We are in a closed environment, so submitting a ticket can be painstaking as only a few of us have access to do so. We primarily use Red Hat for its stability, and it's one of the few Linux operating systems that meet our security constraints.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP with HA and Update Services
Red Hat | 8.10 20250710-1792Linux/Unix, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.10 - 64-bit Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
External reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
The product is capable of supporting various architectures and enables the management of disconnected workstations
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
I find the satellite feature the most valuable. It allows us to manage disconnected workstations, keeping their patching, software updates, and bug fixes up to date. We can collect all the necessary updates on a connected system and then transfer them to a disconnected system. Each client thinks it's connected to an external satellite infrastructure, making management very easy.
The Image Builder feature seems very helpful. We currently use Kickstart to build systems.
What needs improvement?
The support can be lackluster sometimes, especially in our disconnected space where we have specific requirements. Occasionally, we encounter support representatives who are not familiar with our setup. So, in that space, personalized and tailored support based on each use case could be better.
In additional features, I would have said being more on the bleeding edge, but RHEL 9 was released, which is a nice push forward. So right now, I don't think there's anything specific. I find the product stack to be pretty decent.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for three years. We are using versions 7.9 and 8.7.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable, but that's also why it falls behind at times. For example, if you have newer hardware like systems A and B that were released within the last year, there might be potential sleep issues, specifically with S3 sleep, that require manual patching and intervention in the kernel. It's because they are trying to support newer systems on a much older framework.
I believe RHEL 9 is supposed to mitigate that a little bit. It aims to provide a balance between the latest stable release and the older version that is, like, five years old. They're trying to meet somewhere in the middle.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have around 30 workstations and approximately 60 servers.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service and support team depends on the environment you are in. The support can be spotty. The support can be spotty; at least they've tried to be helpful. Sometimes they'll just point you to a documentation link, practically like Googling it for you, and it's like, "No, we've already looked at this. Can you please review the logs further?" And sometimes, I'll have to go and pinpoint specific areas to look at. And then it's like, "Oh, okay."
It's not always very thorough. But it's hit or miss. So I think it's just a people thing. If you get somebody in support who really likes their job or enjoys fixing things, they're going to go out of their way, as opposed to someone who does the bare minimum.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward. It's pretty easy to enable it. After weeks of setting up a Linux Kickstart, the whole system can be deployed. The whole bare-metal system can be deployed in around thirty minutes. So it's really fast, especially for a bare-metal image with a lot of packages installed.
When it comes to maintaining compliance, I think it's pretty good. However, for risk reduction, we have to rely on other software and tools. So I can't really say that Red Hat provides that specific functionality for us. But I think it's good for maintaining compliance is very easy, especially with satellite. It makes it easy for us to access package and vulnerability information, allowing us to identify and resolve any issues. Overall, it works quite well. If you use the right products, I believe you can have all the necessary components in one place.
The portability of applications and containers is pretty good, although there is one issue. With the transition to Red Hat 8, Docker was removed. As a result, there is an issue with using Podman, specifically related to certain types of authentication in a mixed Windows-Linux environment. Due to the way secrets and related functionalities work, Podman cannot be utilized in that scenario. Therefore, there are some challenges to address in this regard.
I believe Red Hat should have maintained compatibility with Docker or at least their own Red Hat Docker until they could bring their software up to speed.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation ourselves. The documentation is pretty good.
What was our ROI?
I save at least a few hours weekly using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We got the license through a third party. They buy licenses in bulk for us. We pay them, and they handle the licensing.
Moreover, Red Hat's pricing and licensing structure seems fine. There's not a huge separation. The licenses can cover everything without worrying about the core count, socket count, or similar complexities like VMware and other big companies. It's simple enough to figure out which support contract you want based on the level of support you need.
It's an open source product.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the product an eight out of ten. The product is good, and the documentation is really comprehensive. The support is satisfactory as well. Based solely on the product itself, without considering support, we find it stable and capable of supporting various architectures. The documentation is particularly good and stands out. It provides valuable resources, including bug fixes, to people with developer accounts, which are free. Having all that information available is very helpful and resourceful, especially when troubleshooting Linux-related issues.
The documentation is very good, making it easier to troubleshoot any peculiar Linux-related problems.
Provides valuable security insight, is extremely stable, and is easy to deploy
What is our primary use case?
