Oracle Linux 10: Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 8

Oracle Linux 10 ships with two kernels: the Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) that matches RHEL 10, and Oracle’s own Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 8 (UEK8). The UEK is what makes Oracle Linux interesting — it tracks the upstream kernel more closely than RHEL’s kernel, bringing newer features and performance improvements.

Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 8

UEK8 is based on kernel 6.12+ with Oracle-specific optimizations:

• DTrace for Linux — Oracle’s observability tool ported to Linux
• Btrfs as a supported filesystem — Oracle is the primary Btrfs maintainer
• Optimized for Oracle Database — kernel scheduler tuned for database workloads
• KSplice support — live kernel patching without reboots

# Check which kernel is running
uname -r
# 6.12.x-uek8.el10

# Switch between UEK and RHCK
sudo grubby --set-default /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.x-rhck.el10
sudo reboot

Free to Use

Oracle Linux is free to download, use, and distribute. Oracle’s paid support (Oracle Linux Premier Support) is optional. This makes it viable for:

• Oracle Database deployments (obviously)
• General-purpose servers where UEK features are beneficial
• Environments that want KSplice for zero-downtime patching

KSplice: Zero-Downtime Patching

KSplice applies security patches to the running kernel without rebooting:

# Install KSplice (free for Oracle Linux)
sudo dnf install ksplice-tools

# Check for available patches
sudo ksplice show

# Apply patches
sudo ksplice install

For Kubernetes nodes, KSplice means you can patch kernel vulnerabilities without draining and rebooting nodes.

Oracle Linux vs RHEL/Rocky/Alma

Automating with Ansible

Ansible works identically on Oracle Linux as on RHEL:

---
- name: Configure Oracle Linux 10
  hosts: oracle_linux
  tasks:
    - name: Install UEK8
      ansible.builtin.dnf:
        name: kernel-uek
        state: latest

    - name: Enable KSplice
      ansible.builtin.dnf:
        name: ksplice-tools
        state: present

Final Thoughts

Oracle Linux 10 is the right choice when you are running Oracle Database, want KSplice for zero-downtime patching, or prefer the upstream-tracking UEK kernel. For pure Kubernetes workloads without Oracle database dependencies, Rocky or AlmaLinux are simpler choices.

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