We use Red Hate Enterprise Linux in our infrastructure, which consists of VM and Linux. We use it to create clusters.
Tech Advisor at a energy/utilities company with 51-200 employees
Helps to create clusters but needs to incorporate a feature similiar to GNOME system monitor
Pros and Cons
- "We use RHEL in our infrastructure, which consists of VM and Linux. We use it to create clusters."
- "I would like to see the GNOME system monitor feature, which shows CPU usage and other aspects. It will help to save time."
What is our primary use case?
What needs improvement?
I would like to see the GNOME system monitor feature, which shows CPU usage and other aspects. It will help to save time.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Red Hate Enterprise Linux for eight years.
How are customer service and support?
We have a separate team that handles any issues. We inform them whenever we encounter issues.
Buyer'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.
816,562 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What other advice do I have?
I would like to see user training sessions that last about one to two hours on new features and releases.
We have a separate team that creates dashboards for us. I rate the product a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Associate Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
A Linux distribution solution with good customer support
Pros and Cons
- "Customer support is valuable."
- "Their pricing and documentation can be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We deploy front-end and back-end software applications on RHEL, and it's our app server. Most of our app servers and our production servers are on RHEL. They're running on RHEL, and that's why they are profiting from it. I2C is the issuer in the processing payment industry. Basically, we do the issuer processing for credit cards, and all the bank magic that happens when you swipe a credit card is handled by us. We're also using RHEL servers for processing debit card payments.
What is most valuable?
Customer support is valuable. Because most of the Linux distros are open source, most of them don't have customer support. RHEL isn't open source, and that's why I prefer it more than other distros.
What needs improvement?
Their pricing and documentation can be improved. They need to have developer variance that's more developer-friendly and less costly. They have a free developer version, but that's very limited in terms of features from RHEL. They also need to build their own open source community.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using RHEL for about four months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
RHEL is very stable. Unlike Kali-Linux or Solaris, RHEL solutions are very stable. We have licensed projects, and they must be stable to provide all customers with instructions. They're stable, compared to other Linux options too.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's very scalable. When you're using the right machine and the right settings or right parameters, it's highly scalable
How are customer service and support?
Technical support from their customer service team is very good. They give responses unlike other Linux distros, and I think RHEL has better customer support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
My current company was using Solaris before. I was using Core Linux for three to four years. From Ubuntu, I shifted to RHEL and Solaris because I changed companies and jobs. We are using RHEL and Solaris in my current job, and I had to shift to these operating systems.
I have used the Ubuntu Linux base, I have used Kali-Linux and Debian. Of all those Linux systems, I think RHEL is much better, but I find Ubuntu much easier to use than RHEL.
Ubuntu is Debian-based, and Red Hat is, I think VM based. Another difference is open source systems have less support. Still, the community of Ubuntu is very strong and answers your query very promptly. But Red Hat is a certified, licensed product, and customer support from them is very good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
RHEL is expensive. The servers or cloud images are quite expensive. But I guess the client groups they target can afford that kind of a license. If you're a small business owner or a student and want to shift to RHEL, you must spend a lot of dollars. The developer version of RHEL has minimal functionality, but it's given away for free.
What other advice do I have?
I would tell potential customers that they should go for the latest releases. If they want to buy it, they should get a developer account from RHEL first and use that dev account before buying it. They might have some hands-on experience before spending too much money on Red Hat.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) an eight.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer'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.
816,562 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Assistant Manager at Cosmopolitan Communications Limited
Provides us with good security
Pros and Cons
- "The security features are better than many other solutions offer."
- "Could include additional security fefatures."
What is our primary use case?
We are internet service providers in Bangladesh and resellers of this product to our customers to manage their network infrastructure.
What is most valuable?
I think this solution is more secure than others because it's not open source. Red Hat will ensure the details when you purchase the package. Having a certification will offer value.
We've found that there is a huge demand for it.
What needs improvement?
Although the security features are good, I'd like to see more added in the security sphere.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for just three months and still not completely familiar with it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
How are customer service and support?
The documentation is sufficient for my needs.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy, it takes around 10-15 minutes.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution eight out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Moving workloads is easy, helps save cost, and avoids cloud vendor lock-in
Pros and Cons
- "The frequent updates are valuable."
- "The numerous links to different pages disrupt the flow of information and make it difficult to maintain focus."
What is our primary use case?
We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux on-premises and in the cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
We are able to easily move workloads between the cloud and our data center using Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps us avoid cloud vendor lock-in.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has helped save us costs.
What is most valuable?
The frequent updates are valuable.
What needs improvement?
The training documentation requires revision. The numerous links to different pages disrupt the flow of information and make it difficult to maintain focus.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ten 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 is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good, but they need to work on their response time.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Windows and switched to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for flexibility and support.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price for Red Hat Enterprise Linux is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux eight out of ten.
We have around 20 Red Hat Enterprise Linux users in our organization.
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?
Google
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Security Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Supporting OS software with built-in security and encryption that is easy to use and setup
Pros and Cons
- "The security, ongoing support, and ease of taking a system and getting authorization from a government agency have helped the way our organization functions."
- "The cost of this solution could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution as our operating system.
How has it helped my organization?
The security, ongoing support, and ease of taking a system and getting authorization from a government agency have helped the way our organization functions.
The built-in security features support certain security standards such as encryption. It is simpler to meet FIPS 140 encryption requirements such as the ATOs.
What is most valuable?
The ease of use of this solution has been most valuable.
What needs improvement?
The cost of this solution could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Linux. Red Hat meets our needs more comprehensively.
What was our ROI?
Our main ROI is in the ability to readily get ATOs.
What other advice do I have?
