We need a "stupid systems programmers club". I'll join<G>.
What I see with Suse, is 5 - 10 "maintenance updates" hitting my mail box every day. Some are just to make things work right, but many are security related. Now, I'm not sure how much is needed, for an Oracle database running on a mainframe. But these databases also tend to feed servers out on the network, or perhaps even out on the Internet. So, security is a concern of mine, until it's proven that I don't need to worry about certain areas. So, in a closed shop, or if security isn't much of a problem, then a packaged solution would seem to work. (Again, who pays for it, and is there sufficent money to be made to make it worth wild..) But I don't have the information necessary to say, that Oracle database servers don't need these security patchs (or any other kind of patch) applied. I guess whoever does the packaging could, send out a new image of linux out every month, hopefully, not requiring database changes. But if there are shops willing to pay for it, I'm sure some vender will fill the need. And there are sufficent differences in the flavors of zLinux, to make "support" an issue. Just try adding a few disks to SUSE8 vs SUSE9, perhaps to expand your database. The procedures are entirely different. Now, what about the procedures for RedHat, and others? I don't know. Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 11/02/05 10:14 AM >>> OK, I'll admit that I'm rather stupid. I thought the original poster wanted a "self contained appliance" that ran Oracle. The concept of an "appliance", to me, is "no user servicable parts inside", so to speak. So Oracle implements their code using something like Debian. The distro comes with all required Linux users predefined. There should be little or no reason for the user to add new users or run as "root" for any reason. The fact that the user's company was a SuSE or RedHat shop would not be very relevent to this particular Oracle distributation. The distro would need some customization (like for the Ethernet connection). Or it might be possible to make is "smart" like Knoppix and have it find the Ethernet. It might even be easier under z/VM since the actual I/O configuration (device addresses) don't matter under z/VM. Just set up the Oracle Linux guest as required by Oracle and IPL. That pretty much leaves assigning the IP address(es) if DCHP is not being used to assign IP addresses. What am I missing? Is there some problem with distributing Debian (or CentOS or ...) with other bundled software? -- John McKown Senior Systems Programmer UICI Insurance Center Information Technology This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose, and its' content is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you should delete this message and are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this transmission, or taking any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