We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the operating system for our databases and application servers. We also use Red Hat Enterprise Linux to create some of our applications, such as the Online Challenge system. I work for a telecommunications company, and we have a few other operating systems in use, such as Unix and AIX, but Red Hat Enterprise Linux is our primary operating system.
We deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux on-premises and in the cloud. For the cloud, we use Azure and Huawei.
How has it helped my organization?
We work with virtual servers, so we have the image ready to deploy. It's great because the patch is always updated and we have no problems.
Red Hat Insights has helped us avoid emergencies in unpatched systems by identifying bugs so that we can fix them.
Red Hat Insights provides us with vulnerability alerts and targeted guidance, which helps prevent downtime and increases our uptime to 99 percent.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the security insight and the internal firewall, which are common in all the machine tests that we use a lot. The terminal framework and security are all Linux.
What needs improvement?
I believe this is because we don't have access to package management software. As a developer, I would like to have access to this software so that I can install the tools that I need. Currently, we are restricted to installing software only with permission from the system administrator. This is time-consuming and inefficient, as we have to follow a process to request permission. I believe that having access to package management software would improve our productivity and efficiency.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for eleven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is extremely stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux's scalability is good because of virtualization. With virtualization, we can request more space or memory processing without having to make any changes to our system. This makes the process of scaling up or down very straightforward.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is great but nothing is perfect.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Ubuntu Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise. I switched to Red Hat Enterprise Linux because it has better support. I haven't tried the others, but Red Hat looks like it has better support. However, Ubuntu is more compatible with desktop development, making it more user-friendly.
How was the initial setup?
As a developer, I find the initial setup to be easy. Deployment takes a few hours, but I understand the server, so it is not a problem. I do not actually do the deployment; the infrastructure team handles that. They made the process easier and faster, and on average, deployment now takes around four to six hours.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We purchased our license from ITM, our local provider.
What other advice do I have?
I give Red Hat Enterprise Linux a nine out of ten.
I make the applications compatible with the cloud so we can migrate the data.
The knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux is good, but I don't use it much because the infrastructure team manages issues with the OS. I only check the documentation when an application is not working as expected.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Resilient, cost-effective, and has good support
What is our primary use case?
We've implemented OpenShift on top of OpenStack. It's a Red Hat OpenStack environment, which is the virtualization layer, and then OpenShift is for the cloud technologies.
It's currently on-prem on a private cloud. In the future, we might utilize a public cloud if the government approves that. Currently, the banking industry isn't allowed to go to the public cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
There is a big move towards digital banking. They prefer to have their solution up and running as soon as possible when the request comes in. They have to have the libraries and all the containers up and running. In a couple of minutes or seconds, they have their whole infrastructure up and running.
With regard to security, most companies are moving towards the black box approach and Red Hat. It's much more secure compared to the other vendors.
What is most valuable?
There's consistency, and it's resilient as well.
With regards to OpenShift, everything is related to cost. If you need a vanilla OS, you have to spend a lot on the licensing that is tagged. You have to spend on the infrastructure and the licensing on a core basis, and whatever is required on your containers, you just have to give minimum hardware specs.
What needs improvement?
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization isn't up to the mark as compared to VMware and Hyper-V, but they're moving everything on OpenShift for containers and virtual machines, which is stable. If you go into the virtualization layer, they still need to improve a lot of things, but with regards to OpenShift, containers, Docker, and other things, they are doing well.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using it for three to four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Compared to Windows and other operating systems that I've used, it's stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I'd rate it a nine out of ten in terms of scalability. We have plans to increase its usage in the future. Our infrastructure will be able to scale. We have a plan to grow it every three years.
How are customer service and support?
Their support is very good. Most of the things are already listed in their knowledge base. Support cases are only raised when you end up with any critical situation. I'd rate their 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?
We've used Windows, Solaris, and AIX. The reason for switching to it was that everything is moving to the black box. People want everything to be secured. We got a lot of updates on Red Hat, and it was doing very well in the market.
How was the initial setup?
It was very straightforward. When we did the proof of concept, we had everything ready within two or three days, and then the engineers who came to deploy it did it in a day's time once we had all the infrastructure up and running. This was just for the proof of concept.
With regard to the implementation, they had a timeline, and they did deliver before the timeline.
It has been deployed on Nutanix as well. They are present even in the marketplace for AWS. It's a straightforward installation. They have two categories: UPI and IPI, and the installations are very straightforward, but it requires a lot of expertise if you want to deploy it on a public cloud.
