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App group manager at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 20
Oct 30, 2024
Contributes to business continuity and compliance efforts.
Pros and Cons
  • "The built-in security features are quite good."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux has ongoing potential for improved integration with hosting solutions and VPNs as the demand for these technologies grows."

What is our primary use case?

We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Ansible, network monitoring systems, and similar applications.

We implemented Red Hat Enterprise Linux because it is widely used in our region and offers excellent support.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has enabled partial centralization of our development processes.

It performs well for our business-critical applications and has robust built-in security features.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has contributed to business continuity and compliance efforts.

What is most valuable?

The built-in security features are quite good.

What needs improvement?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has ongoing potential for improved integration with hosting solutions and VPNs as the demand for these technologies grows.

Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,360 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for around 15 years.

How are customer service and support?

The support has a good community. It's easy to find almost every resource needed.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux is that it's Linux. I've lived so long with Red Hat Linux, so it has always had a good history.

What other advice do I have?

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

When considering a third-party Linux OS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a strong option due to its excellent support and robust ecosystem.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2519571 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Aug 4, 2024
Offers built-in security features, helps with compliance and is highly stable
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat's greatest asset is its extensive community, which provides valuable support and advice when issues arise."
  • "While Red Hat offers essential starting and security documentation, I would like to see it officially recognize the more detailed and customized documents available in the community and make them accessible on its website."

What is our primary use case?

I used Red Hat Enterprise Linux to construct systems according to the application team's requirements. I build and support these systems through the development, testing, pre-production, and production phases, fulfilling both developer and operational roles. To ensure the systems can handle the application's demands and meet our cybersecurity standards, I implement all security measures outlined by our cybersecurity team.

How has it helped my organization?

The extensive knowledge base offers a full path from beginner to advanced levels. We can access everything needed to study, pass exams, and apply knowledge immediately. The information is presented clearly, without any abstract concepts.

Red Hat offers built-in security features that simplify risk management. Unlike Oracle Linux, which overlooks critical security features like C Linux, Red Hat actively develops and maintains robust security measures. As a result, Red Hat prioritizes system security, consistently providing updates to fortify its machines against potential threats.

Red Hat helps us maintain compliance by enabling us to create and modify firewall rules as needed, allowing for strong security measures that can be adjusted.

The security reports generated every three months are valuable for provisioning and patching as they identify vulnerabilities requiring remediation. I find all the necessary information to address these vulnerabilities and implement patches through the Red Hat Enterprise portal and community resources.

When I started using Red Hat Enterprise Linux five years ago, I noticed the benefits incrementally over time.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat's greatest asset is its extensive community, which provides valuable support and advice when issues arise. Due to the robust nature of this community, I have never required direct assistance from Red Hat Enterprise.

Red Hat offers customizable tools, such as Assemble, that enhance flexibility within enterprise products. Assemble is a platform capable of managing multiple systems from a single console.

What needs improvement?

While Red Hat offers essential starting and security documentation, I would like to see it officially recognize the more detailed and customized documents available in the community and make them accessible on its website.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the most stable system I have ever worked with.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is scalable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I changed jobs five months ago, and my new company uses Oracle Linux instead of Red Hat, so Oracle provides support rather than Red Hat.

I find Red Hat Enterprise Linux more flexible, with a larger community and numerous security advisors.

How was the initial setup?

We found it less complex to build a new system on the newer version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and migrate data rather than upgrading the existing system from, for example, version seven to eight. A simple upgrade risks data loss.

One person can do the upgrades and migrations.

What other advice do I have?

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

The system requires immediate maintenance due to necessary security patches, unresolved vulnerabilities, and a constant influx of operational tasks from other teams. These daily demands include critical adjustments such as modifying service ports and implementing local firewall rules.

I recommend new users visit the official Red Hat Enterprise Linux website to review the guides, explore the community, and research information related to their Red Hat Enterprise Linux tasks. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,360 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Nikhil Sehgal - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Solution Advisor (Cyber Security) at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Jan 22, 2024
Is well documented and stable, but the support needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat is open source, so what we get with Red Hat Enterprise Linux is valuable support that is not included in the free version."
  • "A one-click package for hardening all files would significantly improve efficiency compared to the current manual process, especially considering the hundreds of files we've processed over the years."

