Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Reviews

My use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is for on-premise vertical solutions, but everything is on-premise. The main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include enterprise applications, such as databases and enterprise web applications, or security applications like WebSphere.

I find the most valuable aspect of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is its stability in working with other enterprise devices, such as firewalls and centralized storage. Enterprise applications and devices communicate well with RHEL, and it provides appropriate drivers for those enterprise devices. However, apart from that, I see almost the same performance with other open-source distributions like Ubuntu or Debian.

When assessing the knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I find their documentation online to be excellent. I would rate the experience I have had with the documentation or knowledge base of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as excellent, giving it a ten out of ten. It is very good and useful for other Linux distributions as well.

The most important security feature in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is similar to that of other distributions, such as user creation and minimum privileges during the operating system's operation. In enterprise environments, I don't notice anything special in terms of security compared to others; it interacts very well with enterprise devices like firewalls and storage solutions.

RHEL has its own firewall, which is SE Linux, and I consider that to be a remarkable security feature. I have not tried Red Hat Insights; I don't know how to use that feature of Red Hat. Regarding the Image Builder or System Roles in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I haven't used them; I only use the ISO image directly for installation.

The solution has high pricing.

My overall usage of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been uninterrupted. In total, it has been three years.

In terms of Red Hat support, I haven't used it, as everything I need to solve is in the documentation, which is very good.

I have previously used other solutions like Debian or Ubuntu.

I switched to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) based on the direct requirements of the customer, not by my own decision.

The initial setup of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is straightforward; I find it very easy to set up.

My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) indicates that this was the main topic that made me step away from RHEL. Personally, I don't see good benefits from their support and paid licensing compared to completely free and well-documented Linux distributions, as I find RHEL excessively expensive. Normally, the customer asks for a three-year licensing agreement for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as a nine technically, however, considering the cost, I would rate it a six, since it is very expensive. Combining technical and financial aspects, I give it a seven out of ten.

My main use case for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is running virtual machines. That's probably the most important use case for us.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps us solve pain points related to security. We want security, so it is hardened, and just supports us. As a financial institution we take security very seriously.

The feature I appreciate the most from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is support and simplicity. 

The knowledge base is good; they have a lot of documentation. 

We manage our Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems when it comes to provisioning and patching through Ansible. Everything's straightforward and efficient.

Adding more relevant features to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) would be great. I have seen some issues on GitHub where people are suggesting things, such as Ansible. There are many community issues that could be implemented into Red Hat.

We try to stay two versions below the latest one just to make sure that we have security checked there and to avoid running into any bugs or issues with the latest release. We just try to apply patches as much as we can.

The stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are smooth as we have not encountered any problems or issues.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales perfectly with the growing needs of my company. It's easy to scale up with the tools we have.

My experience with the customer service and technical support of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been amazing; they are very helpful. We open up a ticket, and we get someone to help right away.

Positive

The deployment is a smooth process. Some of the issues we have are just related to multiple vulnerabilities, and that's on our side to fix, however, everything else is smooth. We have no complaints.

The biggest return on investment for me when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is how they have their foundation set. They have everything organized, documentation's there, it's globally used everywhere, and it's good software with good tools.

I'm not in the pricing conversation. I can't speak to costs.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped me mitigate downtime and lower risks. They specifically thrive on criticism, and they don't take it lightly. They mentioned earlier in the panel that they wanted to prioritize the big CVs and any vulnerability that's important. Although some don't get exploited, it's good to have fewer of those numbers. 

We try to stay two versions below the latest one.

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) overall an eight out of ten.

I have used Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for most of my career. It is primarily used as the base operating system on which various applications run. Currently, I am attempting to transition away from RHEL due to changes in the organization following IBM's acquisition.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is still considered better than Microsoft's offerings due to its superior handling of virtualization and faster performance. Microsoft often incorporates parts of RHEL's code, such as the networking stack, into its own products. The LEAP functionality for upgrades between versions is well-written and satisfactory.

RHEL has experienced a change in approach after being acquired by IBM, and the company has shifted away from open-source principles. The knowledge base is now outdated and lacks documentation for features in RHEL 9, relying instead on old documentation from RHEL 7. The introduction of unstable and undocumented products also detracts from the product's reliability.

I have used RHEL since it existed, so since 1991 or 1992.

