New Things We’ll See In Oracle Linux 8
Oracle Linux 8 ships with the concept of distributing Operating System packages among two parts, Application Streams and BaseOS. In previous releases all packages were bundled together as software packages, However, In OL 8 we’ll see core Operating System components and user space packages as BaseOS and other range of applications as Application Streams.
[root@bcp ~]# dnf update info Oracle Linux 8 Application Stream (x86_64) 2.6 kB/s | 2.9 kB 00:01 Oracle Linux 8 BaseOS Latest (x86_64) 2.4 kB/s | 2.7 kB 00:01 Dependencies resolved. Nothing to do. Complete!
- As we can see, when above update info command is fired, we can see two different repositories Application Stream and BaseOS.
- You might also have noticed that package manager we’re using is dnf instead of yum, though yum is also available for use, Oracle Linux 8 introduces Dandified yum to Install, Update and Remove packages.
Installing Tiger-VNC using dnf in Oracle Linux 8.
[root@bcp ~]# dnf install tigervnc-server Last metadata expiration check: 2:06:53 ago on Sunday 27 October 2019 05:12:17 PM IST. Dependencies resolved. ============================================================================================================================================================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================================================================================================================================================ Installing: tigervnc-server x86_64 1.9.0-9.el8 ol8_appstream 252 k Transaction Summary ============================================================================================================================================================================================================ Install 1 Package Total download size: 252 k Installed size: 688 k Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64.rpm 73 kB/s | 252 kB 00:03 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total 73 kB/s | 252 kB 00:03 Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Installing : tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64 1/1 Running scriptlet: tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64 1/1 Installed: tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64 Complete!
Updating using dnf
[root@bcp ~]# dnf update sudo Last metadata expiration check: 2:07:40 ago on Sunday 27 October 2019 05:12:17 PM IST. Dependencies resolved. ============================================================================================================================================================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================================================================================================================================================ Upgrading: sudo x86_64 1.8.25p1-4.0.1.el8_0.1 ol8_baseos_latest 873 k Transaction Summary ============================================================================================================================================================================================================ Upgrade 1 Package Total download size: 873 k Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: sudo-1.8.25p1-4.0.1.el8_0.1.x86_64.rpm 618 kB/s | 873 kB 00:01 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total 616 kB/s | 873 kB 00:01 Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Upgrading : sudo-1.8.25p1-4.0.1.el8_0.1.x86_64 1/2 Running scriptlet: sudo-1.8.25p1-4.0.1.el8_0.1.x86_64 1/2 Cleanup : sudo-1.8.25p1-4.el8_0.1.x86_64 2/2 Running scriptlet: sudo-1.8.25p1-4.el8_0.1.x86_64 2/2 Verifying : sudo-1.8.25p1-4.0.1.el8_0.1.x86_64 1/2 Verifying : sudo-1.8.25p1-4.el8_0.1.x86_64 2/2 Upgraded: sudo-1.8.25p1-4.0.1.el8_0.1.x86_64 Complete!
Removing using dnf
[root@bcp ~]# dnf remove tigervnc-server Dependencies resolved. ============================================================================================================================================================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================================================================================================================================================ Removing: tigervnc-server x86_64 1.9.0-9.el8 @ol8_appstream 688 k Transaction Summary ============================================================================================================================================================================================================ Remove 1 Package Freed space: 688 k Is this ok [y/N]: y Running transaction check Transaction check succeeded. Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded. Running transaction Preparing : 1/1 Running scriptlet: tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64 1/1 Erasing : tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64 1/1 Running scriptlet: tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64 1/1 Removed: tigervnc-server-1.9.0-9.el8.x86_64 Complete!
- You might have also noticed that when we downloaded tigervnc-server package using dnf, the repository field shows ol8_appstream. However, when we tried updating sudo package it’s using ol8_baseos_latest repository for core os packages. This concept of package distribution among two categories will help providing support and updates wherein updates for Application Streams packages can be delivered more frequently than the BaseOS packages.
- Those who were using iptables as firewall for their machine, iptables is now replaced with enhanced version of it called nftables.
- iptables-translate command can be used to convert their rule to nftables(Net Filter Tables).
[root@bcp ~]# systemctl status nftables.service
● nftables.service - Netfilter Tables
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nftables.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: man:nft(8)
Oracle Linux 8 ships with web based administrative tool called Cockpit.
As soon as you’ll login to your OL8 server using SSH, it’ll give you the details of a running Cockpit. Cockpit is one stop solution for system.
huzefa@Demunix-Notebook:~$ ssh root@bcp root@bcp's password: Web console: https://bcp.demunix.com:9090/ Last login: Wed Oct 23 05:26:18 2019 from 192.168.0.103
This is the login screen which appears as soon as you hits the address details of cockpit in the browser.
You are supposed to use OS credentials to login to this console.
As soon as you login you’ll get this page showing system information of the server like CPU usage, Memory Usage, Disk I/O and Network Traffic.
Next tab contains system logs which can viewed by choosing different level of severity. I have selected everything under severity to view logs of every activity.
Under storage tab you can see all storage details of your server including Read / Write, Mount Points, NFS Mounts, RAID, Drives, Storage Logs, etc.
Under Networking tab you’ll details of inbound / outbound bandwidth, Firewall details, NICs, and Network logs.
Under accounts tab you’ll get list of users on the server which can also be managed from this interface.
You can perform task shown in below screenshot.
Under service tab, you can see the services.
Under Diagnostic Reports, you can click on generate report and it will initialize report generation.
Which can be downloaded later, once they’re generated.
Under Software Update tab you check perform actual update of the packages installed on the server. Packages for which the updates are available will be listed here.
Update info can be viewed too.
And then initialize update operation for the packages.
Since I had recently updated all the packages using dnf, I only got update for firefox.
Last but not the list, you can also access terminal from within the Cockpit console.
Cockpit version shipping with Oracle Linux 8 as of writing this article is 185.1
Under GNU LGPL version 2.1
Hope this article will brings some value.
Peace 🙂