My thoughts.
(1)
The vast majority of Oracle database code is written against 64-bit Oracle
Linux and UEK. Not only is it mostly coded against that, but it is the
release that gets the vast majority of the testing. It is also how Oracle
run the Oracle database in the cloud. It is what Exadata, the flagship
database product , ships with.
Once the database is ready for 64-bit Oracle Liinux and UEK, it is paper
certified for RHEL. That's interesting.
Despite what people say about other first tier platforms, *IMHO* everything
other than OL is a port. I know there are windows and solaris development
teams dealing with those platforms, but OL + UEK is the master.
Knowing that, which OS are you most confident about picking? OL + UEK or
some other random-ass port?
(2)
Oracle Linux is free. Free to install. Free errata/updates from
yum.oracle.com. If costs the same as CentOS (nothing), but is a
certified platform.
You can choose to buy support for the OS, but you don't need to. Not doing
so has NO IMPACT on the support status of the products you install on top
of it. We use OL+UEK for nearly everything we do. We don't have a single OS
support contract. All out DBs and App Servers are supported in the normal
way.
(3)
If someone is asking you to put licensed and supported Oracle products on
an unsupported OS they need educating. If you are interested in helping
them, this might be worth a read.
https://oracle-base.com/articles/linux/oracle-linux-frequently-asked-questions
Cheers
Tim...