RHEL has become less reliable due to undocumented updates and the release of unstable packages, which detracts from the product's stability.

Within the same vendor, moving workloads is easy. However, switching between vendors requires a significant migration effort.

The quality of Red Hat's support has declined in the past five to six years after outsourcing support to India. Complex issues are difficult to resolve due to communication challenges.

Negative

I have not switched from RHEL, but I am exploring alternatives such as Rocky Linux and Debian, which offer similar features without the high costs.

Setting up RHEL is quite straightforward, especially for someone familiar with it. The software asks the necessary questions for configuration, and the documentation generally explains these well.

The return on investment with RHEL is challenging to calculate but involves paying more upfront compared to Microsoft solutions for better reliability and stability, avoiding potential downtime costs.

The setup and licensing costs for RHEL are high, especially concerning support and associated applications. Red Hat charges high prices for support solutions like Ansible Tower, which can deter companies from using their products.

Other solutions evaluated include Ubuntu, Rocky Linux, and Debian. These alternatives offer similar functionality at a lower cost, especially concerning support.

Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a seven out of ten. People are now turning to other Linux distributions due to RHEL's declining quality and high costs. I suggest caution when considering Red Hat due to the divergence from its original open-source model.

Our primary infrastructure operating system is Red Hat Enterprise Linux, predominantly RHEL Eight. While some products utilize RHEL Seven, RHEL Eight point Zero is the standard for most of our operating systems and servers. However, server choices may vary based on specific industry requirements. Our underlying infrastructure relies almost exclusively on Linux distributions.

Our primary Linux installations use Red Hat Enterprise Linux in an on-premises VMware environment, with some instances deployed on AWS.

The built-in security features simplify risk reduction by allowing direct control of the root system's access.

Red Hat's knowledge base is excellent.

While Red Hat Leapp and Insights are helpful tools, they are not part of my daily workflow.

The web console is a good feature.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux enhances uptime and security, boasting faster boot times than other operating systems.

The most valuable feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is its security, which is more secure than Windows. 

Integrating certificates from third-party clients into Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be challenging due to the operating system's stringent security policies.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for nine years.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is stable.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is scalable.

The technical support team was professional and quickly resolved our issue.

Positive

We use Oracle for our database, Ubuntu in our testing environment, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux in our production systems due to its increased stability.

The cloud migration from Red Hat Enterprise Linux Seven to Eight was straightforward due to the absence of underlying infrastructure complexities. However, the on-premises migration presented challenges from existing infrastructure dependencies, resulting in numerous errors.

The migration of approximately 200 servers required a team approach to ensure continuous monitoring. Although two people could have completed the migration, a four-person team completed it within two days. 

The migration from Red Hat Enterprise Linux Seven to Eight was done in-house.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers a compelling value proposition for corporations due to its robust support infrastructure, which is essential for maintaining enterprise-level systems. However, the pricing model may be less attractive to individuals or small businesses. Compared to cloud-based platforms like AWS or Azure, which offer flexible pay-as-you-go options, RHEL's subscription-based model can become cost-prohibitive for those with limited budgets or smaller-scale projects.

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux nine out of ten.

We utilize Ansible to provision and patch our extensive server infrastructure. Ansible's automation capabilities enable efficient batching and management of security patches across all servers.

We test all the patches for some time before we add them to our production environment.

We utilize Red Hat Enterprise Linux in our private cloud and on-premises environments, but I've observed better performance in the cloud, likely due to the greater availability of resources.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux does require maintenance.

Most of the applications I work with, including our primary enterprise-level application, necessitate the robust capabilities of an enterprise-grade operating system. Therefore, we utilize Red Hat Enterprise Linux to ensure optimal performance and stability for these demanding applications.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is praised for its exceptionally precise documentation, which greatly aids in the learning and implementation process. Troubleshooting is straightforward, and solutions to any arising issues are readily available through a simple Google search.

For provisioning Red Hat Enterprise Linux, tools like Terraform and Ansible are commonly used to automate the process on a base machine. While Terraform handles various provisioning tasks, Red Hat provides its software for patching, although OpenSCAP is also a strong alternative for effective patch management.

Our organization uses Red Hat Insights, leveraging its user-friendly single dashboard to monitor all aspects of our systems. This centralized platform has proven invaluable for maintaining an overview of our infrastructure and ensuring operational efficiency.