What about the implementation team?
It was implemented by Red Hat. In terms of maintenance, it does require maintenance, but once it is highly available, it's easily done.
What was our ROI?
We've seen an ROI. It has had cost benefits.
It has saved us money. We did a proof of concept with the VMware Cloud Foundation and OpenShift. We saw the feasibility and how fast it can be deployed. There were a lot of considerations. We evaluated it from all perspectives. Compared to the VMware Cloud Foundation, we noted that it was just 50% of the cost. If you go for VMware, they charge you on a core basis, and the licensing costs are huge. You'll have to spend on Microsoft licensing, and then you'll have to spend on the OS as well. Comparatively, it's much cheaper.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We purchased it directly from Red Hat. Compared to open source, it's very pricey, but you get the support, which makes it much better.
What other advice do I have?
You have to deploy it and evaluate it. You can see that there's a lot of difference compared to other operating systems. It also depends on where exactly you're going. There are mainframes and other different places where you can deploy it. Even on the mainframe, it makes a lot of difference.
With Red Hat, there are a couple of things you need to consider while building your infrastructure. You need to have good hardware, and you need to have a compatibility matrix to be able to have a stable environment. It has to be tested in a proper way, rather than deploying it on any box.
In terms of the golden images created by the image builder tool, we have vendors who come with their solutions. They come with the containers, and they deploy them. Most of them are using GitHub, and we just provide the infrastructure. From a technical perspective, there's a solutions department that's into APIs. They handle everything, and we just provide the infrastructure.
Overall, I'd rate it an eight out of ten.
Helps us build with confidence and ensures availability across physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructures
What is our primary use case?
When I worked for an MSP, we had a lot of requirements for Linux servers. Any customer services that were deemed to be on Linux were on Red Hat 6 or 7. In fact, a good forty percent of our estate was on Red Hat 6 or 7.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux's built-in security features simplify risk management. The operating system is very secure, and we used tools like Puppet to further limit and lock down access with configuration files from a central location. This made Red Hat Enterprise Linux both more secure and easier to configure. The fact that Red Hat Enterprise Linux is open source means that there are a wide variety of tools available to help with security, and the lack of a user interface for some of these tools makes them even more secure.
Maintaining compliance is easy. We used another tool called Spacewalk to deploy patches and update RPMs. It was very easy to connect to a repository. We didn't have any problems with that either.
The portability of applications and containers built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux is beneficial for keeping our organization agile. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a lightweight operating system that can be deployed on a variety of hardware platforms, from small clusters to large industrial servers. This allows us to easily move applications and containers between different environments, which makes it easier to scale our infrastructure and respond to changing business needs.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has helped improve our organization's efficiency by allowing employees to use a leave service to work remotely. One of the benefits of using Red Hat Enterprise Linux and other Linux distributions is that they are more stable and less likely to break than Windows. This makes it possible to automate many tasks, such as patching, which can save time and money. In contrast, Windows is more prone to errors and requires more manual intervention. As a result, Red Hat Enterprise Linux has been a valuable tool for our organization.
The time to value with Red Hat Enterprise Linux was quick. It took us only a few months to half a year to realize that we didn't have to do so much tweaking with it. We could just let it run and do its own thing, configuring it once at most, and then leave it alone.
Red Hat enables us to achieve security standards and certifications.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps us build with confidence and ensures availability across physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructures. We use PuTTY to connect to them. All of our SSH connectivity was locked down to be only from jump servers, so none of it was public-facing. This was a clustered approach, where users had to first connect to a Windows server and then use SSH or PuTTY to connect to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux server.
The ability to automate security configurations is very beneficial. Once we set it up, it can do its job very well without any further input from us. We found it easy to set up and configure, and it has made our lives a lot easier.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps to implement and manage security best practices with reduced overhead.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has made our lives a lot easier. It is one of those tools like Terraform that takes a lot of the time constraints away from us. This is because we can leave it to do its own thing, and we know that it will do what it is meant to do properly. I think this is because Red Hat Enterprise Linux is lightweight and has a single purpose. As a result, it only needs to be concerned with that purpose. For example, we only have one role for that server, and we are happy and content knowing that it will perform that role.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is lightweight and can be run on almost anything. It is a valuable product because it can do its job almost perfectly even with limited resources.
