What is our primary use case?
We have over a thousand VMs or physical machines running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We have various applications, and we also run the OpenShift Container Platform on-prem, so we have a lot of containers. They are migrating a lot of apps from the mainframe over to Spring Boot type of app. It fits well in the container.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux gave us stability. There is somebody to call when we have issues.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has affected our system's uptime or security.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has not yet enabled us to achieve security standards certification because we do not go after any of those. There are some products that we will have to do once we get there, but so far, we have not had to certify anything.
Red Hat Insights gives a lot of insights into known issues that we do not think about unless we call support. It tells us to proactively fix something.
I have used Image Builder and System Roles mainly for Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Edge. It builds out the OS tree build for us, which is very helpful. I do not like to do that myself.
I use the Red Hat console every now and then, but I do not use it heavily. I am old school.
What is most valuable?
The security updates and the support that comes along with it for applications are valuable.
Red Hat Insights was a nice feature to discover. I did not know about Ansible until probably eight years ago. I learned that language, and that was a void or something that was missing for over 25 years.
I like the SCAP Workbench interface that I can use to build some security around. I use Ansible to go out and do configuration management checks as well. Overall, I feel it is very easy to get the data I need.
What needs improvement?
We finally started doing Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Edge. That one definitely is an improvement. One piece that is missing is that we are required to use moby-engine, but currently, Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Edge forces Podman, so we have to work around it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for a decade in my current organization, but overall, I have been using Red Hat for over 25 years.
How are customer service and support?
Early on, support was closer to a six, but now, it is a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used them all back from the early nineties. I have used CentOS and others. The reasons for companies switching from those to Red Hat Enterprise Linux are that most of it is open source, and they get more product features. There is a market. If other companies are doing it, they tend to switch over. Containerization is a major reason as well.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the OpenShift deployments. We are also directly involved in every version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We are involved in the proof of concept. Its deployment is straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We used Red Hat with the OpenShift deployments to make sure we were doing it right, and then a lot of other things, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, we just did ourselves.
In terms of our upgrade and/or migration plans to stay current, we are upgrading everything to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, and we are going to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 already. We are making that a product feature. We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Edge for our remote deployments.
In terms of provisioning and patching, we deploy the base image, and then we use Ansible for the configuration behind it. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Edge, we use the OS builders to build out that same image. I use Kickstart to build the base image before the configuration.
What was our ROI?
I do not track that in the company, but I am sure we have seen an ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It seems to be fair. It is not overpriced. I went to the simple model, and that makes it easier for us to deploy.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.