Book Image

Oracle Linux Cookbook

By : Erik Benner, Erik B. Thomsen, Jonathan Spindel
Book Image

Oracle Linux Cookbook

By: Erik Benner, Erik B. Thomsen, Jonathan Spindel

Overview of this book

Discover the power of Oracle Linux 8, the free and enterprise-grade Linux distribution designed for use in any environment, with this recipe-style book. Starting with instructions on how to obtain Oracle Linux for both X86 and ARM-based platforms, this book walks you through various installation methods, from running it as a Windows service to installing it on a Raspberry Pi. It unravels advanced topics such as system upgrades using Leapp for major version transitions and using a PXE server and kickstart files for more advanced installations. The book then delves into swapping kernels to take advantage of Oracle’s UEK, exploring boot options, managing software with DNF, and achieving high availability. Detailed recipes involving security topics will assist with tasks such as data encryption, both at rest and in motion. For developers, it offers guidance on building RPM files, using Docker and Podman in a containerized environment, working with AppStreams, and more. For large-scale deployments, the book introduces Oracle Linux Automation Manager for enterprise-level Ansible utilization, from setting up the Ansible server to basic playbook writing. Finally, you’ll discover strategies for cloud migration. By the end of this book, you’ll possess a comprehensive toolkit that will elevate your skills as a Linux administrator.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Building a DNF/YUM mirror from ULN

It is very common for admins to not enable internet access for the systems running in a secure network, like banking of Government networks. A local mirror of Oracle’s Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) is a great way to allow systems to access patches without having to reach out across the internet to access them.

Getting ready

To do this, you will need a YUM server system running Oracle Linux 8. The local system should have internet access to be able to reach the ULN servers via direct access or a proxy server. Only the system (often called a YUM server) synchronizing to ULN will require this access; all the systems using this system will not need access to the internet, they will use this system to access patches.

The system is not CPU- or RAM-intensive – 2 cores and 4 GB of RAM are often more than enough for the server, but the system will use a lot of disk space. You can check how much space is needed by running the dnf repolist...