What needs improvement?
Although the price is reasonable, there is room for improvement in order to stand out from other open source solutions.
For how long have I used the solution?
I am currently using Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is extremely good. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is lightweight, so it does not consume a lot of resources. It can handle a variety of workloads, and we have never had any problems with servers crashing or other issues. The software is also easy to set up and configure, and it runs smoothly once it is up and running.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The system's scalability is good. We deployed it across multiple locations, departments, and other areas. I give scalability a nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The support team is very helpful and knowledgeable about the product. They knew what they were doing and were able to resolve any issues I had very quickly.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used CentOS. We still have Windows servers, and they can be a bit of a headache. However, we have since moved from CentOS to Route 6 and 7, and we found that this improved things a bit.
We switched because we had a better partnership with Red Hat themselves.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. We used Terraform to make it even simpler, but I don't think it was complex, to begin with. Deployment for one server takes a couple of hours. If we're just looking at a single server, or if we're building out a small cluster, deployment may take a day or two.
What was our ROI?
From a technical user perspective, we have seen a return on investment in terms of efficiency. This is because we can now set up a server and let it do what it needs to do without having to babysit it with patching, updates, and upgrades. This frees up time for engineers to work on other tasks, such as developing new features or fixing bugs.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is reasonable. I think it's a good value for what it is. It's not overpriced or extortionate. If it's something that's right for our environment, our infrastructure, and other factors, I think it's definitely worth considering. I don't think the price is a major concern.
What other advice do I have?
I give Red Hat Enterprise Linux an eight out of ten.
I think open source software is generally cheaper than Red Hat. However, I don't think that cheaper software is always better. And I don't think that Red Hat is necessarily better than open source just because it costs more. It really depends on our specific needs. If we're comparing Red Hat to an open source equivalent, I would say that Red Hat would probably be a better fit for us. This is because Red Hat offers support, a back-end, and a team of experts who can help us if we need it. With open-source software, we're often on our own and have to figure issues out on our own. With Red Hat, we have the peace of mind of knowing that we can get help if we need it.
We have Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployed across multiple contracts and multiple data centers. It was not on the cloud; it was all on-premises. However, we were able to deploy it across multiple data centers, multiple customers, and multiple departments. This flexibility was a major advantage.
We used Red Hat Enterprise Linux to patch and update the system, including drivers, the OS itself, and security updates. We also monitored disk space usage and swap usage, but this was not too time-consuming. We had a team of three or four people to rotate tasks, so no one person was stuck on the same thing all the time.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a good product. It has a good ecosystem and support. It is lightweight and does what we need it to do. It is a good alternative to Windows for lightweight containers or servers. It is also good for specific roles.
The operating system is a great way to learn about Linux. While some people will always choose Windows, it is not always the best answer. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is more stable and less resource-intensive than Windows, and it is also more trustworthy. This makes it a good choice for environments where reliability and security are important.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Offers performance stability, and it's easy to scale up or down by adding servers
What is our primary use case?
We are a fintech company that uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux for enterprise and financial applications. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is deployed on servers at two sites. Access is mostly limited to IT staff because it is only used on our servers, not employee workstations.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers performance stability, and it's easy to scale up or down by adding servers. The OS is easy to monitor and integrate with other systems. We use all these applications as containers. Red Hat has a container platform called OpenShift that we use to deploy containers. It's effortless to deploy and redeploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux. You can easily deploy it across multiple platforms and move it from one provider to another.
The operating system helps us meet security standards for the financial industry. You need high levels of security in this business to protect your financial data. Red Hat Enterprise Linux has various security features.
We use the System Roles feature primarily with Ansible. It's powerful. You can use it to perform complex tasks, and it simplifies processes. For example, it helps you change network settings for storage, security, monitoring, etc. System roles help us automate security configurations and maintain consistency across systems. They have playbooks we can get from their website, and it's all based on system roles.
My company uses Red Hat Insights only for systems with internet access, but most of our environment is offline.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is easy to manage, update, and integrate. I also like Red Hat Enterprise Linux's built-in security features. You need to enable them by default or keep them enabled if you want your system to be secured. It protects most of the system components.
