Chapter 6 Installation and Availability

Table of Contents

You can download the full Oracle Linux 7.9 installation media image from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud at https://edelivery.oracle.com/. Note that a smaller boot ISO is also available to perform a network-based installation.

For convenience, the three most recent Oracle Linux installation media images (for each release) are also available from the Oracle Linux yum server at https://yum.oracle.com/oracle-linux-isos.html.

Note

UEK R6 is the default boot kernel for Oracle Linux 7.9. To maintain your current boot kernel, follow the instructions in Section 6.1, “General Upgrade Information”.

For the Arm (aarch64) platform, see Section 7.5, “Installation and Availability (aarch64)” for additional instructions.

You can also install a full Oracle Linux 7.9 media image for the x86_64 platform on a compute instance on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. To access the image, you must obtain an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure account. For more information, visit https://www.oracle.com/index.html .

In addition, the latest Oracle Linux 7.9 packages are available on the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and the Oracle Linux yum server. To obtain the latest Oracle Linux 7.9 packages from ULN and install additional software for Oracle Linux 7.9, subscribe to the different channels on ULN by logging in to https://linux.oracle.com and then viewing the Channels option. To install additional software for Oracle Linux 7.9 from the Oracle Linux yum server, enable the required repositories within your yum configuration. To view the Oracle Linux yum repositories that are available for Oracle Linux 7.9, visit https://yum.oracle.com/.

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

Note

When an Oracle Linux release RPM is updated, the default repositories may change. Oracle recommends that you review the output of the yum repolist command to ensure that only those repositories that are required for your configuration remain enabled.

To disable a repository, run use the yum-config-manager --disable repository_label command.

If you are installing an update on a system for which you have previously installed the Oracle-supported OFED packages, see Section 6.2, “Upgrading Oracle-Supported OFED or RDMA Packages” for instructions on how to update these packages during an upgrade.

Oracle also makes the Oracle Linux 7.9 release available for 64-bit Arm (aarch64) platforms. See Chapter 7, Release-Specific Information for Oracle Linux 7.9 (aarch64) for more information.

For developers who are making use of the Raspberry Pi hardware platform, Oracle provides an unsupported developer release image that includes the necessary firmware to boot this platform. You can download the image from the Oracle Technology Network. For more information about making use of the Raspberry Pi hardware platform, see Install Oracle Linux on a Raspberry Pi.

6.1 General Upgrade Information

For systems that are running UEK R4 or UEK R5 and are subscribed to the ol7_x86_64_UEKR4 or ol7_x86_64_UEKR5 channel on ULN, or the ol7_x86_64_UEKR4 or ol7_x86_64_UEKR5 repository on the Oracle Linux yum server, you can upgrade to Oracle Linux 7.9 and the latest UEK release as follows:

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

    # 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. 

    # systemctl reboot
Important

Oracle Linux 7.9 updates many major subsystems. To ensure that your updated systems function correctly, reboot them after updating.

Note

UEK R6 is the default boot kernel for Oracle Linux 7.9. If you want to maintain your system at its current UEK release, first run the yum update command and then disable the ol7_UEKR6 repository by running the yum-config-manager --disable ol7_UEKR6 command.

After upgrading to Oracle Linux 7.9, re-enable the repository for the UEK R5 release that you plan to continue run, as that repository is disabled during the upgrade process.

6.2 Upgrading Oracle-Supported OFED or RDMA Packages

Note

When upgrading Oracle-supported packages for the OFED or RDMA stack, the packages must match the specific UEK release that you are running, as per the following guidelines:

  • UEK R4 uses the Oracle-supported OFED packages for UEK R4 (ol7_x86_64_UEKR4_OFED).

  • UEK R5 uses the Oracle-supported RDMA packages for UEK R5 (ol7_x86_64_UEKR5_RDMA).

  • UEK R6 uses the Oracle-supported RDMA packages for UEK R6 (ol7_x86_64_UEKR6_RDMA).

Additionally, you must disable all other OFED and RDMA channels that do not match your currently running UEK release.

Oracle Linux 7.9 provides UEK R6 as the default kernel. The Oracle-supported RDMA packages that are shipped with UEK R6 replace the previous OFED packages and use an updated package and channel-naming scheme. Oracle recommends using UEK R6 with Oracle Linux 7.9.