We often use the Red Hat Enterprise Linux web console for things like viewing system performance and logs, managing user accounts, and configuring network settings.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is robust, stable, and well-documented compared to the open-source versions of Linux.

I find the most valuable aspect of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to be its ease of customization. The operating system allows for the simple addition of kernels, modules, and other applications, making it highly adaptable to various needs.

Red Hat has several areas ripe for improvement. In the Asia Pacific region, where cost-optimization is highly valued, Red Hat's support and subscription costs are perceived as high and could be reduced. While their security documentation is comprehensive, some solutions lack open-source availability or training resources, unlike platforms such as Ubuntu. Furthermore, the quality of documentation and training sessions, particularly for OpenShift, could be enhanced. Addressing these issues would strengthen Red Hat's offerings and better serve its customers.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for about nine to ten years.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is extremely stable.

When Red Hat is involved in virtualization or OpenStack, moving from one virtualization platform to another becomes easier. However, when scalability is needed, it depends on the underlying infrastructure security, which is part of Red Hat import.

Communication quality is very good. I find very helpful people in the support section, and the Red Hat portal is robust for main solutions and support. When I receive support, I often find very interesting solutions.

Positive

I previously used CentOS, Ubuntu, and Debian, among other Linux distributions. However, with the growing popularity of containerization technologies like Kubernetes and Docker, solutions like Red Hat OpenShift are becoming increasingly common, particularly in regions like Bangladesh, India, and the Asia Pacific. That is why we are using Enterprise Linux.

The initial deployment and migration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are straightforward, particularly for cloud-based solutions. However, on-premises migrations present a slight challenge due to the complexities of CVS solutions and potential application compatibility issues. This can involve numerous parameters that require careful consideration. My lack of experience with Red Hat's migration tools may have also contributed to the perceived difficulty.

Red Hat could gain a competitive advantage in the Asia Pacific region by adjusting its pricing strategy. Lowering the cost of enterprise-level offerings could attract organizations seeking operating systems or Kubernetes solutions, as these tools are essential for many businesses in the region. This adjustment would make Red Hat a more appealing choice compared to competitors with potentially higher pricing.

I have not found another operating system that matches Red Hat Enterprise Linux; it receives a perfect score of ten out of ten.

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux upgrade process is generally smooth. However, patching occasionally causes issues, typically due to application incompatibility or bugs in the updated packages. This necessitates restoring from a backup to maintain functionality. While this is a recurring problem, the infrastructure itself remains stable throughout the process.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux serves various functions, including operating system tasks, satellite management, and OpenShift deployments. Additionally, we utilize Red Hat's Insight and Subscription Manager products.

Our organization utilizes Red Hat Enterprise Linux, both on-premises and in the cloud. While we maintain on-premises systems, certain departments also leverage Red Hat Enterprise Linux in a cloud environment. As the license manager for Red Hat in our organization, I can confirm that we have a substantial number of Enterprise systems operating in the cloud.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers key benefits for enterprise management, including features such as patch management, resource isolation, enhanced stability, and improved performance through automation. Unlike its earlier versions, Red Hat now provides these functionalities out-of-the-box, eliminating the need for extensive scripting and streamlining administrative tasks. Red Hat introduced an online patch management system in Red Hat nine, similar to what AIX offered years ago. This system, which likely will be included in Red Hat ten and eleven, allows for online patching without requiring a reboot. This is a significant advantage for enterprise companies who cannot afford downtime, making Red Hat an even more attractive option for them.

Looking beyond a Red Hat-centric view, hybrid cloud computing significantly enhances customer service. Whether through new service offerings, modernized workflows, or improved scalability, automation, and high availability inherent in cloud solutions, the benefits are clear. Furthermore, Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides stability, avoiding the reboots and challenges often associated with Windows environments. Therefore, hybrid cloud adoption is a strong strategy for enterprise companies, offering substantial advantages.

To enhance future development centralization, our development teams are transitioning to Red Hat Enterprise Linux on our development servers.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has robust built-in security features that effectively contribute to risk reduction, business continuity, and compliance maintenance. Red Hat demonstrates a solid commitment to security by providing timely updates and fixes to its customers. While the operating system itself is secure, it's important to note that Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides a foundational image that requires further hardening through the implementation of security controls. Red Hat empowers users with a platform and a range of hardening options, enabling them to tailor security measures to their specific application needs. Furthermore, Red Hat's rapid release of fixes and updates, often within a day or two of a vulnerability discovery, ensures that customers have access to the latest security enhancements.