For somebody familiar with the Linux platform, it is not difficult to troubleshoot when using this solution.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Sales Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Provides a stable version of Linux with enterprise support
Pros and Cons
- "Enterprise support is available for our customers."
How has it helped my organization?
The company that I worked for that employed RHEL was a PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System - think of an image repository for x-ray, CAT scan, MRI, etc., that allowed radiologists to read the images and report on their findings). Our software was a FDA-certified medical "device," based on an open-source DICOM toolkit. We had a custom repository that served up our packages. We needed a stable, supported version of Linux since we would have to get FDA certification for each major version upgrade.
What is most valuable?
Enterprise support is available for our customers. Pre-RHEL, I used Red Hat desktop for personal PC.
What needs improvement?
Support.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Rarely were there stability issues. We regularly had servers running for three years without reboot.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Yes, there were scalability issues, but I blame that more on my employer than on Red Hat.
How are customer service and technical support?
Support seemed to be great for day-to-day issues that our customers would experience (the customer would engage Red Hat support and escalate to me if there was no resolution). I only had to engage support once for an escalated issue and their support team tried to pass the blame onto our Hypervisor vendor, when it was indeed an issue with a Red Hat package.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used lots of flavors of Linux going back to 1995. Enterprise support was the reason Red Hat was selected.
How was the initial setup?
Easy. Used Kickstart to automate installation and post install config.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I was an engineer, never discussed pricing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
CentOS, Slack, Ubuntu, Arch, LFS.
What other advice do I have?
My advice: Kickstart is your friend.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
A stable and easy-to-use product that is much simpler than other tools
Pros and Cons
- "The product is easy to use."
- "The solution should provide demos so that users can learn to use it and improve their environments."
What is our primary use case?
We use the product to use the virtual servers.
What is most valuable?
Compared to Windows, the solution is much simpler. The product is easy to use.
What needs improvement?
The solution should provide demos so that users can learn to use it and improve their environments.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three to four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have no complaints about the stability. It is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have no complaints about the scalability.
What other advice do I have?
We use the on-premises solution because we work for the government. We cannot use the cloud version because we have to maintain confidentiality. We are using versions six, seven, and eight. We also use Windows in our organization. Overall, I rate the solution a ten 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.
An excellent and inexpensive solution with great security, stability, and performance
Pros and Cons
- "Its security is the most valuable. It is very stable and has many features. It also has good performance. Some of our clients were using Windows servers and products. I suggested Red Hat Linux to them and described the features. They switched to it, and they really loved it. There were around 50 servers in my last company, and they switched all those servers from Windows to Red Hat. I used to manage those servers."
- "It is mostly better than other solutions. However, it is sometimes difficult for disaster recovery, so we have to plan accordingly."
What is our primary use case?
I use it for running RAID servers, Database clusters, and a lot of other open-source tools. I have also used it as a firewall.
We have on-premises dedicated servers located in some data centers. We also have cloud servers on the public cloud. I am currently using the latest version, and I have also worked on previous versions as well as Template.
What is most valuable?
Its security is the most valuable. It is very stable and has many features. It also has good performance.
Some of our clients were using Windows servers and products. I suggested Red Hat Linux to them and described the features. They switched to it, and they really loved it. There were around 50 servers in my last company, and they switched all those servers from Windows to Red Hat. I used to manage those servers.
What needs improvement?
It is mostly better than other solutions. However, it is sometimes difficult for disaster recovery, so we have to plan accordingly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working on Linux for the past ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Based on my experience, it has been stable. I did not experience any issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. I scaled it in a way that I put a load balancer and a few servers running behind that. When working with clients, we scale or expand usage based on the need.
I used to work on and manage a website, which was just like YouTube. Around 1,000 users used to use the site, which was definitely putting a load on this server. There were around 30 servers managing the traffic. I could manage 1,000 simultaneous users.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have never used their support. I just do some research to resolve an issue.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have also used Ubuntu and CentOS in different companies and for different clients. The utilization of packages, commands, and configuration files are different in Ubuntu. For example, if you want to restart a service, the commands are different in these solutions. They also have different firewalls. Red Hat uses firewalld and Ubuntu uses ufw.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment is actually okay. It is not too easy and not too complex. It is easy for experienced people, but if you don't have the experience, it can be a little hard.
The deployment duration depends on the type of deployment that we are doing. It could take from a day to a week or two weeks. We can also use Jenkins for auto-deployment.
What about the implementation team?
I worked with a Cloud hosting and deployment company that provided different Cloud services to their clients. They had servers based on Red Hat. It does require regular maintenance. We had a team of ten people.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Red Hat Linux is inexpensive. Linux solutions are generally inexpensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend this solution. It is my most preferred solution. I like using terminals, and with Red Hat, I get to work on terminals and shell commands. It has good security.
I would rate Red Hat Linux (RHEL) an eight out of ten. I find it excellent, but no system can be 100% perfect.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Product Categories
Operating Systems (OS) for BusinessPopular Comparisons
Ubuntu Linux
Oracle Linux
Windows Server
SUSE Linux Enterprise
openSUSE Leap
Oracle Solaris
Google Chrome Enterprise
Flatcar Container Linux
Alpine Linux
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- What Is The Biggest Difference Between Oracle Linux and Redhat?
- What Is The Biggest Difference Between RHEL And SUSE Linux Enterprise?
- What are some similarities that you see between Windows 10 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux benchmarks?
- Issue with upgrade of IBM ACM on RHEL 6.10 (hosted on VMWare ESXi-6.7) - looking for advice
- RHEL or SUSE Linux Enterprise?
- Which would you choose - RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or CentOS?
- What are the differences between RHEL and Windows 10?
- What change management solution do you recommend for users to adapt to Windows 10 updates?
- What operating system do you use in your business?
- When evaluating Enterprise Linux, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?