Red Hat on OCI FAQ

FAQ topics

Partnership

What differentiates OCI from other cloud providers?

OCI offers flexible virtual machine shapes that customers can configure based on their workload needs.

Customers can choose the following:

  • Processor, such as Intel, AMD, or Arm
  • Number of CPU cores, from 1 to 80 depending on the processor, in single-core increments
  • Total memory, from 1 GB to 1,024 GB depending on the processor, configurable in 1 GB increments per core

Some cloud providers offer fixed instance sizes that may provide more or less compute capacity than customers need.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Compute bare metal shapes provide customers with dedicated physical servers for high performance workloads. The OCI control plane runs on a separate device outside the bare metal instance, so management operations don’t consume resources on the instance.

OCI’s distributed cloud strategy includes multicloud offerings that work with other cloud providers. Examples include Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure and Oracle AI Database@Azure, which help customers use OCI and Azure services together.

Licensing and billing

Can I purchase Red Hat products through the Oracle Cloud Console or Oracle Cloud Marketplace?

Customers can purchase Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) through the Oracle Cloud Console and use Oracle Universal Credits to cover 100% of the purchase price. Customers can purchase subscriptions for RHEL, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP), and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) through a private offer on Oracle Cloud Marketplace and apply up to 25% of their annual Oracle Universal Credits commitment to the purchase.

Oracle bills customers for purchases through both channels.

Summary

Offering
Purchase channel
Oracle Universal Credits
Private offer available
RHEL 9.8 and 10.2 Oracle Cloud Console 100% of purchase price Yes
RHEL 7 Oracle Cloud Console (estimated for the first half of 2027) 100% of purchase price Yes
RHEL 8 Oracle Cloud Console (estimated for the first half of 2027) 100% of purchase price Yes
RHEL subscription Oracle Cloud Marketplace Up to 25% of annual commitment Yes
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform subscription Oracle Cloud Marketplace Up to 25% of annual commitment Yes
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform subscription Oracle Cloud Marketplace Up to 25% of annual commitment Yes
For purchases through the Oracle Cloud Console, Oracle provides level 1 and level 2 support, and Red Hat provides level 3 support. For purchases through Oracle Cloud Marketplace, Red Hat provides level 1, level 2, and level 3 support.

Can customers bring their own subscription through Red Hat’s BYOS program?

Yes. Customers should use the Red Hat Cloud Access Program to leverage their Red Hat Enterprise Linux licenses.

Can customers move an on‑premises Red Hat Enterprise Linux license to OCI?

Yes. Customers can use the Red Hat Cloud Access Program to move licenses between on-premises and cloud vendors. For further questions, customers should engage their Red Hat sales team for assistance.

Can customers license Red Hat products via an on-demand subscription through OCI?

No. Licensing is currently through Red Hat. Availability of on-demand licensing through OCI is being considered.

Is Red Hat Enterprise Linux available in Oracle Cloud Marketplace?

No. Licensing is currently through Red Hat. Availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux via Oracle Cloud Marketplace is being considered.

Can customers move Red Hat Enterprise Linux licenses from other clouds to OCI?

Yes. Customers can use the Red Hat Cloud Access Program to move licenses between on-premises and cloud vendors. For further questions, customers should engage their Red Hat sales team for assistance.

Can customers be billed for Red Hat product licenses via OCI?

No. Red Hat currently provides licensing and payment for Red Hat products.

Can customers pay for Red Hat product licenses with Oracle Universal Credits?

No. Red Hat currently provides licensing and payment for Red Hat products.

Does Oracle Support Rewards work with Red Hat product licensing?

No. Oracle Support Rewards only considers services purchased directly from Oracle. Oracle Support Rewards will be applied to the underlying infrastructure (for example, compute or storage) leveraged by OCI Compute when running Red Hat products but not to the Red Hat license. See Oracle Support Rewards for more details..

Do license prices include tax?

Licensing is through Red Hat. Red Hat’s licensing contract determines the treatment of tax.

Can customers switch between Red Hat’s BYOS program and on­demand licensing?

No. Licensing is currently provided through Red Hat. On-demand licensing via OCI is currently not available.

Versions

What versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are certified with OCI Compute?

RHEL 7, 8, and 9 are supported. Note that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 has reached end of maintenance and isn’t available.

View the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog for virtual machine and bare metal shapes that are certified with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Which versions of Red Hat OpenShift are validated on OCI?

Red Hat OpenShift version 4.14 and 4.15 are validated with OCI Compute flexible virtual machines, which also must be certified with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. View the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog for virtual machine shapes that are certified with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

What editions of Red Hat OpenShift are validated?

Red Hat and Oracle have validated the following editions of Red Hat OpenShift:

  • Red Hat OpenShift Kubernetes Engine
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform
  • Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus

Support

Whom do customers contact for support with Red Hat products running on OCI Compute?

Support for Red Hat products is provided by both Red Hat and Oracle, and customers may initially contact either company. Oracle Support is included with consuming certified compute resources on OCI. As needed, Red Hat Support and Oracle Support will collaborate on behalf of the customer and may transfer the customer to the appropriate vendor (Red Hat or Oracle), which will work directly with the customer.

Must customers purchase support for Red Hat products?

Customers must have a valid subscription for Red Hat products, which will include support.

Can customers purchase support for Red Hat products from Red Hat?

Yes. Support for Red Hat products is provided by Red Hat. Oracle Support provides support for the OCI Compute infrastructure.

Can customers purchase support for Red Hat products from Oracle?

No. Support for Red Hat products is provided by Red Hat. Oracle Support provides support automatically through the OCI Compute infrastructure license.

Deployment

How do customers deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux running on OCI?

Consult the blog. While the blog is focused on bare metal, the exact same process applies to virtual machines.

What shapes in OCI are certified with Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

View the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog for virtual machine and bare metal shapes that are certified with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Is Red Hat Enterprise Linux be supported in OCI Dedicated Region?

Yes. Red Hat Enterprise Linux running on OCI Compute is supported in OCI Dedicated Region for the certified configurations.

How do customers deploy Red Hat OpenShift running on OCI?

Consult the documentation.

What shapes in OCI are validated with Red Hat OpenShift?

Red Hat OpenShift is validated with OCI Compute flexible virtual machines, which also must be certified with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. View the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog for virtual machine shapes that are certified with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Operations

How do customers update OCI Compute running Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Customers use the same process with any standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution to update the operating systems.

How will customers know that updates are available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Customers can subscribe to notifications through their Red Hat accounts for Red Hat Enterprise Linux updates.

Is Red Hat Enterprise Linux running on OCI Compute configured to download updates from Oracle or Red Hat?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is configured to pull updates from Red Hat official repositories, which are maintained by Red Hat.

How do customers update Red Hat OpenShift running on OCI Compute?

Customers use the same process with any Red Hat OpenShift deployment. Please consult Red Hat documentation.

Partners

Can partners (system integrators, service providers, ISVs, etc.) purchase Red Hat products for use on OCI?

Yes. Partners can purchase subscriptions in the same manner as they do today through the Red Hat Cloud Access Program.

Can partners provide services on top of Red Hat products running on OCI Compute?

Yes. Partners can use Red Hat Enterprise Linux today just as they do in other environments.

Can partners use Red Hat product licenses purchased by end users/customers?

Customers should consult their Red Hat sales team for acceptable use of their Red Hat product licenses.