Practical Technology

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Oracle acquires zero-downtime, Linux upgrade software

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I may reboot my Linux systems once every six months. That’s great for my personal use and a small business. For an enterprise, that’s not good enough. Even twice-a-year reboots is twice a year too often for them. That’s why Ksplice, which enables running systems to update even critical files without rebooting was so popular when it came out in 2009. Now, Oracle has bought Ksplice, and it appears it will be keeping it services available only for Oracle Linux.

Ksplice, according to its developers, “enables running systems to stay secure without the disruption of re-booting. Specifically, Ksplice creates re-bootless updates that are based on traditional source code patches. “These updates are as effective as traditional updates, but they can be applied seamlessly, with no downtime.”

That’s quite a claim, but Ksplice works. I’ve tested it myself.

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