We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux primarily for our entire group because most of our applications are based on Linux.
DevOps at a government with 201-500 employees
The system's stability has eliminated any noticeable security issues
Pros and Cons
- "Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a stable and supported platform with valuable built-in security features that help reduce risk and maintain compliance."
- "Red Hat Enterprise Linux has enabled us to achieve security standards certification, which has allowed us to maintain business operations without interruption."
- "While their documentation is helpful, it can be frustrating to be referred to it instead of receiving direct assistance from a support representative."
- "The cost of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a bit high. Red Hat Enterprise Linux's support could be improved by offering human support in addition to their documentation."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has robust built-in security features.
It has an extensive knowledge base.
We used to patch our systems manually, and now we use Red Hat Satellite to manage the patching of our systems.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides a good way to manage our OS.
It has enhanced both our uptime and security. The system's stability has eliminated any noticeable security issues.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has enabled us to achieve security standards certification, which has allowed us to maintain business operations without interruption.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a stable and supported platform with valuable built-in security features that help reduce risk and maintain compliance.
What needs improvement?
The cost of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a bit high.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux's support could be improved by offering human support in addition to their documentation. While their documentation is helpful, it can be frustrating to be referred to it instead of receiving direct assistance from a support representative.
Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
November 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is stable overall.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Red Hat's support is generally good, but their response time and overall competence could be improved. Occasionally, we are referred to their documents when requesting assistance, which can be frustrating.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has a yearly subscription cost for the licensing that includes maintenance and support.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Microsoft Windows Server, Ubuntu Server, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux before ultimately choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux nine out of ten.
I recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its support and stability.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Nov 24, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSenior System Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
The built-in security features are excellent
Pros and Cons
- "I like open source and prefer it over some closed proprietary software. In my early days, I was involved in the open-source community of the Red Hat Directory Server, communicating with developers to ensure password policies were implemented and asking questions. It showed me the power of open source."
- "I'm happy with the value RHEL delivers, but there's always room to improve."
What is our primary use case?
We are a telco company hosting internal applications on the OpenShift platform. It's for general IT workloads, such as backend systems for billing. We are also using it for containerization projects.
How has it helped my organization?
With an open-source solution, there is no vendor lock-in at the OS layer, so it's more flexible. I am happy with the value Red Hat delivers, so we don't see a reason to change that.
What is most valuable?
I like open source and prefer it over some closed proprietary software. In my early days, I was involved in the open-source community of the Red Hat Directory Server, communicating with developers to ensure password policies were implemented and asking questions. It showed me the power of open source.
While the built-in security features are excellent, we don't use all of them. It has many available capabilities, but it's not always up to the infrastructure people to decide what to use for security.
What needs improvement?
I'm happy with the value Red Hat Enterprise Linux delivers, but there's always room to improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for almost twenty years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I've never heard of any issues with Red Hat Enterprise Linux's performance on business-critical workloads. If there is a problem, it's mostly on the application layer, not the operating system.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has native containerization, so it can scale. It uses open-source technology and has Kubernetes underneath, which gives you the scaling you need. .
How are customer service and support?
I rate Red Hat support seven out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have been a Red Hat customer for over a year, and we are happy with the value it delivers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't know the exact pricing. Red Hat's subscription model is cost-effective because you pay as you go, which is better than paying upfront high license costs.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux eight out of 10. If you plan to implement Red Hat Enterprise Linux, make sure you get a vendor who can deliver and support it correctly.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Oct 30, 2024
Flag as inappropriateBuyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
824,121 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Datacenter System specialist at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
Enterprise-level support enhances system operations
Pros and Cons
- "We chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its broad distribution, enterprise-level support, and robust stability."
- "I would like Red Hat to focus on continuous improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We currently use Red Hat Enterprise Linux to support various applications, including web servers and databases. Its functionality spans numerous operational aspects, encompassing a wide range of tasks with the exception of AI applications.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has simplified patch management and centralized operations, eliminating the need for multiple distributions across various functions.
It performs well for our business-critical applications. It is a significant improvement over the various unsupported distributions used previously, providing reliable support and standardized update procedures across all deployments.