What needs improvement?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux's monitoring could be improved. I would like additional monitoring features, like a greater ability to monitor services and workloads running. Satellite can provide centralized monitoring of subscriptions and deployments. You can build a monitoring console, but there is no native monitoring.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for four or five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is stable like every other Linux distro. It works fine. We have had no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is easy to scale. You can clone it, deploy another instance, and scale it up with a few changes.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Red Hat's support an eight out of ten. I contact them often. Red Hat's support is helpful. They can solve your issue most of the time or point you in the right direction.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux is mostly straightforward, but it depends on your requirements and the settings you need to apply. We typically do everything in-house. Red Hat Enterprise Linux requires a little maintenance. We need to do patching, clean up the file system, rotate logs, etc.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a nine out of ten. If you don't know anything about Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you should read up on it. It will do everything you want. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is excellent.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Simplifies risk reduction and compliance maintenance by utilizing bash scripts or Ansible to automate and streamline our tasks
What is our primary use case?
The users utilize Red Hat Enterprise Linux for building, installing, and automating platforms. Additionally, we employ it as an installer for OpenShift clusters. Furthermore, there is a product called Red Hat High Availability Clustering and also JBoss. Occasionally, we also use it to build an Oracle RAC database.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux simplifies risk reduction and compliance maintenance by utilizing bash scripts or Ansible to automate and streamline our tasks. Red Hat also offers a tool called Convert2RHEL, which simplifies the process of maintaining our products from Oracle, CentOS, and other vendors to Red Hat. This feature is truly remarkable.
The portability of applications and containers built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux is perfect for keeping our organization agile, especially when considering rootless containers or utilizing BotMan containers for enhanced security and performance.
The Red Hat ecosystem enables the seamless integration of our products such as Ansible, Red Hat Virtualization, Red Hat Satellite, and OpenShift platform to fulfill tasks, thereby enhancing the efficiency of our organization.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps us reduce the time we spend on tedious tasks, and the large Red Hat community provides an easy way for us to maintain or fix errors and bugs. We were able to realize the benefits quickly.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux enables us to achieve security standard certification. I am a certified Red Hat System Administrator and Red Hat Engineer. The content of the certificate includes topics such as C Linux. This helps to make our organization more secure and stable and has an impact on our personnel sourcing.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux assists us in building with confidence and ensures availability across physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructure. While there is a higher level of risk associated with using a public cloud for any product, private or virtualized environments offer greater security.
Red Hat Insights helps us prevent emergencies caused by security issues, noncompliant settings, and unpatched systems by enabling us to be more proactive in detecting and avoiding errors before they occur.
Red Hat Insights provides us with vulnerability alerts and targeted guidance, especially when we register our host directly with Red Hat. It works perfectly because it utilizes machine learning, allowing us to monitor our logs and prevent unnecessary downtime.
What is most valuable?
Errata is the most valuable feature, which is supported by Red Hat. Errata is a list of corrected errors appended to a document in Red Hat, used for provisioning or batching our hosts. Moreover, its stability and security are noteworthy.
What needs improvement?
Ever since Red Hat acquired CentOS, the connection between the new CentOS Upstream and Red Hat Enterprise Linux has become unstable and requires improvement.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux's ability to run containerized applications is not optimized and has room for improvement.
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 extremely stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux can scale horizontally because it is in a virtualized environment. Vertical scaling depends on the deployment of the solution.
We have plans to increase our utilization of the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The Red Hat technical support is excellent; critical issues are resolved promptly.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also utilize other Linux operating systems depending on the use case. SUSE Linux Enterprise is more optimized for SAP products. When working with an Oracle database, it is preferable to use Oracle Linux.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment was straightforward. The deployment time depends on two factors: the first factor is the infrastructure specs, and the second factor is what we are deploying with the operating system. For a minimal server, deployment takes five minutes. For a server with a graphical user interface, it can take up to 20 minutes.
What about the implementation team?
The implementations are all completed in-house.
What other advice do I have?
I give Red Hat Enterprise Linux a nine out of ten.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is deployed in multiple environments, including pre-production, user acceptance testing, and system integration testing. Our Red Hat team, the development team, and another team utilize Red Hat Enterprise Linux within our organization.
Each processor architecture has a distinct version of the software.
The Red Hat exams are not solely based on security but also on performance. It is a challenging skill to grasp, but once learned, Red Hat Enterprise Linux will be flawless.
I highly recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux, particularly for production environments, due to its stability and enhanced security features.
