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Question and Answer

Tom Kyte

Thanks for the question, Eva.

Asked: September 28, 2003 - 8:41 pm UTC

Last updated: April 29, 2007 - 9:19 am UTC

Version: 9.2.0

Viewed 1000+ times

You Asked

Dear Tom,

I want to know, What the big different between Oracle running under Windows and Linux ?
And if I want to migrate from windows to linux, what the significant impact that I have ?

Best regards

Eva

and Tom said...

other then linux is a much cooler OS -- no differnce.

That is the key fundemental thing about Oracle -- we are the same on all platforms. Write to us and you are portable.

Write OS specific code and you are not.

Your client application, whatever it is, will not know if you are on linux or windows or a mainframe.

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Comments

Follow up Example

Tyler D. Muth, September 29, 2003 - 4:37 pm UTC

As an example, the new feature of Oracle 10g called HTML DB (a web development tool, htmldb.oracle.com) is written entirely in SQL and PL/SQL and therefore lives 100% in the database. We use the db as our virtual OS. I regularly write code against our Linux development instance during the day and my windows laptop at night. It compiles without fail on ALL platforms that Oracle runs on. We performed 0 (zero, zip, none, no) porting for an enitre web development tool to make it availible on 25+ (however many Oracle runs on) platforms.

Two related comments.
1. Same database version running the same version of our code, runs at LEAST 25% faster on Linux (RedHat Advanced Server 2.1) than Windows (XP). I don't think I'm allowed to give any numbers for 10g yet, but let's just say it's a whole lot faster than 9iR2 running the same code. 10g + Lniux = blazing speed (sorry for the marketing blurb, but our development team still can't get over how much faster it is).
2. If for some reason you are evaluating MySQL vs Oracle (not sure why, not even in the same league), don't get burnt going from Windows where table and column names are NOT case sensitive to Linux / Unix / Mac where table and column names ARE case senstive.

Hope this helps,
Tyler

How about multiple process vs multiple thread

Eva, September 29, 2003 - 8:35 pm UTC

Dear Tom,

How about Multiple process in unix or linux family VS multiple thread in windows ? is there spesific impact on Oracle ?
If I migrate from windows to linux, can my database performance is increasing ?

Tom Kyte
September 29, 2003 - 9:13 pm UTC

windoze is an os that prefers threads.

linux is not.

we do threads on windows.
we do processes on unix

we do whatever the underlying os "likes"



Thread and Processes

Jeremy Smith, September 30, 2003 - 2:40 am UTC

As I understood it, the thread/process difference on UNIX has less to do with raw speed and more to do with the fact that UNIX version have about ten threading API's while only one for process creation and management. To their credit, the Linux kernel hackers have been doing great work on improving thread creation and destruction.

I would expect that Oracle could benefit from switching to a multi-threaded model...if they haven't already for some future version...

Here is some information from redhat:
</code> http://people.redhat.com/drepper/nptl-design.pdf <code>

Oracle for Windows or Linux

koth, December 13, 2003 - 10:46 am UTC

Dear Tom,

Regarding your statement

"Same database version running the same version of our code, runs at LEAST 25% faster on Linux (RedHat Advanced Server 2.1) than Windows (XP)".

Aren't you comparing an enterprise server version linux to a desktop version of Windows(XP). Is this comparision a true comparision.

I did some test by running the same database version running the same code on RedHat Advanced version Server 3.0
and Windows 2000 Advanced Server on the Same Hardware(Pentium III 800 Mhz, 512 MB RAM). Oracle on Windows 2000 was running 25-40 % faster than RedHat AS 3.0.

I think you guys at Oracle know that oracle runs faster on windows but for some reason promote Linux more than Windows.

Best regards koth

Tom Kyte
December 13, 2003 - 11:55 am UTC

(that wasn't my statement bear in mind)

but, i beg to differ with you. I do not know that Oracle on windows runs faster then Oracle on linux. Not at all.

tell me -- do you know linux enough to say "yup, linux was doing good on this box".

I can honestly (and do honestly) say that I cannot say that I can say that about windoze. I found it personnally impossible to tune.

So, give me a linux server and away we go.


But -- NO -- i emphatically "do not know" any such thing that you attribute me as "knowing" (and please don't put words in my mouth -- and I won't put any in yours)


Actually -- please go back and read MY responses -- ok. I seem to be saying "hey, go with what you know -- that more then anything is what is relevant"

I've said it over and over and over again. When asked at talks -- I give the same answer "what do you know, what do you like, what do you have experience in -- fine, go for it"


I can give you my answer "I like linux"
I now can guess what your answer would be -- and you should go for it.

If you like Windows...

Mark A. Williams, December 13, 2003 - 11:42 pm UTC

No, this is not a flame thread! :)

If you like Windows then you might be excited about the "fibre mode" for Oracle 10g on Windows. I saw a presentation on it at OracleWorld, but have no experience with it yet myself. Basically instead of threads inside of the Oracle process, Oracle can now utilize fibres...

Anyway, just thought that was interesting.