The built-in security features work well.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps reduce risk in our environment by simplifying management, which is critical for maintaining stability and security.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux enhances business continuity and compliance efforts by providing a unified platform for various tasks, simplifying operations and reducing the complexity of managing multiple open-source solutions.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps reduce our total cost of ownership through simplified management and comprehensive support resources, ensuring assistance if any issues arise.
What is most valuable?
We chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its broad distribution, enterprise-level support, and robust stability. These factors are particularly crucial for our work in government-related IT, where stability and security are paramount.
What needs improvement?
I would like Red Hat to focus on continuous improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for a year at this point. Although my experience with Linux is extensive, I am relatively new to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux world.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scaling is mostly about increasing the resources for specific virtual machines, and it hasn't been a problem.
How are customer service and support?
I have not personally used customer service, but it's reassuring to know that support is available if needed. I often try to resolve issues myself to learn new things.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What was our ROI?
The return on investment lies in the time saved due to simplified management, allowing me to focus on more important tasks rather than maintenance.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux nine out of ten.
While not currently using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for containerization, we have a Podman test machine that we use for our clients. We do plan to utilize it in the future.
Red Hat is an excellent choice due to its strong backing and foundation in open source. They have a comprehensive product stack, including not just Enterprise Linux, but also Ansible, OpenShift, and many other offerings. Red Hat also boasts extensive partner integrations with various manufacturers and developers through licensing agreements.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Oct 30, 2024
Flag as inappropriateProviders coordination at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The built-in features for risk reduction, business continuity, and maintaining compliance are very important
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of the solution are in the areas of stability and scalability."
- "Though the product has many features, the tool's virtualization area has certain shortcomings that require improvement."
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution in my company mainly for the operation system of the core business applications.
How has it helped my organization?
My company has experienced benefits from the use of the product, especially considering the agility that the tool offers in terms of the time to market in different areas of business and because of its compatibility with most of the applications in the market.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of the solution are the stability and scalability.
I run Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on a hybrid cloud deployment, and it has impacted our company's operations, but I would say that it has been quite simple to implement, especially considering the security, which has been a considerable piece of the infrastructure.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped centralize development in our company. The applications run with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and it became the standard for the operating system for the applications.
My company uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for containerization projects with OpenShift. This use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has had an important impact on containerization, as it is a simple process. Owing to the simplicity, we always involve the solution's experts and get faster solutions.
The built-in features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for risk reduction, business continuity, and maintaining compliance are very important because our company is always aware of all these security issues that constantly happen.
What needs improvement?
Though the product has many features, the tool's virtualization area has certain shortcomings that require improvement. The product should also offer more containers and probably some financial services.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a quite easily scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support for the solution is very good. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), my company used to use Windows. My company started to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) after we found that it offers more stability, sophistication, and security and serves as a standard for many products.
How was the initial setup?
The product's initial deployment phase was easy and quick.
My company did follow some strategy to deploy the product, and we also had the support from the vendor.
The solution is deployed on the cloud and on-premises models.
What about the implementation team?
My company sought the help of a system integrator during the implementation phase of the solution.
What was our ROI?
In terms of ROI, I see that the tool offers stability, performance, agility, and resilience.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If I describe my experience with the product's price, I would say that we have to live with it for now.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
My company evaluated other Linux products, such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), against Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to a colleague who is looking at open-source cloud-based operating systems for Linux since it is a tool with more market experience and offers more documentation and support from the vendor, which is not easy to acquire when it comes to open-source software.
Red Hat's portfolio has affected the total cost of ownership across our enterprise landscape by around 10 to 20 percent.
My company has the product in two data centers, but the production happens only in one. Mostly, my company uses the cloud services offered by Azure.
I rate the tool a nine or ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jun 3, 2024
Flag as inappropriateIT Systems Engineer & Architect at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Extremely reliable and improves support for container management within our organization
Pros and Cons
- "The reliability and long support lifespan of RHEL are crucial for us. It lasts for ten years, meaning we don't need frequent changes."
- "We hope it will improve tasks we have found challenging in the past, like documentation searches."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use RHEL for data analysis servers supporting our scientific researchers, who access the systems remotely.