The portability of applications and containers built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux fosters organizational agility by enabling a continuous cycle of learning, trying, adapting, and iterating. Containers offer a streamlined approach to development, allowing for rapid deployment and effortless updates. If a containerized application doesn't work, it can be quickly destroyed and recreated with updated components, significantly reducing deployment time compared to traditional methods. This rapid iteration aligns perfectly with agile principles, enabling organizations to respond swiftly to changing needs and requirements.

Red Hat Satellite provides patching information and compliance percentages for our systems, but in a multi-departmental enterprise environment, Red Hat Insights offers a more comprehensive view. Insights synchronizes data from Satellite and provides a centralized platform to monitor compliance across different application sectors. This addresses the limitation of Satellite, which may not be accessible to all stakeholders. Insights' API-based functionality allows integration with ServiceNow, creating a single pane of glass view of compliance for various teams. Furthermore, the Insights client provides granular visibility into vulnerabilities, further enhancing transparency and management capabilities. This integration streamlines compliance monitoring and improves overall efficiency.

Red Hat Insights provides vulnerability alerts and guidance. While it doesn't necessarily affect uptime, the severity of the vulnerability determines the response. High-severity vulnerabilities require immediate evaluation to assess their impact. Multiple security layers within the environment may mitigate immediate risks. However, vulnerabilities should be addressed promptly. Insights enhance transparency and provide detailed information for timely action.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers many features I appreciate, especially the increasing maturity of the operating system and its automation platform. The automation platform, in particular, has significantly evolved over the past three years. Satellite, now known as Insight, is another excellent product, providing easy and convenient patch management for both managed and unmanaged systems. Its reporting on users, vulnerabilities, and other key information is also quite valuable. Having used Red Hat since version three and now working with versions eight and nine, I'm consistently impressed by its progress. The preview of Red Hat ten looks amazing, and I plan to implement it soon after its release.

The area of improvement is patch management, specifically isolating kernel and operating system patching to prevent downtime for enterprise applications.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for 20 years.

Red Hat Enterprises Linux is stable, and improvements are constantly made.

We are not extensively using the scalability features, but the documentation and technology are growing.

I am generally happy with Red Hat's customer service and technical support. There are challenges with different time zones, but overall, the service is satisfactory.

Positive

Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers a straightforward pricing and licensing model. The subscription manager provides clear visibility into license usage and facilitates tracking usage growth over time. Although the tool is still under development, Red Hat is actively collaborating with customers to improve its features and functionality. The subscription manager enhances transparency by enabling accurate tracking of license consumption and ensuring alignment with customer needs. Red Hat Insights, working with the satellite, further strengthens transparency by automatically calculating and reporting license usage. This comprehensive approach simplifies customer license management and promotes clarity in supplier relationships.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a solid operating system, earning an 8 out of 10 rating. While no OS is perfect, and there's always room for improvement, Red Hat effectively meets the evolving demands of the business market.

While numerous open-source operating systems are available for development, enterprise-class companies require the stability and support of enterprise-level solutions. Red Hat Enterprise Linux bridges this gap by offering a forum for feedback and collaboration, allowing users to directly influence feature improvements and updates. Red Hat Enterprise Linux effectively combines the flexibility of open source with the robust support and reliability required by enterprise-class customers, unlike many other open-source operating systems that lack this level of responsiveness.

Our focus is on the enterprise support and open mindset Red Hat provides, looking to customer benefits and services.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on and off for at least 10 years, as I've changed many companies. My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are mostly on the server-side for deployment.

The features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I most appreciate are the inbuilt commands and the packages that come with it, which are pretty helpful for us, as we usually deal with a lot of shell scripting. These features benefit my organization by allowing us to write cron jobs and related tasks.

I don't have much to say about how Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved.

I have been working in my current field for 20 years.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me solve the pain point of periodically needing to keep it updated, but apart from that, it's very stable, which is one of the best things about it. We have already expanded usage.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales very well with the growing needs of my organization, and within on-prem, it's very easy to scale it, so we've never had any problems. The process has been smooth; even on-prem, it's all automated, and we are using OpenShift, so using that software makes it very easy to scale.