The most valuable lesson I have learned using Red Hat Enterprise Linux is that the entire Red Hat ecosystem is perfect. All the open-source projects can work together, especially for DevOps or when implementing valid automation or containerized applications. If we need to deploy a centralized application, we will use OpenShift. And if we want to perform tasks on OpenShift, we will use Ansible as an automation platform. If we want to upgrade or manage our environment hosts in batches, we will use Red Hat Satellite. If we have applications and want to create an environment for them, we will use Red Hat JBoss. If we want to run high-availability clusters or high-performance computing clusters, we will turn to Red Hat High Availability Clustering. Working within the Red Hat ecosystem is perfect.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Gives us good performance and ensures availability across different infrastructures
What is our primary use case?
I use Red Hat Enterprise Linux for deploying servers to install Oracle Databases.
How has it helped my organization?
The performance that we get is very satisfactory. Usually, when you compare the results against previous databases that were run, you realize, "Oh, this is really good." But the performance depends on the hardware you put it on. If you put it on a very powerful server, the performance will be better. If you put Linux on a server that is not powerful, the performance will not be there.
What is most valuable?
All of its features are valuable. It's very good when it comes to building with a sense of assurance and for ensuring availability across different infrastructures.
Because most databases run on Linux, that's what makes this solution so important. If you install a Unix system and want to use a database, you won't have trouble finding a database to run on it. But if you are using Windows, other than using a Microsoft database, you're likely going to have problems. For example, if you want to run Oracle Database on Windows, it could be problematic. Linux, on the other hand, is wide open. People use it for development and that's why we have chosen to use it.
Also, it's great to have IP tables for firewalls in open source. That's the way things are supposed to be going. When you create a file system they ask you if you would like to encrypt the data, and that's great for securing things.
What needs improvement?
If you download Oracle Linux, it is very easy. And when it comes to updating Oracle Linux, it does not require subscribing to the repo to do the update. When you install Oracle Linux, the repo directory contains all the files needed to run a DNS or VM update. Whereas with Red Hat, if you download the ISO and do the installation, once you finish, they force you to subscribe to their environment to do VM updates.
I understand that Red Hat would like statistics on how many people are implementing certain kinds of servers, so they force them to create an account. I agree that, when first downloading it, it makes sense that I have to provide my information. But when I want to update, it shouldn't be necessary.
Sometimes, I'm just doing a proof of concept and once I'm finished, the server is gone. In that situation, Oracle Linux doesn't ask me to subscribe for that server, because they don't need to know. The server may only be there for a second and, once I finish, I delete it. If Red Hat would remove that requirement, that would be great. If I want to download the OS, I understand that they need to know who I am, but they don't need to know that information when I'm building a server, unless it is a production server. If it's not a production server, they shouldn't force people to register.
Also, it can be difficult to find the RPMs I'm looking for. For example, if you want to recognize a Windows file system in Red Hat, you have to download a package outside of Red Hat. I searched on Google and found the RPM, but I struggled to find it. Once I put it in, everything worked fine. When Red Hat doesn't have something, and others develop it as open source, they should include that RPM in Red Hat's repo so it's not a struggle to find it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat products for more than 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is very good. Very mature.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We intend to increase our use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We are using it more for new stuff.
How are customer service and support?
I barely call Red Hat when I run into problems. I Google them and find out the solution and move forward. You can find fixes for most of the issues online.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I also use Oracle Linux which is the same as Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Everywhere that I deploy Oracle Linux, if I deploy Red Hat it works fine.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the initial testing. We tested it until we could make it work fine and then we provided documentation for the people who would put it into production. But we only did the testing. We work on how it is deployed and document any problems we run into and how to fix them.
The ease or difficulty of the setup will depend on a number of things.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is self-explanatory. Most applications run on Red Hat Linux and related products.
The iptables command is helpful for setting firewall policies
What is our primary use case?
Its use cases include general system management, setting up service with the web server, setting up a virtual, private wall with OpenVPN and FTP servers, etc. I have been working with all the aspects of the system in general.
How has it helped my organization?
The stability and the number of users that can access the servers are some of the valuable features.
What is most valuable?
The stability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is most valuable. I have machines running and working for hours, weeks, and months. The servers don't go down. In Windows, too many services hang, but in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the servers continue working for months. I have had to reboot the machine only two times in years. The system keeps on working. So, stability is the best feature.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is very secure. There hasn't been any successful attack from hackers in years. It's one of the best features. The iptables command is helpful for setting your firewall policies. Only the machines that have the permissions can access the box.