What is most valuable?
The reliability and long support lifespan of RHEL are crucial for us. It lasts for ten years, meaning we don't need frequent changes. Updates are quick, simple, and reliable, automatically backing out if issues arise, saving us from patching headaches.
What needs improvement?
I'm eager to see how the AI features in RHEL can enhance our capabilities. We hope it will improve tasks we have found challenging in the past, like documentation searches. We are particularly interested in automation and easily finding information.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using RHEL for 15 years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
RHEL is scalable. We have scaled our data analysis clusters with it quite well.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the customer support as a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Deploying RHEL for the first time was simple. It was a long time ago, and we had documentation from previous admins which made it straightforward. We did the deployment on our own.
What was our ROI?
We have seen ROI with RHEL. Our biggest investment is in professional development through Red Hat Summit, online training, and a Red Hat Learning subscription, which we have used for courses.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Our experience with RHEL pricing and setup costs has been good. We will be purchasing an extended license for another year.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have used RHEL since I joined my company about 15 years ago. We have looked at other options like Fedora and Ubuntu for more up-to-date libraries, but we keep coming back to RHEL for its reliability and long-term support.
What other advice do I have?
Using RHEL for containers has simplified our processes. While we, as system managers, aren't heavily involved in development, we provide RHEL containers for our developers. Overall, it has improved support for container management within our organization.
We rely on Linux for our web and file servers to ensure file integrity and service verification. Additionally, we use the host firewall regularly on all our hosts for enhanced security.
We started agile development and containers help us by making it easier for developers to teardown and recreate environments. This allows for more frequent updates, improving our workflow.
Our Red Hat portfolio reduced our cost of ownership by using RHEL Workstation instead of full server licenses where possible, saving money. We use full RHEL only on our enterprise production servers.
I would advise a colleague to check out Red Hat for its long-term support and reliability compared to other open-source Linux-based operating systems.
Overall, I would rate RHEL as a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: May 26, 2024
Flag as inappropriateLinux Systems Admin at Fujitsu Canada
Enables organizations to achieve security standards certification
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's stability is great, and patching it with Ansible is very easy."
- "The solution's licensing sometimes could be a little bit confusing for someone who's not a full-blown system admin and doesn't have a lot of experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux."
What is our primary use case?
We are an Azure shop that runs middleware applications like Java and JBoss, running on the Azure back end. We have to redeploy everything via ARM templates. Anytime we do an upgrade of the application itself, it's a redeployment. We have custom images that we set up through Azure pipelines. We use Ansible for code changes and server changes.
What is most valuable?
The solution's stability is great, and patching it with Ansible is very easy.
What needs improvement?
The solution's licensing sometimes could be a little bit confusing for someone who's not a full-blown system admin and doesn't have a lot of experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It took a while for me to understand the licensing.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for three years.
What other advice do I have?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s built-in security features for simplifying risk reduction and maintaining compliance are pretty good. My only exposure is just packet management, but packet management gives me everything that I need.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has enabled us to achieve security standards certification. We have to stay on top of things because we work with the Ontario District School Board. There's a big emphasis on keeping everything secure, and the solution has helped us to do that.
Right now, our company is migrating to 8.8, and I think we will stay on 8 for a few years. We're doing everything through the images, and we keep everything updated with Ansible. I don't think we have any plans to use any of the automation tools other than Ansible.
Overall, I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux ten out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
DevOps at AAA / CSAA
Comes with an OpenShift feature
Pros and Cons
- "The containerized platform will help us use ROSA."
- "Deployment is simple if you have been using the solution for a long time. However, it can be complex if you are new to it."
What is our primary use case?
We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux for VMs and physical servers.
How has it helped my organization?
The containerized platform will help us use ROSA.
What is most valuable?
The tool's most valuable feature is OpenShift. We plan to move all our applications to microservices. The container platform is integrated into one.
How are customer service and support?
I opened a few cases, and the tool's support responded quickly.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Deployment is simple if you have been using the solution for a long time. However, it can be complex if you are new to it.
What other advice do I have?
