Difference Oracle on Windows & Unix

Advantages of Oracle UNIX:

Significant performance improvement

Provides High Availability

Contains in-depth system utilities and open-source code

Highly respected by Oracle personnel

Advantages of Oracle Windows:

Very easy to deploy and support

Requires far less IT training

Simple interface to Microsoft tools such as ODBC and .NET.

In my personal opinion, here are some specific disadvantages to Linux and Windows:

Disadvantages of Oracle UNIX:

Required specialized skills (vi editor, shell scripting, etc.)

Required highly-technical Systems Administrators and DBA

Contains in-depth system utilities and open-source code

Security Holes (if mis-configured)

Susceptible to root kit attacks

Disadvantages of Oracle Windows:

Slower than Linux

Less glamorous for the SA and DBA

History of poor reliability (bad reputation)

Security Holes (if mis-configured)

Susceptible to Internet viruses

The main disadvantage is regarding the requirements for a technical staff that is proficient in shell scripting, the vi editor and the cryptic UNIX command syntax.

Unlike the easy-to-use Windows GUI, Linux and proprietary UNIX often require cryptic shell scripts to perform basic Oracle functions. Given the vast differences in administration, begin with looking at porting from UNIX to Windows.

The core difference is that in UNIX the OS controls the operations, while in Windows the Oracle database controls the operations.

There is also the issue of the expense of licensing the proprietary UNIX software such as Solaris, AIX, and HP UNIX, which can be tens of thousands of dollars. This has led many companies to consider the public-domain Linux option. To understand the benefits and shortcomings of Linux, you must take a closer look at Linux technology.

With the increasing popularity of Intel-based database servers, Oracle shops are struggling to make the choice between Linux and Windows for their Oracle databases. As we may know, Windows has suffered from a history of unreliability and Linux suffers because of it’s nascent technology and lack of support.

Find here major differences of Oracle on Unix, Linux and Windows.

Windows is multitasking but doesn't multi user operating system. Unix/Linux is multitasking, multiuser and Multithreading operating system.

For installation of Oracle on windows doesn't require any other user creation, we can perform oracle installation using "administrator" superuser of windows. For installation of Oracle on Unix/linux required to creating separate operating system user account. Using super user "root" we doesn't require to perform Oracle installation.

For installation of Oracle on windows, if we create separate operating system then it should be group of super user administrator. For installation of Oracle on Unix/Linux, when we create operating system user then it should be not part of super user group.

Default location of password file and parameter file for Windows is ORACLE_HOME\database folder.Default location of password file and parameter file for Unix/Linux is ORACLE_HOME/dbs folder.

ORACLE_BASE,ORACLE_HOME,ORACLE_SID are defined in registry of Windows as HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOME0. ORACLE_BASE,ORACLE_HOME,ORACLE_SID are defined as user's environment variables in Unix/Linux.

Symbolic links are NOT supported for user's environment variables or registry parameter in Windows. Symbolic links are supported for user's environment variables in Unix/Linux.

In windows we should need to set environment variable using "set" command and it doesn't save in user profile. In Unix and Linux we should need to set environment variable using "export" command and it can save using .profile (in Unix) and .bash_profile (in Linux).

Oracle's shared libraries are called as shared DLL in windows. Oracle's shared libraries are available in Unix/Linux.

Relinking of Oracle executable is not available in Windows. Relinking of Oracle executable is available in Unix/Linux.

Shared memory , shared segments and semaphores are NOT adjustable in Windows. Shared memory segment(SHMMAX), shared segments (SHMMNI) and semaphores (SEMMNS) are adjustable using kernel parameters in Unix/Linux.

Oracle's SGA locking in real memory doesn't possible in Windows. Oracle's SGA locking in real memory is possible in Unix/Linux.

Each background process of Oracle is implementing as Thread inside single process in Windows. Each background process of Oracle is a process in Unix/Linux.

Windows called as GUI because it provides Graphical User Interface. Unix and Linux called as CLUI called Command Line User Interface. Due to this reason Unix and Linux provides more performance than Windows due to resource utilization.

Oracle on Unix,Linux & Windows: Comparison of Oracle on operating system level with memory,disk I/O, security, Installation etc . View large

Windows is flat file system. Unix and Linux is hierarchical model file system. Windows kernel stores in couple of files like Registry. Unix and Linux kernel stores in many files which are hierarchy. It is very easy to understand Unix and Linux file systems in any version.

Earlier FAT and FAT32 file system has no security in Windows. Using NTFS file system windows use file permission based security. In Unix and Linux has traditional file permission security with owner,group and other users.Unix has greater built-in security and permissions features than Windows. Linux contains also same type of security and permissions logic like Unix.

There are very few utilities available in Windows for performance monitoring and administration. There are lot of command line utilities are available in Unix/Linux for performance monitoring and administration.

Source code of Operating system doesn't available in Windows. Source code of Operating system is available in some of Linux flavors, means we can modify source code of operating system.

Oracle on Windows magnetize because easy to understand, easy to maintain, easy to develop, resource availability and with good support. Oracle on Unix/Linux is not easy to understand,easy to maintain or easy to develop because it requires high skill set and depth knowledge.

Oracle deployment is very easy in Windows because not need to more knowledge or special skill sets. Oracle deployment is not easy in Unix/Linux because it requires special skill sets.

Windows is user friendly operating system. Unix and Linux doesn't user friendly operating system.

There is high risk of virus attacks on Windows. Because majority of windows users run as Administrator and virus can be affecting on any of files of kernel due to super user account. There is minimum risk for virus attacks on Unix and Linux. Because most of Unix box or Linux box is being run by user interface not using "root" super user. Due to this reason virus attacker cannot able to modify kernel of operating system.

Oracle on Windows magnetize because easy to understand, easy to maintain, easy to develop, resource availability and with good support.Oracle on Unix/Linux is not easy to understand,easy to install, maintain or easy to develop because it requires high skill set and depth knowledge.

Above reasons explain that, Oracle database administration on Unix and Linux requires extra knowledge and special expertise. Oracle on Linux and Unix provides best security and performance. Large and critical databases are running on Linux, Unix and Windows. Remote DBA Services provider has expertise to manage all type operating systems and all versions of Oracle.