What is our primary use case?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux serves as the foundation for our cluster infrastructure, allowing us to deploy applications and connect servers. We further enhance operational efficiency by deploying Kubernetes on top.

We chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its stability and well-rounded features and its proven track record of decades of reliable operation.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux's built-in security features and mandatory access control help to mitigate and secure the OS from threats.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is well documented and anyone with a technical background can easily understand and use the OS.

Red Hat's image builder is helpful.

Building upon the industry's 95 percent adoption of Linux OS, our Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Kubernetes setup has helped our operations.

We have not encountered any downtime while using Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux enables us to achieve security standards certification.

The performance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is consistent between on-premises and cloud deployments. The key difference is simply a shift from owning hardware to renting cloud space for the operating system.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat is open source, so what we get with Red Hat Enterprise Linux is valuable support that is not included in the free version.

What needs improvement?

Recently, whenever we have applied a Red Hat patch, we have encountered errors requiring additional work. Unfortunately, the release notes for these patches are not always updated accurately, creating further challenges during troubleshooting. Specifically, the notes often fail to mention dependent packages that are also updated alongside the main package.

While the OS hardening feature is helpful, it could benefit from additional automation. A one-click package for hardening all files would significantly improve efficiency compared to the current manual process, especially considering the hundreds of files we've processed over the years.

The support has room for improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a six out of ten.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is deployed across multiple locations in our organization with 95 percent of our employees that use it.

To ensure optimal performance and security, we must prioritize installing operating system updates as they become available.

Taking the Red Hat administration course beforehand will significantly ease the user experience when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Hirut Asfaw - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Database Administrator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Jan 18, 2024
Helps improve security, reduces risks, and is easy to upgrade
Pros and Cons
  • "The security of the OS is the most valuable feature."
  • "The labor required to maintain the on-premises storage systems has room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux to manage our database.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps reduce our risk.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps to maintain compliance by making the data required easily accessible to us.

The knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux is good and they provide good training.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles help manage our database.

I use the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Web Console and Command Manager. The Web Console helps monitor our database and run queries in Command Manager.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux enhances our security.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps us meet security standards certification requirements, which is advantageous.

What is most valuable?

The security of the OS is the most valuable feature.

What needs improvement?

The labor required to maintain the on-premises storage systems has room for improvement.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux can benefit from more promotions and demos.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is stable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We run Red Hat Enterprise Linux in parallel with other OS systems. We are satisfied with how well Red Hat Enterprise Linux works with our other products.

How was the initial setup?

Upgrading the versions is straightforward. All the stakeholders from the system side, database side, and consultants are involved in the updates. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is reasonable. 

What other advice do I have?

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

We have ten people that are using the solution in our organization.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Fozia Nurye - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Officer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Nov 30, 2023
Convenient to use with good features and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the valuable features is that it's convenient."
  • "There should be more upgrades to the security features."

What is most valuable?

One of the valuable features is that it's convenient. 

The rest of its features are really nice.

Red Hat enables us to achieve security standards certification. We have been certified for the PPI certification last year. 

Red Hat has been good when it comes to building with confidence and ensuring availability across our infrastructure. We are really confident about the security process.

It is implemented across multiple physical and virtual infrastructures. We have applied it on most production servers. They are integrated quite well. 

We use the Red Hat system roles feature. We have been using this for automation purposes and to find some tests. 

What needs improvement?

The response could be better for urgent issues. If there's an issue with live services, they need to be faster. 

It would be nice to have antivirus services.

There should be more upgrades to the security features. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for a long time. My organization has used it for more than three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good. I'd rate it eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is decent. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. Different teams and departments, including application and development teams. 

We do not have plans to increase usage in the future.

How are customer service and support?

I'm very happy with the technical support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have got some other open systems like CentOS. We just have most of our production services to ReadyX from CentOS and Oracle. Red Hat is more secure. The support is very nice as well.

How was the initial setup?

I joined the organization after deployment and wasn't involved in the implementation. 

I'm not sure if the solution requires any maintenance. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm not really involved in the pricing or the licensing. However, it may be expensive. We have different licenses. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated different options.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a customer and end-user.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2297034 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Nov 5, 2023
Fair price, good support, and regular security updates
Pros and Cons
  • "The security updates and the support that comes along with it for applications are valuable."
  • "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."

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?

