We are deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux as our primary Linux OS, and we are using Ansible for some automation initiatives. Our use cases are around centralization.
Advanced Systems Administrator & Analyst at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Helpful for standardization, patch management, and vulnerability management
Pros and Cons
- "Red Hat Insights is valuable. There is patch and vulnerability management."
- "Red Hat Insights are instrumental in identifying vulnerabilities. I am still learning, but my understanding is that it is not directly connected to your environment to deploy a patch or vulnerability fix. It is going to give a YAML playbook to do that. It does not actually execute it."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
We have a supported product. We are at the beginning of building a relationship with Red Hat similar to the one we have with Microsoft, Cisco, and others. It is to standardize the quality, supported version, and company. I am leading this project, and I believe Red Hat is the one.
We have built a hybrid environment. Most of it is on-prem, but we also have Azure, so we have both cloud and on-prem environments. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is helpful for patch and vulnerability management. There have been a lot of security initiatives around Windows and tightening it up, but our Linux environment was not standardized. Red Hat Enterprise Linux standardizes it. With the combination of Insights, it aligns with Windows and other security initiatives.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has not yet enabled us to centralize development. It is too early for that. I am not very familiar with OpenShift, but with OpenShift, Kubernetes containers, and some of those capabilities, DevOps will become more integrated with Red Hat and its products in the future.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s built-in security features seem very good when it comes to risk reduction, business continuity, and maintaining compliance. One thing that helps is the catalog of preexisting playbooks provided by Red Hat around security. It helps you ramp up on security. It aligns it with what an IT person on the Windows side already knows to look for, such as firewalls, setting up permissions, etc. They have playbooks for Active Directory integration, security initiatives, and limiting the firewall. Building out some of the playbooks that Red Hat has in those areas was helpful in getting a good security posture for those systems.
Ansible is going to make the portability of applications and containers happen for us. The OS is important, but our ability to use Ansible and deploy via a cloud or automate via a cloud or on-prem would accomplish that.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Insights is valuable. There is patch and vulnerability management. It is similar to what you would see with SCCM. I have a single pane of glass interface. I can approve the patches and vulnerabilities, and hopefully, between Satellite and Ansible, we can automate that process.
What needs improvement?
I am looking for training. I am a Windows guy who accidentally became a Linux guy. You volunteer a few times, and you are the guy. Right now, I am looking for training and ramping up to be able to support their products, so professional services are key. There are things like Lightspeed with IBM Watson. I do not know YAML very well, so it is going to be integral for me to create playbooks at the very beginning and be able to use the AI tools. If I say, "How do I open a port on this Cisco router?", the AI tools are going to give me the YAML code. In spite of not being a Linux guy or a great coder, I can use those tools to ramp up very quickly. Making Lightspeed a part of Red Hat deployment initiatives tremendously helps with customers' success. It gives them that extra tool. Right now, it is being sold separately as a subscription. If they could integrate that capability, people would not have to go use ChatGPT and other tools. They could use that as a part of it. It would just align things with Red Hat, so one area they can improve on is the approach to customer success for new deployments.
Red Hat Insights are instrumental in identifying vulnerabilities. I am still learning, but my understanding is that it is not directly connected to your environment to deploy a patch or vulnerability fix. It is going to give a YAML playbook to do that. It does not actually execute it. On the Windows side, I have an approval process on the server where I can say, "Deploy this patch." I thought of Insights along the same lines where I can just approve things, and then based on some backend configuration, it will implement them using Ansible, Satellite, and on-premises Ansible. It seems disconnected right now. It might not be, but to me, there seems to be a gap there. I love Insights, and I want to fully automate that approval process. This could be a point for improvement if it does not already do that.
Another area of improvement is Red Hat expressing a return on investment better. I do not know if they have determined a lot of that. I have always assumed that I could go with an open-source OS in a less expensive manner than Windows or something else. My impression is that there would be less cost, but I do not know that for certain. Red Hat building out some of that ROI on different products would be beneficial to their sales effort.
Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
September 2025

Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
869,089 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
We are a brand new customer.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is more stable than the wild west environment that I have been in. There is standardization. It is stable by standardizing.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
So far, its scalability has been good. Once I get a good image built, I will get some workflows built into Ansible. I will have that process all the way down to the help desk. We will be entering variables and kicking out systems all day.
