mapping from an application. This is under technical preview for the ext4 and XFS file systems
Multi-queue I/O scheduling for SCSI (scsi-mq). Please note that this functionality is disabled by default
Features specific to the Arm architecture
DTrace has been enabled for Arm platforms and ports of the DTrace code are available in the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 channel on the Oracle Linux yum server. The DTrace user space code in the dtrace-utils package has been ported to run on 64-bit Arm platforms to fully enable DTrace for Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 (aarch64).
For more details on these and other new features and changes, please consult the Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 Release Notes and the Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 (aarch64) Release Notes in the Oracle Linux Documentation Library.
Btrfs continues to be fully supported in Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 with UEK R5. Btrfs support is deprecated in the Red Hat Compatible Kernel.
Oracle Linux Support Options
Oracle Linux can be downloaded, used, and distributed free of charge and all updates and errata are freely available. Customers decide which of their systems require a support subscription. This makes Oracle Linux an ideal choice for development, testing, and production systems. The customer decides which support coverage is best for each individual system while keeping all systems up-to-date and secure.
Customers with Oracle Linux Premier Support also receive support for additional Linux programs, including Ceph Storage, Oracle Linux software collections, Oracle OpenStack and zero-downtime kernel updates using Oracle Ksplice.
For more information about Oracle Linux, please visit www.oracle.com/linux.