What needs improvement?
We have had issues with the identification of new volumes when you add new disks or storage. You need the remove the machine, which can cause problems when you have high availability. If they can resolve the problem of detection of new volumes, it would be good for system administrators.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux since version 6.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable.
How are customer service and support?
I don't have direct contact with their support, but I know that their support is good because I know people who work directly with their technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've worked with Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, and other companies. In the past, Debian was the better operating system for servers and Red Hat Enterprise Linux was the better system for desktops, but nowadays, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and Oracle Linux are the better system for servers in my opinion, and Ubuntu is better for desktops.
This operating system is used by our clients. We don't have it in our organization. We use Windows. I'm not the one who decides about this. My director is the person who take decisions, but I prefer Linux. I like Red Hat Enterprise Linux in servers because there is support, stability, and more users that can access the service. However, in our organization, we use Microsoft Windows because they are partners.
How was the initial setup?
Most of our clients are institutions or public organizations. They have their own infrastructure for security reasons. Having a cloud environment has its own advantages and having your own infrastructure has its advantages. I prefer having my own infrastructure. When you have your own infrastructure, you have more control over all the processes and data of your organization, but I understand that having a cloud setup has advantages because you can manage and automate several systems or processes in the organization.
It's easy to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It's not difficult to install. You have the typical steps of the installation of any Linux-based operating system. Anyone can install this operating system. If you want to install servers such as an Apache server or a web application server, you need certain skills, but the installation of the operating system is easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't know about the pricing because I am not responsible for taking decisions about products used in the enterprise. Our clients use this product, and we use this product with the clients. In my home office, I use a free operating system. There is no support, but I can use it to practice. Our clients need support because it's used in the production environment. I don't know the price of the product, but I understand that with the support that Red Hat offers, compared to other operating systems, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is cheap.
What other advice do I have?
It's easy to install and secure. You can customize it and manage various aspects. It's a good operating system for servers with security. It can run on machines without a powerful CPU or a lot of memory. It's stable.
Overall, I'd rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a nine out of ten.
Useful online documentation, straightforward implementation, and secure
What is our primary use case?
We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for running solutions, such as database solutions, and enterprise, web, and network applications.
How has it helped my organization?
One of the fundamental reasons Red Hat 7 has benefited our organization is that it is fully certified. It has certifications on the DISA STG and other cybersecurity frameworks like Zero Trust. This is what the Department of Defense mandates to be used and it is feasible to receive these specifications and automate the implementation for continuous improvement. By implementing the technical guides, we can receive immediate results and protect environments according to our expectations. There are a group of technical procedures that are shared and that you can implement, if you follow the industry best practices.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the specification and technical guides, they are most important for cyber security assurance
What needs improvement?
The accessibility to the resources could be more widespread. The registration of the license information is complicated and this product registration process should be easier for customers to access.
In an upcoming release, they could improve by having more focused security.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for more than 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is perfectly scalable. You have some resource limits depending on how you're using the technologies. According to those usage patterns, the system is going to be able to give more or less. However, this depends more on the user side than on the system side.
We have approximately 10,000 enterprise users using the systems. They sporadically log into the applications and make use of the database systems and extract information.
How are customer service and support?
There is a division between the paid support and the support that is included by the website of Red Hat. I have only used the website support and there is a lot of documentation available.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward for our use case. As long as you understand what you're doing, the technologies that are involved, the proper way to style, secure, and prepare them, everything will be fine.
After you have the guide, the printed procedure, the deployment is straightforward. The operating system can be deployed in less than an hour.
Okay, and how long did the deployment take?
What about the implementation team?
The solution requires maintenance, and it is a shared responsibility. They take different maintenance actions or tasks, and sometimes it's the operating system, database system, or application front band that needs maintenance.
What other advice do I have?
The number one advice would be to keep the division between testing and production.
There's one system that you need to set up for testing purposes only, and this testing system can be obtained free of license. There's an evaluation license that can be easily applied. When developing the application on the Red Hat 7 system, stay using the evaluation version until the requirements are fully met, only then should you migrate them to a paid supported version.
The biggest lesson that you learn by using this solution is, you easily reach a point where a single person or a single team can no longer respond to the complexities and challenges of the security or the different versions of the applications. At that moment you need to rely on a serious fused team, that team that is backing the effort.
I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux an eight out of ten.