We have been using it minimally. We have about 15% Linux environment with lots of flavors. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is what we are centralizing on from now on, so we are going to do a conversion of all those. We have a new standard going forward. We have about 15% Linux systems, which would amount to about 150 systems throughout North America. It is a small footprint.
How are customer service and support?
I have not had to call them much, so I do not have a good handle on support from Red Hat. Everybody gets at least a C or a five, but I am optimistic. It is going to be good. I would give them at least a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, it was CentOS and others. CentOS was free. It was whatever was available or the developers or applications guys were familiar with.
We switched to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for centralization, to be supported, and for patching and vulnerabilities.
How was the initial setup?
Most of the things that I am deploying or replacing are on-prem and on Azure cloud. It is 50/50.
The deployment was very easy. They have a great and user-friendly installation process with 9.x and above. However, just being new to it and having a security hat on, I still struggle with what should and should not be installed on the base image. It is a learning curve for me, but using the interface has been great. I was able to join Active Directory and all those things.
What about the implementation team?
CDW is handling our professional services and our training, which is a separate purchase. Its initial rollout is with CDW.
What was our ROI?
We have not yet seen an ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is expensive. Everything is. I was happy to get a three-year Red Hat Enterprise Linux contract for our initial rollout.
It is less expensive than other solutions. It is a growing company.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
It is called Microsoft ARC. It now facilitates patches for Linux, but it did not include certain things. For me, there was much more benefit outside of just patching by going with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ansible.
What other advice do I have?
I am not yet certain about Red Hat Insights' vulnerability alerts and targeted guidance. We are at the beginning. We are just adding systems. I have not set those alerts up if they exist. I assume there are some. I am also going to evaluate how accurate the vulnerability and patching information is because we have other security products that are looking at the same things on the Windows side, and they have already identified many of the vulnerabilities. As a new customer, I want to make sure that if our other system says something is a vulnerability, Red Hat Insights also says that it is a vulnerability. I want to feel confident in the vulnerabilities that I am getting from Red Hat Insights. I want to make sure that other products are also scanning for the same thing. I suspect it is.
To a colleague who is looking at open-source, cloud-based operating systems for Linux instead of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, I would recommend going for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. I cannot think of another OS that can match this.
I will start off with an optimistic ten, and I will rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Senior System Engineer Linux Professional Level | Cloud Engineer at Tanmeyah Micro Enterprise Services
Offers great security and open-source services
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable solution."
- "I have seen that the upgrade from RHEL 7 to RHEL 8 can be a bit problematic since I have seen some issues during the upgrade of libraries, along with some conflicts with the other libraries in the tool."
What is our primary use case?
I use the product for the integration capabilities it provides between my company's servers and the servers from other companies since we operate in the banking sector. I use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for clusters or load balancing. The tool provides an open-source platform to use any program. Many programs can be installed over Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
What needs improvement?
I have seen that the upgrade from RHEL 7 to RHEL 8 can be a bit problematic since I have seen some issues during the upgrade of libraries, along with some conflicts with the other libraries in the tool. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in the product. Presently, I am not trying to upgrade from RHEL 8 to RHEL 9.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
How are customer service and support?
I have only used a little bit of technical support. I can say that over the span of years that I have used the tool, I have used the support offered by the product only twice. I don't have much experience when it comes to the support team. The support team did not help me solve my issues, and I had to search for a resolution by myself to solve my problems. People from India who are a part of the support team don't seem to have much experience in solving the product-related problems of the customers. I rate the technical support a six out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
My company also uses MariaDB as a database, while at times, we use databases from Oracle or PostgreSQL over RHEL.
Sometimes, I use Ubuntu for some of the end-users in my company. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is useful for servers and not for end users. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very compatible with servers.
How was the initial setup?
The upgradation and migration parts attached to the solution can be described as a very straightforward and easy process. Sometimes, I migrate from the on-premises version to the cloud, which I find to be a very easy process. The servers are up and running very well, so I have no problems with the product.
I have experience with the on-premises version of the product.
What about the implementation team?
The in-house team, consisting of four people, in my company takes care of the upgrade and migration parts attached to the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My company has acquired five to ten licenses from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
What other advice do I have?
My company uses the normal security features provided by the product. Presently, I am taking some courses related to security. My company uses solutions for security purposes, like CrowdStrike Falcon Protection.