- Mark

Oracle for Windows or Linux

koth, December 14, 2003 - 10:10 am UTC

Dear Tom,

I am extremelly sorry if i offended you or anyone. i didn;t mean to.
I agree with your statement "what do you know, what do you like, what do you have experience in "

Personally i like Windows and feel that a DBA with good understanding of the windows OS will tune and optimize the database the same way on Linux.

best regards koth

A reader, December 15, 2003 - 9:58 am UTC

That's interesting Oracle DBA likes windoze..hhhmmm...

Nice

Siva, December 29, 2003 - 8:24 am UTC

Dear Sir,
One very cheap question for you.My browser misses the
<Back> button on left top of the browser screen.Is there any keyboard shortcut for that?

Oracle for Mac?

Jasbir Kular, March 10, 2004 - 5:04 pm UTC

Can Oracle run on the Mac OS? If so is there production support for Oracle for the Mac OS? I need to design an application with a database component that has to work on both Windows and Mac OS. I have heard that people are running the Oracle Developer edition (how different is developer edition from standard/enterprise) on the Mac OS X, but when I called Oracle they said Mac OS X is not supported. Thanks for all your help, need to make a decision soon on what database to use...I really want to use Oracle :)

Tom Kyte
March 10, 2004 - 5:34 pm UTC

As I understand it, 10g will be supported on mac os x and is to be released in a couple of weeks -- but, you would need to verify that via support.

Oracle for Mac

Mark A. Williams, March 10, 2004 - 8:25 pm UTC

You can get Oracle9i from the Apple website. Please see: </code> http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/networking_security/oracle9idatabase.html <code>
for requirements and download.

HTH,

Mark

Said too much

Tyler D. Muth, March 23, 2004 - 9:19 pm UTC

OK,

My comments about performance on Windows vs Linux were not appropriate for this forum. This is a community used to answers based on hard evidence and repeatable benchmarks. Relaying my Windows vs Linux experience opened up a bigger can of worms than I expected.

The "go with what you know" point that Tom makes is so key here. Who cares if your db is x% faster on Linux if you lose critical data because you don't know how to back it up?

So, I'll stand behind my first paragraph, but ask that you ignore the second.

Tyler

how you find OS ?

robert, April 27, 2004 - 12:19 pm UTC


tom, how else can one find OS platform (in plsql) other than getting the right priviledge & querying v$version or v$dbfiles ?

thanks

Tom Kyte
April 28, 2004 - 1:15 pm UTC

ops$tkyte@ORA9IR2> select dbms_utility.port_string from dual;
 
PORT_STRING
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Linuxi386/Linux-2.0.34-8.1.0
 

DB Creation problem

Rahul, June 08, 2004 - 7:00 am UTC

Hi Tom

I am installing oracle9i (9.0.1.1.0) on windows xp professional and installation goes smooth but at the time of database creation the DBCA gets failed.

I tried to run the DBCA after completing the installation but the wizard of DBCA is not working.
Is there any bug in oracle9i on xp professional or any h/w issue?
I have IBM m/c with p4 processor and 512MB RAM.
What should i do now?

Regards
Rahul.

Tom Kyte
June 08, 2004 - 8:50 am UTC

I'd contact support? "the dbca gets failed" is a little too vague to go on.

Linux vs windoze

Tim W, June 08, 2004 - 12:04 pm UTC

In my experience as a developer, a properly tuned linux box will run much faster and more reliably than a windows box.

stock install of linux vs stock install of windows its a coin flip as to whats better.

If you are someone that knows how to tweak linux, the linux box will out perform the windows box for services like web hosting, db, etc every time.

Why Oracle ยท"choose" Linux

A reader, August 11, 2005 - 10:03 am UTC

I can't say Oracle "choose" linux, but several yeras ago, I perceived Oracle had give the message "we like Linux".

My question is not why I should migrate Linux,
the question is to you (Oracle), which are the reason you decided to migrate several os to linux.

For example
1. is easier scripting?
2. is easier to configure the server?
3. is more flexible?
4. is more secure?

I want to know which os choose in this moment, I understand is a very difficult position for you to simple say you prefer one operating system than other.

Could you give the main advantages and disadvantages.

Thanks.

Tom Kyte
August 11, 2005 - 6:14 pm UTC

1) than what
2) than what
3) than what
4) than what

depends on what you know at the end of the day. For example there is a popular GUI OS out there that I would say is hard to script - at best. I cannot configure these servers, but give me a unix machine.... I cannot get this GUI to do what I need/want half the time, but unix. I wouldn't know if my GUI OS was secure or not.

Because -- I am not expert with that GUI OS

There are those that are and would say the opposite.

I've always said to look around and see what skills you actually have sitting to the left and the right - that'll help you choose.

Oracle's Mantra has always been "portable", it is my opinion we'll be on any commercially viable OS for as long as we are making a database.

A reader, August 12, 2005 - 9:13 am UTC

Thanks Tom,
If I as you as Tom Kyte, not as vicepresident, I tell you, I want to move from windows to linux.

Which would be the main "problems" I must keep in mind to migrate from windows to linux?


