Oracle’s Industry Leading Cluster File System Endorsed by Linux Community

Oracle® Cluster File System Release 2 to be Freely Distributed with Mainline Linux Kernel

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., 04-APR-2006 Building on the company’s long-term commitment to the Linux and open source community, Oracle today announced that its enterprise-class cluster file system has been accepted into the mainline Linux kernel. As the first cluster file system to be distributed with the Linux kernel, Oracle® Cluster File System 2 (OCFS Release 2) provides users with an open source alternative to proprietary cluster file systems.
“This is a vital contribution to the open source community,” said Andrew Morton, Linux 2.6 kernel maintainer. “The endorsement of OCFS 2 by the Linux community represents a significant milestone for Oracle and demonstrates how Oracle’s continued contributions are driving adoption of open source technologies.”

By distributing OCFS Release 2 through the mainline Linux kernel and major Linux distributors, such as Novell, Oracle reaffirms its commitment to sharing technology that benefits the larger Linux community. OCFS Release 2 will be included in the mainline Linux kernel 2.6.16 and is already supported on the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform from Novell and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

Novell is a contributor to the OCFS open source project. OCFS Release 2 is included as a standard component in the SUSE Linux Enterprise distribution, thus enabling customers to quickly and easily deploy a cluster file management solution when they install Linux in their enterprise. Fedora Core 5 is also based on the mainline Linux kernel 2.6.16 and therefore ships with OCSF Release 2.

“Oracle Cluster File System Release 2 delivers significant cluster file management improvements that help our customers reduce IT costs without compromising quality or performance,” said Roger Levy, vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions for Novell. “With OCSF2 as part of the mainline kernel, the broader Linux community wins. Novell has made OCSF2 part of our SUSE Linux Enterprise distribution to give our customers a pre-integrated environment to help them deploy their resources more effectively.”

Designed to work as a seamless addition to the Linux kernel, OCFS Release 2 significantly eases system management while improving performance. It enables all nodes in a cluster to concurrently access a given file system, allowing for simplified management of databases that are shared across a cluster. OCFS Release 2 also includes expanded capabilities to run non-database, standard file system operations, providing additional value as a general-purpose file management system.

“We are very pleased and encouraged with the endorsement by the Linux community,” said Wim Coekaerts, senior director of Linux engineering, Oracle. “This milestone is yet another proof point of Oracle’s dedication to the Linux and open source community. We are committed to contributing code and making open source technologies, like Linux, even more robust.”

Since introducing the first database to run on Linux in 1998, Oracle has been committed to furthering Linux adoption across the enterprise. Support has been a hallmark of Oracle’s Linux organization since June 2002, when Oracle began providing integrated support for the entire software platform, including the Linux operating system. Currently, customers from around the globe tap Oracle for 24/7 technical support for Oracle on Linux. Oracle’s Linux Kernel Group is dedicated to working with Linux vendors and the open source community to provide fixes and develop new functionality to benefit the Linux users.

Availability
OCFS Release 2 is offered for free under the terms of the General Public Use license and GNU public license. Download and additional information can be found here:

http://oss.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2/

http://kernel.org (by downloading the Linux Kernel)

http://www.novell.com/linux

About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world’s largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.

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Teri Whitaker

Oracle

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