Positive

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.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2298882 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at a government with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Nov 5, 2023
Rock solid, secure, and good documentation and support
Pros and Cons
  • "I like most of the features. I like its stability. I like its views. It provides a very stable environment."
  • "The upgrade procedures are a little bit cumbersome. It would be nice if they are not because every three or four years we have to update, and I find that to be a bit on the cumbersome side. We have been able to automate most of it, but we still run into things where the job does not finish. There are things that require additional steps. There are things that need to be removed and that always require manual intervention."

What is our primary use case?

We have an older environment with a lot of servers. They are development servers for a lot of in-house development. We have a lot of things. We have Ruby on Rails, Java, and a lot of Oracle applications

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is mostly on-prem in my current job. In my previous jobs, we have had it on AWS or Azure.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux's built-in security features are good when it comes to simplifying risk reduction and maintaining compliance. It is something that they do very well. It is one of the reasons why we like running it. It is rock solid in all areas. Red Hat does a really good job of keeping on top of vulnerabilities and making the patching process easy.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has impacted our uptime and security. We have had no breaches, and our systems are usually up.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has not yet enabled us to achieve security standards certification because that is not a requirement for where we are, but I am pretty confident that we would meet those standards. Our security teams are usually chasing problems on the other side of the house.

What is most valuable?

I like most of the features. I like its stability. I like its views. It provides a very stable environment. There is not a lot of downtime. There are not a lot of issues. Primarily, we are deploying things and configuring things, and occasionally, we add new things for developers as needed, but it does not require much troubleshooting or break fixing. That is rare.

The knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux is another thing I like about it. It is particularly easy to find an answer to your problem online. There is very good documentation, very good user communities, and good support when you need it.

What needs improvement?

The upgrade procedures are a little bit cumbersome. It would be nice if they are not because every three or four years we have to update, and I find that to be a bit on the cumbersome side. We have been able to automate most of it, but we still run into things where the job does not finish. There are things that require additional steps. There are things that need to be removed and that always require manual intervention. I do not know how they can get rid of that, but it is cumbersome in an environment where you have hundreds or thousands of servers.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

How are customer service and support?

I would rate their support a nine out of ten. I just do not give tens. I am sure there are some areas where they can improve, but they are good. They are responsive.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have got experience with Windows and Solaris before that. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is my favorite. With Solaris, that stream stopped a long time ago, but Red Hat Enterprise Linux has all of the nice things about it, and they have continued to develop and build many new things. For instance, when you had to patch on a Solaris box, you had to take the server down into single-user mode and apply the patching. I like it better than Windows in every way. It is more intuitive to me. I like that I can do more things from the command line. It is easier to automate things.

How was the initial setup?

I have been involved in the upgrades and some migrations for migrating things from Solaris. We also had CentOS, which was converted to DevStream, so we have had to change those to Red Hat. The upgrades and migrations were not terribly difficult. Usually, the tools were there. We called support when we ran into problems, but for the most part, it worked.

I have used Convert2RHEL. It was a bit helpful. It did the job.

We mostly use Ansible for deployment, patching, and managing the system in general. Our experience has been good. I am looking at some of the newer things they have at the conference that we have not had a chance to play with, but it meets our needs.

What was our ROI?

We have seen a return on our investment. We are able to do what we need to do without any problems or interruptions, and we are able to do it quickly.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

For me, it is not too bad, but my company pays the bill, so I do not worry too much about it. 

What other advice do I have?

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.
PeerSpot user
Mohamed-Lotfy - PeerSpot reviewer
L2 Cloud Ops Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Oct 30, 2023
A stable OS, quick to install, and easy to scale
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a reliable operating system that can run for long periods of time without any issues."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux should modernize its UI to make navigating the screens easier."

What is our primary use case?

We host Red Hat Enterprise Linux on our VMware Cloud and manage our customers' machines.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux machines are more stable than Windows machines.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps to avoid cloud vendor lock-in.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a reliable operating system that can run for long periods of time without any issues.

What needs improvement?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux should modernize its UI to make navigating the screens easier.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for around four years.

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?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be easily scaled on a virtual machine.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the initial deployment but it was straightforward. The deployment took around 15 minutes per machine.

What other advice do I have?

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

I recommend using Red Hat Enterprise Linux over an open-source OS because it offers better support.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux requires minimal maintenance.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a reliable solution and I recommend it to others.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.