Tom Kyte
August 12, 2005 - 9:23 am UTC

Doesn't matter if you ask me as "Tom of Oracle" and "Tom as person sitting next to you on the bus"

Answer would be:

So, do you have a team that can support linux, if not, what are your hiring plans to get that team into place before you even start to consider doing this.

A reader, August 12, 2005 - 4:57 pm UTC

Thanks Tom,
Because using linux, you can offer the complete solution cheaper, we are thinking to use linux.

But I would like your opinion about it. Some commet about advantages and disadvantages?

I'm not going to hire a team, to ask this. We hate Tom Kyte :).

Tom Kyte
August 13, 2005 - 9:53 am UTC

wow, freudian slip of the n'th degree on that last line or what.


To me, running windows as a server with the resources I have would be foolish. why? I have no windows expertise and don't plan on getting any. For me, any flavor of unix is a better choice.

For others, the opposite is true. I don't know how else to say it.


If (you_have_no_linux_expertise_available) AND
(you_attempt_to_do_it_on_linux)
THEN
expect_many_potholes_and_detours_while_you_learn
END IF


:1,$s/linux/any technology/g

and the same is true. If that last comment makes no sense, get some linux expertise on board to help YOU evaulate YOUR situation.

A Reader

K .Joseph, August 15, 2005 - 8:44 am UTC

Hi Friends

I am joseph I want to install Oracle 9i on Red Hat Linux 9
can u plz help me
Thanks in Advance

Joseph

A reader, August 15, 2005 - 9:01 am UTC

Thanks Tom, sorry for the freudina slip, there was a that between hate and Tom Kyte :), before the copy and paste.

Quick Question - Windows with multiple CPU

Mathew Butler, March 08, 2006 - 1:24 pm UTC

It was mentioned to me today that Oracle on windows can only use one CPU ( based on the fact that the oracle executable is one process with multiple threads and a process can only run on one CPU).

This doesn't sit well with me ( it doesn't tally with my understanding of Oracle parallel query and the fact that Oracle sizes various init parameters base on the cpu count and of course the ORacle licencing model)

Can someone please explain how the Oracle executable takes advantage of multiple CPU on windows if these are available?

Best Regards,




Tom Kyte
March 09, 2006 - 12:36 pm UTC

that was slightly FALSE.

well, it was completely and utterly and horribly wrong.

the operating system contains a scheduler
the operating system schedules things
the windows operating system schedules THREADS
we are therefore a multithreaded process because that is what windows expects

On unix, the OS schedules processes
therefore on unix we are multi-process.



Ta.

Mathew Butler, March 09, 2006 - 1:24 pm UTC

Knew it was false, and knew that Windows had to schedule threads, but couldn't find anywhere that this was stated.

Have worked so long with *nix so long that didn't like to state anything other than "what you are telling me doesn't make sense". This new "fact" just made me feel unfomfortable. I think the phrase I am looking for is "cognitive dissonance"

</code> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive%5Fdissonance <code>

ie: It didn't fit in with my existing set of beliefs about the world.

Been a lomng day - I'm off to get more coffee...

Installing Oracle 9i EE on Windows XP

Girish, March 20, 2006 - 1:37 am UTC

Hi Tom,

Please answer my query .I have bought a brand new laptop for personal use and I have Oracle 9i EE CD and wants to install it on my new lap top which has Windows XP as OS.
I have installed it on a PC with Windows 2000.Is it going to be successfully installable on WIndows XP
My whole investments on laptop is dependent on your answer

Please answer

Thanks & Regds
Girish

Tom Kyte
March 20, 2006 - 7:20 am UTC

9iR2 is supported on XP Pro.

Oracle ~ Rome

A reader, March 22, 2006 - 4:54 am UTC

When in Oracle, do as Tom do!

and never forget the fate of Rome........

Moving from windows to linux

Yoav, April 27, 2007 - 3:25 pm UTC

Hi Tom,
We are planing to move a databases from windows to linux machine.
The database version is 10.2.0.3.
The DB size is 1.5 Tera
1. If you have only 24 hour to move the database from the windows machine to the linux machine how would you do that (e.g full expdp/impdp , transportable tablespace ... )?
2. Does 24 hour looks reasonable to accomplish this task ?
Thanks


Tom Kyte
April 27, 2007 - 5:31 pm UTC

Moving from windows to linux

Yoav, April 28, 2007 - 4:22 am UTC

Hi Tom,
Thank you for the advice.
Using transport tablespace cross platform will not move
objects likes : USERS,PROCEDURE/PACKAGES/TRIGGERS/FUNCTION,
SYNONYMS,GRANTS,SEQUENCES and more.
1. How do you suggest to move them ?
2. How can i be shore that i moved all the objects ?
Thanks
Tom Kyte
April 29, 2007 - 9:19 am UTC

FULL CROSS PLATFORM
^^^^



<quote>

Support for Database Transport Across Same Endian Platforms

Oracle Database 10g Release 2 introduces database transport across the same Endian platforms which provides a fast and easy way to transport the whole database across platforms with the same Endian format. This feature uses RMAN to quickly convert the datafiles and create the new database. The newly created database is a copy of the source database but on a different operating system/hardware platform; for example, fast Windows to Linux or Solaris to HP-UX migration.

</quote>