Oracle Linux 7.3 is Available For Download Now
The Oracle Linux and Virtualization Team is pleased to announce the general availability of Oracle Linux 7 Update 3 for x86-64 servers.
The new version, Oracle Linux 7.3, represents an incremental update to the company's 7.x series. The new version supports booting on UEFI-enabled computers and will run on machines with Secure Boot turned on. Oracle Linux provides two flavours of the Linux kernel: Oracle's Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) and a Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK).
Oracle Linux is an enterprise-class Linux distribution supported by Oracle and built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Some of the special features of Oracle Linux include a custom-build and rigorously-tested Linux kernel called "Oracle Unbreakable Kernel", tight integration with Oracle's hardware and software products including most database applications, and "zero downtime patching" - a feature that enables administrators to update the kernel without a reboot.
This is the first Oracle Linux 7 ISO to include UEK Release 4 (UEK R4). Please note that new installations of Oracle Linux 7 Update 3 will install and boot the UEK R4 kernel by default. However, updates to existing Oracle Linux 7 environments require the user to explicitly install UEK R4 and will not automatically replace existing UEK R3 kernels.
Kernel Support with Oracle Linux 7 Update 3
The Oracle Linux 7 Update 3 ISO includes and installs two sets of kernel packages: Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) and Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK). The installation process configures the system to boot with UEK as the default kernel, and configures RHCK as an alternate kernel.
The Oracle Linux 7 Update 3 ISO contains the following kernel packages:
- kernel-uek-4.1.12-61.1.18.el7uek (UEK R4u2 +errata)
- kernel-3.10.0-514.el7
Oracle Linux 7 Update 3 continues to support, but does not ship with, the latest UEK R3u7 and later.
Further information can be found in the release announcement. Oracle Linux can be downloaded from the company's Oracle Software Delivery Cloud (requires subscription). At the time of writing, Oracle Linux 7.3 is not available from the company's download mirrors.
