Oracle Cluster File System (OCFS2) Software Support and Update Policy for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Supported by Red Hat (Doc ID 1253272.1)

Last updated on FEBRUARY 08, 2024

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Purpose

This document outlines Oracle's support Policy for customers using OCFS2 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) supported by Red Hat.

What is OCFS2?

OCFS2 is a general purpose shared-disk cluster file system for Linux capable of providing both high performance and high availability. As it provides local file system semantics, it can be used with almost all applications. Cluster-aware applications can make use of cache-coherent parallel I/Os from multiple nodes to scale out applications easily. Other applications can make use of the file system facilities to fail-over running application in the event of a node failure.

The file system is currently being used in virtualization (Oracle VM) in both the management domain, to host virtual machine images, and in the guest domain, to allow Linux guests to share a file system. It is also being used in database clusters (Oracle RAC), middleware clusters (Oracle E-Business Suite), appliances (SAP's Business Intelligence Accelerator), etc.

Software Update Policy for OCFS2 running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Oracle provides OCFS2 software and support for database file storage usage for customers who receive Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system support from Red Hat and have a valid Oracle database version which supports OCFS2 usage and a valid database support contract. OCFS2 1.6 and later releases are only available with the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel. Users wishing to upgrade to release 1.6 and later releases need to install this kernel via Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). The older releases of OCFS2 will not be built for the new update versions of RHEL. OCFS2 is not supported for general filesystem use on RHEL without an Oracle Linux support subscription. Furthermore, OCFS2 software is not provided under Red Hat’s Extended Update Support (EUS or "z-stream”) or Extended Lifecycle Support (ELS).

Requirements for OCFS2 Software Updates

To receive software updates for OCFS2, both the release of the Oracle database in use and the version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux in use must be fully supported by Oracle and Red Hat respectively. Specifically, the Oracle Database release must be covered under Premier support or Extended support as defined in the Oracle Lifetime Support Policy for Oracle Technology Products and the RHEL version must be supported under one of the Production Lifecycle Phases as defined in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (RHEL8)

OCFS2 software is not supported on RHEL8. OCFS2 software is included with Oracle Linux 8 and the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK6 and above) via ULN and public yum. ULN requires an Oracle Linux support subscription, even for those customers using OCFS2 just to store database files

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (RHEL7)

OCFS2 software is no longer available as a separate download for RHEL7.  OCFS2 software is included with Oracle Linux 7 and the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel via ULN and public yum. ULN requires an Oracle Linux support subscription, even for those customers using OCFS2 just to store database files.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (RHEL6)

OCFS2 software is no longer available as a separate download for RHEL6.  OCFS2 software is included with Oracle Linux 6 and the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel via ULN and public yum. ULN requires an Oracle Linux support subscription, even for those customers using OCFS2 just to store database files.

Actions

To ensure your OCFS2 is supported by Oracle on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux supported by Red Hat, please update your RHEL and OCFS2 software to the supported version.

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