I evaluate customer service and technical support from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as very good; I have personally called customer support and was surprised at how easy it is to get a hold of someone. It was easy for them to come to a solution.

Positive

Prior to adopting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), my company was using different Linux environments before moving to RHEL, although mostly the companies that I've worked in have always used Linux for deployment.

The deployment model for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) includes both on-premise and cloud, as we are using OpenShift for on-prem and cloud also.

We have our migration and upgrade team which manages Linux; as soon as the new, stable version of Linux becomes available, we try to update our Linux version to the latest.

I have seen a return on investment with the solution; in our team, we have noticed that the cost doesn't increase drastically, and it's a very stable product, although this is not my domain since mine is very specific, mostly development.

Before selecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), my company considered different Linux environments, as I have worked in Fedora, Red Hat, and Ubuntu, but I feel most companies now are adopting or going with RHEL due to its stability and better pricing; again, this is not my domain, I can just surmise.

My advice to other organizations considering Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is to go for it, as it's a pretty stable product. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) overall around an 8.

My main use case for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is server management and cloud operations.

I use RHEL for server management and cloud operations to perform multiple tasks, such as user access management, user management, patch management, and troubleshooting.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) offers multiple features that are really accessible and stable, providing security and compliance, hybrid cloud compatibility, enterprise-grade container support, task automation through cron jobs, and an overall good platform.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has positively impacted my organization through automation, as my recent task saved a lot of time by reducing the work from months to a day using scripts developed in RHEL, thus boosting our productivity and cutting costs while empowering a skilled workforce, enabling scalable and secure infrastructure, and fueling innovation and digital transformation.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could be improved with a modernized knowledge base and documentation, better performance under high load, and possibly a reduction in the cost of the professional subscription. Apart from that, I don't see much need for improvement.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for more than five years.

In my experience, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is perfect in terms of stability.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) handles increases in users, applications, or data smoothly, which is why we use it for all our projects, as it provides us with confidence. We also use Amazon Linux, but primarily it is RHEL.

I have reached out to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) customer support multiple times, and I've found the experience amazing, as issues get resolved in a lesser time compared to Amazon AWS.

I have majorly worked on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) only and did not use a different solution before switching.

We have seen a return on investment with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), having saved a lot of money and time due to the automation and scripting we perform, resulting in savings on man-hours as well.

I have mentioned earlier that the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could be reduced a bit, indicating a scope for improvement there.

Before choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I evaluated other options like SUSE and AIX, but I don't think any of them are better than RHEL.

We do a lot of automation using Bash scripts. In a recent task, I had about 2,500 to 3,000 EBS volumes that I needed to change from GP2 to GP3 and calculate their throughput and IOPS, which would have been impossible manually due to time constraints, but we accomplished it with a Bash script thanks to RHEL. It's really very useful.

My advice for others looking into using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that everyone working on Linux should at least give it a try because it's a great platform.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) an 8.5 out of 10.

My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) at this company include the development environment, where the dev environment is all in Linux. It's a server where you connect to via PuTTY, and it's currently running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.

My favorite feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that it's a Linux server with Linux commands. These features have benefited my company by making it feel lightweight. If you know Linux commands, you can connect to it and still be able to navigate within that Linux environment. The benefit is that if you onboard a new developer and they know Linux commands, they could just jump on it immediately.

From a user standpoint, every time they do an upgrade or they bring down the Linux server, I have to re-clone all my repositories. Perhaps they could just migrate them over so I don't have to do all that cloning again, because I have three different repos that I have to clone. This has happened twice. I am uncertain how Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved beyond this.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) at my company for two and a half years, ever since I started.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped mitigate downtime and lower risk for what we use it for because we use it to host a Docker container and for the development environment. From my standpoint, it has been beneficial because we're using it as a development environment to test out new features, which helps mitigate unwanted bugs.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales with the growing needs of my company because there have not been any issues with deploying different servers.

I have worked with Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, and they all use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for their Linux servers. I haven't heard of any other solutions being used, though I haven't worked on the DevOps side to set up these systems. In all the environments I've used that are Linux-based, it has been Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps solve pain points by being very easy to connect to, and it has an easy setup, though I didn't set it up as the DevOps people handled that.