If you intend to install RDMA packages, see the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6.

Upgrading a system with an existing UEK R6 installation

If you are upgrading your system from Oracle Linux 7.8 to Oracle Linux 7.9, and you are already using UEK R6 with the Oracle-supported RDMA packages, these packages are updated automatically during the upgrade process.

If your system is registered with ULN, ensure that it is subscribed to the ol7_x86_64_UEKR6_RDMA, ol7_x86_64_UEKR6, and ol7_x86_64_latest channels before upgrading.

If your system uses the Oracle Linux yum server, ensure that the ol7_UEKR6_RDMA, ol7_UEKR6, and ol7_latest repositories are enabled before upgrading.

Upgrading a system with an existing UEK R5 installation to use UEK R6

If you are upgrading from a previous release to Oracle Linux 7.9 and you are using an existing UEK R5 release with the Oracle-supported RDMA packages, you can upgrade to UEK R6 and switch to the corresponding Oracle-supported UEK R6 RDMA packages. These packages are updated automatically during the upgrade process.

If the system is newly registered on ULN, the ol7_x86_64_UEKR6 and ol7_x86_64_latest channels are subscribed to by default. However, ensure that you are also subscribed to the ol7_x86_64_UEKR6_RDMA channel prior to upgrading.

If the system uses the Oracle Linux yum server, the ol7_UEKR6 and ol7_latest repositories are enabled by default. However, ensure that the ol7_UEKR6_RDMA repository is enabled prior to upgrading.

For instructions, see Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6.

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

If you are upgrading your system from a previous release and you are using UEK R5 with the Oracle-supported RDMA packages, and you intend to continue to use UEK R5, 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_UEKR5_RDMA and ol7_x86_64_UEKR5 channels.

Warning

By default, the ol7_x86_64_UEKR6 and ol7_x86_64_latest channels are enabled when you register an Oracle Linux 7.9 system with ULN. Note that if the ol7_x86_64_UEKR6 channel is enabled and you plan to continue to use UEK R5 with the Oracle-supported RDMA packages, you must disable this channel to continue.

If you are using the Oracle Linux yum server, check that the ol7_UEKR5 and ol7_UEKR5_RDMA repositories are enabled. Then, use the yum update command to upgrade to Oracle Linux 7.9 with the compatible UEK R5 RDMA packages.

After the system is updated, ensure that other UEK and RDMA repositories are disabled.

If you do not have any RDMA packages installed, you can install the packages by following the installation instructions in the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 Update 3.

Upgrading a system with an existing UEK R4 installation to use UEK R6

If you are upgrading your system from a release prior to Oracle Linux 7.9 and you are using UEK R4 with the Oracle-supported OFED packages, it is recommended that you upgrade to UEK R6 and switch to the corresponding Oracle-supported UEK R6 RDMA packages before upgrading your system.

Note that if the system is newly registered on ULN, you are subscribed to the ol7_x86_64_UEKR6 and ol7_x86_64_latest channels by default. However, you will need to explicitly subscribe to the ol7_x86_64_UEKR6_RDMA channel.

Starting with Oracle Linux 7.9, if your system uses the Oracle Linux yum server, the ol7_UEKR6 and ol7_latest repositories are enabled by default. However, ensure that the ol7_UEKR6_RDMA repository is enabled before upgrading.

Upgrading requires that you remove existing OFED packages prior to installing the compatible packages for UEK R6.

For instructions, see Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6.

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 7.9 and you are using UEK R4 with the Oracle-supported OFED packages, and you intend to continue to use UEK R4, 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.

Warning

By default, the ol7_x86_64_UEKR6 and ol7_x86_64_latest channels are enabled when you register an Oracle Linux 7.9 system with ULN. Note that if the ol7_x86_64_UEKR6 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. Then, use the yum update command to upgrade to Oracle Linux 7.9 with the compatible UEK R4 OFED packages.

After the system is updated, ensure that the ol7_UEKR6 and ol7_UEKR6_RDMA repositories are disabled. For more information, see Section 6.1, “General Upgrade Information”.

If you do not have any of the OFED packages installed, you can install the packages, per the installation instructions in the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 4 Update 7

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