We use RHEL 7 and RHEL 8 on on-premises. RHEL 8 is on the AWS. There is a security policy like CIS when deploying the solution. You can embed it on the image. I am not sure if there is HIPAA compliance yet.
Migration from RHEL 8 to RHEL 9 is easy. Upgrade depends on the application that is running on each instance. You need to check if it is compatible with the kernel. We need to plan things before migrating to the latest version. We need to stay current to ensure compliance. We plan to move from RHEL 7 to RHEL 9 and use RHEL 8 and RHEL 9.
We use Red Hat insights but do not utilize them. It helps with the remediation. I use Image Builder to build AWS and GCP images. I haven't deployed them.
I rate the product a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Offers efficient performance tuning capabilities, enhancing overall system performance
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of RHEL are security, performance tuning, storage management, and OS-level automation."
- "The GUI has room for improvement. It needs to be managed by many administrators. It has basic command lines. They could improve it with better automation. We'd like to be able to create a script, and then have the ability to deploy it where we don't need to write everything manually. That part can be useful for automating."
What is our primary use case?
My use cases are mainly limited to databases. I'm also involved in other ETL tools; I worked on migrations from older vendors, like Windows, and transitioning to RedHat Linux.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are security, performance tuning, storage management, and OS-level automation. If you wanted to automate while adapting with different vendor scripts or your own development because it's Linux, it's not like an operating system itself. It is always going to perform how you expect it to. IAQt's not like other operating systems. It is based on Linux.
These are the main features. Storage management is another valuable feature that is very critical in an operating system. It works along hardware and software.
The most valuable features are security, performance tuning, storage management, and OS-level automation. If you wanted to automate while adapting with different vendor scripts or your own development because it's Linux, it's not like an operating system itself. It is always going to perform how you expect it to. IAQt's not like other operating systems. It is based on Linux.
Compared to other OS', Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the best from my 20-plus years of experience. It is well-suited for production environments. In 2003 and 2006 I worked with one of the vendors in another country. We were able to run a database instance on Red Hat Enterprise Linux for two years without restarting it. The database was located in a remote location, and the team could not be on-site to provide support. We installed it ourselves and it worked for two years. We restarted the database instance. We didn't need to touch it internally. It works like a charm.
If it works, it works. You don't need to attach anything at all. You just monitor them remotely. Nobody was there on-site. That's the beauty of it. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is great. I love it.
What needs improvement?
The GUI has room for improvement. It needs to be managed by many administrators. It has basic command lines. They could improve it with better automation. We'd like to be able to create a script, and then have the ability to deploy it where we don't need to write everything manually. That part can be useful for automating.
We'd like it so that a coder wouldn't need to go through it, read it, go to GUI, and then generate a script. If they want to modify it, they could modify it. If Red Hat Enterprise Linux is going to build something, the REST API can be helpful instead of writing their own, starting from scratch. That would make it easier.
For future releases, there could be more integration. Regarding security, we used a different tool for scanning, but having a tool within Red Hat could enhance it.
Support is essential for open-source software. If they improve aspects like prevention against hacking, it would be beneficial.
Before, with a surge in hacking incidents, companies lost data, and once lost, it remains lost forever. You never know when it might be used. Improving security, especially in terms of prevention, is crucial. I would like to see ongoing improvement in this aspect.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've worked with different companies. In my over 20 years of experience, in the last five or six companies I've worked for, all of them have been using Red Hat. They use it mostly for databases.
I'm in the database sector, primarily working as a senior technical architect. End-to-end, we always find that Red Hat is best suited for Linux, especially for Oracle and other NoSQL databases. It's reliable, first and foremost, and it offers stability and performance. Performance tuning is crucial, and once it's set up, you can rely on it.
With the cloud, it's moving into containerization, and most of them support the cloud.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service and support are really good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked with many different operating systems in the past, including Windows, Linux, and RedHat Linux.
We switched to Red Hat Enterprise Linux because it is a reliable and well-supported enterprise operating system. It is easy to manage, use, and upgrade.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment.
What other advice do I have?
As a consultant, I handle sizing, design, and optimization for new infrastructures and I would recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux to anybody considering it.
Overall, I would rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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