I don't manage the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems when it comes to provisioning and patching; there's a DevOps team that handles that. When there is an upgrade, they handle all that after work hours. They bring everything down and then bring up the new servers.

My advice to a company that's thinking of getting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is, as a user, go for it. I don't know any other product besides Linux and Ubuntu, but I think Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is good. 

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a 9 out of 10.

The main use cases with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for me are hosting Oracle databases, Oracle server database, and MariaDB. When we need to install Oracle, we put it on Linux, and it usually was Santos in the past. Then we moved to Oracle Enterprise Linux or Red Hat, and when Oracle released the Linux distro, we moved to Oracle because the devices are really open source.

Some of the best features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include stability; it doesn't break. Stability, along with management tools and users for management tools that they add to the Linux distro, are important. The main reason is stability. In the server area, we don't want change. That's why we're trying to move back to Debian, because Debian is stable—old, but stable. 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) does help save time because the setup and general installation experience is very optimized and well-established. I made tests installing and setting up radioactive environments for virtual machines, and it was a very good experience, fast.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is for on-premises only; we try to avoid the clouds as much as we can. In Brazil, we are seeing an interesting movement with small cloud providers because Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are too expensive. I am noticing the rise of many small companies that build small data centers and offer cloud services to small companies. They prosper with a better price and a simpler solution—not a fancy data center with sophisticated security. Just a small space with a decent Internet connection and a stable energy source, and they are good to go. People are prospering with this model of small cloud providers.

The main difference between Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and some of the others that I'm evaluating now is that Red Hat tries to use more recent packages. The problem with Debian and some of the stable distributions is that they are too conservative, and they keep the version progress very slow. I sometimes develop and create things that need more recent packages and libraries, and with Debian, I usually struggle with that. Red Hat usually provides the new ones—stable, but new. That's one of the best features of using Red Hat. Ubuntu also upgrades some important libraries from Debian.

I have used Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for more than fifteen years, because we have some infrastructure on it.

I assess the knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as excellent; they have a great technology base on their website, but it requires a subscription. You might think you get free access, but I really don't prefer it. I usually find other sources. I know they have a very good knowledge base with excellent documentation, but I usually don't get access to it. I have not reached out to their support, so I do not have any personal experience with Red Hat support. The support that we really use from time to time is Oracle. My clients use the Oracle database, and they all pay for support. We use it because my partner, who is an Oracle database administrator, frequently deals with problems with Oracle and uses their support, and it works very effectively.

Positive

My thoughts on the deployment with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are that it's easy, there are no problems at all. It's very easy, including in the cloud; they offer many partners, and it's really easy to move your loads to the cloud with Red Hat. I believe it's easier than with Microsoft. However, my clients usually do not get involved with this; most of them are Microsoft-based.

The ROI with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is useful if the company requires accountability or a formal contract, because they usually need someone involved in some kind of accountability process when lawyers get involved. Only in that situation does it make sense to pay that price. Usually, companies that are required by law to have licensed products, such as banks and insurance companies, have obligations by law. This is especially true in Brazil, where the insurance market is very regulated. It makes sense for these companies to have a license contract, particularly in the case of security leaks and similar issues.

My experience with the pricing or licensing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) indicates that our clients never chose to purchase a license. I watched the prices a few months ago while considering buying one for myself, and they were expensive; it's not a reasonable price, especially for small companies. The business value of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is compatible and on the same level as other Linux distributions I have used. They all charge the same for their products. I usually don't see much difference. When I compare the price of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to that of Windows, they are basically the same price, just a little cheaper, a small fraction. All of these big corporations try to squeeze the clients as much as they can. The only exception is Broadcom, which seems to try to charge an absurd amount for their products.

My clients all have their own firewall solutions and network security solutions that they purchase. We usually don't deal with that. We just keep the built-in firewall running, and that's all. That's the main feature that we use on Red Hat and other distros, the built-in firewall. 

Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is something we do not engage with. Last week, I tried to install a new version of Oracle Enterprise Linux from Red Hat on an old HP server, Gen 5, but it did not work; I needed to go back to Ubuntu. Ubuntu, even in the new version, uses a kernel that works on old hardware, so we have to deal with this situation. If you have old hardware and need to repurpose an old server, you can't use these new distros. Even Oracle does not work with very old equipment, more than ten years old. 

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as a seven or eight out of ten.