1. Release Notes for Oracle Linux 7.7
  2. Installation and Availability

6 Installation and Availability

You can download a full Oracle Linux 7.7 installation media image from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud at https://edelivery.oracle.com/linux. You can also obtain the latest Oracle Linux 7 packages from the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and the Oracle Linux yum server.

You can install additional software for Oracle Linux 7.7 by subscribing to the different channels on ULN or by enabling the required repositories within your yum configuration. To explore the channels that are available to you on ULN, log in to https://uln.oracle.com/ and view the Channels option. To view the Oracle Linux yum repositories that are available for Oracle Linux 7, visit https://yum.oracle.com/oracle-linux-7.html.

Note:

The Oracle Linux yum server does not provide equivalent repositories for some channels that are available on ULN. These channels provide non-open source packages.

If you are installing an update on a system for which you have previously installed the Oracle-supported OFED packages, see Upgrading a system with an existing UEK R4 installation to continue to use UEK R4 for instructions on how to update these packages during an upgrade.

UEK R5 is the default boot kernel for fresh installations of Oracle Linux 7.7. For more information, see Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 Update 2 (4.14.35-1902).

For systems that are running UEK R3 or UEK R4 and are subscribed to the ol7_x86_64_UEKR3 or ol7_x86_64_UEKR4 channel on ULN, or the ol7_x86_64_UEKR3 or ol7_x86_64_UEKR4 repository on the Oracle Linux yum server, upgrade to the latest UEK release as follows:

  1. Upgrade all of the packages on the system, including the kernel packages. 

    sudo yum update

    By default, the boot manager automatically enables the most recent kernel version so you do not need to change your GRUB configuration.

  2. Reboot the system. 

    sudo systemctl reboot

Important:

Oracle Linux 7.7 updates many major subsystems. To ensure that your updated systems function correctly, reboot them after updating.

Upgrading from Oracle Linux 6

It is possible to upgrade an Oracle Linux 6 system to Oracle Linux 7.7 under the following conditions:

  • The system meets the minimum installation requirements for Oracle Linux 7 as described in System Requirements and Limitations.

  • The Oracle Linux 6 system has been completely updated from the ol6_x86_64_latest channel or ol6_latest repository.

  • UEK R3 or UEK R4 has been installed on the system that is to be upgraded and is the default boot kernel.

    Upgrading from UEK R2 is not supported. Note that the system is upgraded to use the UEK R5 release that is provided with Oracle Linux 7.7.

  • No Oracle product stack is present on the system.

Upgrading is supported only for systems that are installed with the Minimal Install base environment. If additional packages are installed from an alternative repository or channel, upgrade might fail or the resulting upgrade might not function as expected.

For general instructions on how to perform an upgrade, see Oracle Linux 7: Installation Guide.

The following steps are specific to the update for this release:

  1. Make sure your system is completely up to date by using the yum update command to update to the latest Oracle Linux 6 release. The system must be subscribed to the ol6_x86_64_latest and ol6_x86_64_addons channels or ol6_latest and ol6_addons repositories to be updated.

  2. Install the latest versions of the required upgrade packages: 

    yum install openscap redhat-upgrade-tool preupgrade-assistant \
preupgrade-assistant-el6toel7 preupgrade-assistant-el6toel7-data-0 \
preupgrade-assistant-tools preupgrade-assistant-ui

    Obtain the latest versions of these packages from ULN (in the ol6_x86_64_addons channel), or from the Oracle Linux yum server (in the ol6_addons repository).

  3. If the system is registered with ULN, delete the system from ULN and disable yum plugins.

  4. Run the preupg command to perform an upgrade assessment: 

    sudo preupg

    Examine the results in /root/preupgrade/result.html to make sure there are no items that have failed or need attention.

  5. Run the redhat-upgrade-tool-cli command to perform the upgrade: 

    sudo redhat-upgrade-tool-cli --network=7.5 --instrepo=OL7_repo_url \
--debuglog=/tmp/upgrade.log --cleanup-post

    where OL7_repo_url is the URL of the repository where the Oracle Linux 7.7 ISO is hosted.

  6. Reboot the system to start the upgrade process.

Note:

When upgrading from Oracle Linux 6 to Oracle Linux 7.7, the previous version of UEK R4 is removed from the system during the upgrade and the system is updated to use the UEK R5 release that is provided on the installation media image as the default boot kernel.

Oracle-Supported RDMA Packages

Oracle Linux 7.7 introduces UEK R5 as the default kernel. The Oracle-supported RDMA packages that are shipped with UEK R5 replace previous OFED packages and use an updated package and channel-naming scheme. Oracle recommends using UEK R5 with Oracle Linux 7.7. If you intend to install RDMA packages, see Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 Update 2 (4.14.35-1902).

Upgrading a system with an existing UEK R5 installation

If you are upgrading your system from a release prior to Oracle Linux 7.7 and you are already using UEK R5 with the Oracle-supported RDMA packages, these packages are updated automatically as part of the upgrade process.

If your system is registered with ULN, ensure that it is subscribed to the ol7_x86_64_UEKR5_RDMA, ol7_x86_64_UEKR5, and ol7_x86_64_latest channels before the upgrade.

If your system uses the Oracle Linux yum server, ensure that the ol7_UEKR5_RDMA, ol7_UEKR5, and ol7_latest repositories are enabled before upgrading.

Upgrading a system with an existing UEK R4 installation to use UEK R5

If you are upgrading your system from a release prior to Oracle Linux 7.7 and you are using UEK R4 with the Oracle-supported OFED packages, it is recommended that you upgrade to UEK R5 and switch to the corresponding Oracle-supported UEK R5 RDMA packages before upgrading your system.

Note that if the system is newly registered on ULN, the ol7_x86_64_UEKR5 and ol7_x86_64_latest channels are subscribed to by default. However, you will need to explicitly subscribe to the ol7_x86_64_UEKR5_RDMA channel.

If your system uses the Oracle Linux yum server, the ol7_UEKR5, and ol7_latest repositories are enabled by default, starting with Oracle Linux 7.6. However, ensure that the ol7_UEKR5_RDMA repository is enabled before upgrading.

Upgrading requires that you remove existing OFED packages prior to installing the compatible packages for UEK R5. For instructions, see Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 Update 2 (4.14.35-1902).

Upgrading a system with an existing UEK R4 installation to continue to use UEK R4

If you are upgrading your system from a release prior to Oracle Linux 7.7 and you are using UEK R4 with the Oracle-supported OFED packages, and you intend to continue to use UEK R4, you must ensure that your system is subscribed to the correct channels or that the correct yum repositories are enabled before upgrading.

If you are using ULN, check that your system is registered before upgrading and then subscribe the system to the ol7_x86_64_UEKR4_OFED and ol7_x86_64_UEKR4 channels.

Attention:

By default, the ol7_x86_64_UEKR5 and ol7_x86_64_latest channels are enabled when you register an Oracle Linux 7.7 system with ULN. Note that if the ol7_x86_64_UEKR5 channel is enabled, you must disable it to continue if you plan to continue to use UEK R4 with the Oracle-supported OFED packages.

If you are using the Oracle Linux yum server, check that the ol7_UEKR4 and ol7_UEKR4_OFED repositories are enabled and make sure that the ol7_UEKR5 and ol7_UEKR5_RDMA repositories are disabled.

Use the yum update command to upgrade to Oracle Linux 7.7 with the UEK R4 compatible OFED packages.

If you do not have any of the OFED packages installed, you can proceed to install the packages as described in the installation instructions that are provided in Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 4 Update 7 (4.1.12-124).