I use the documentation provided by the product. I also joined the academy operated by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to learn about courses related to OpenShift and virtualization. The documentation is very easy to understand, and it is also good for learning purposes.
I joined the product's academy courses when Red Hat opened a new branch in Egypt. I have got certificates for learning about OpenShift and virtualization. I am planning to learn OpenStack.
For provisioning and patching, I use Foremen, which is an open-source product implemented by Red Hat Satellite. Foremen is very good and easy to use for patching and security updates.
Leapp or Red Hat Insights are not features that are enabled by default. I don't usually use the aforementioned in the product.
I use Red Hat Store for image-building purposes. Some other programs are installed after the images get installed with the help of the product.
Speaking about whether I use the web console or Convert2RHEL, I would say that I use the terminal console provided by the product, and it is also very easy for me to use.
The product has affected my company's security and uptime since Linux offers a firewall that provides complete security, which is very good.
I hope to use the product in a hybrid environment.
I need to prepare for security standard certifications from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) since it can help me understand the features and the security that I need to get from the product for my company, making it something very important for my organization.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a big part of my company since we use a lot of servers with its open-source services. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) serves as the base of the servers in our company.
Sometimes, I take care of the maintenance of the product, but it is not something that is required all the time. The maintenance process is pretty normal.
As a part of our company's migration or upgrade plans to stay updated, I will be upgrading from RHEL 8 to RHEL 9.
The product does what it is meant for, especially if MariaDB is installed over the tool.
I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
September 2025

Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
869,089 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Database Administrator at Awash International Bank
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.
System Admistrator at Lifestyle Services Group (part of Phones4U)
Has a top-notch knowledge base, significantly simplifies risk management and compliance maintenance
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the OpenShift platform."
- "The high cost of Red Hat Enterprise Linux has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
I use Red Hat Enterprise Linux for my infrastructure and OpenShift primarily for its Kubernetes capabilities.
I wanted to build infrastructure based on Red Hat for commercial distribution for data centers.
How has it helped my organization?
The built-in security features significantly simplify risk management and compliance maintenance for on-premises deployments. The well-documented and regularly updated features make it easy to find solutions to any issues we might encounter.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux boasts a top-notch knowledge base. Compared to other distributions, it offers comprehensive information for each iteration of the operating system. This information is categorized by Red Hat Enterprise versions – seven, eight, nine, and so on. Likewise, the documentation and knowledge base are further organized by platform versions, like 13 and 14. This clear organization makes it easy to navigate and find the information needed for troubleshooting or understanding specific features. Given the ease of use and depth of content, Red Hat's documentation gets an A+.
The uptime has been reliable, minimizing infrastructure impact.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux's security advisories typically notify system administrators of potential vulnerabilities, allowing them to prepare for patching easily.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the OpenShift platform.
What needs improvement?
The high cost of Red Hat Enterprise Linux has room for improvement. The high cost in terms of a platform is problematic.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for six 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?
The scalability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux depends on its deployment environment. In a bare-metal setup, scalability is directly limited by the hardware server's capabilities. Similarly, virtualized deployments are still constrained by the underlying hardware resources. However, when RHEL is used within OpenStack, the Red Hat OpenStack platform can manage both virtual machines and workflows, enabling horizontal scaling by adding more nodes to the OpenStack cluster. In this scenario, the number of chassis in the infrastructure becomes the primary determinant of RHEL scalability.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is responsive and efficient, with a streamlined ticketing process. When troubleshooting hardware issues, their technicians typically check relevant files to diagnose potential problems with the chassis or related components.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Canonical in other open-source projects and pushed for a switch to Red Hat because of my familiarity with it in past projects. My current employer does not utilize Red Hat Enterprise Linux because of the high cost.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment complexity is based on the project and the architect of the particular solutions. There are scripts that we can use to perform the upgrades or migration. The number of people required for upgrades or migration depends on the size of the solution. For a small solution, we can automate and don't require any people. If we are using a third-party solution already in place we can achieve the same goal without a large team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The combined cost of implementing in hybrid and cloud environments to fulfill all our client's needs can be considerable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
There are only three distributions that offer commercial support. Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Canonical, and SUSE. It all comes down to the cost for each organization.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a nine out of ten.
The amount of people required for Red Hat Enterprise Linux maintenance depends on the type and size of each project.
Red Hat already provides tools to maintain up-to-date migration plans. These tools can not only identify which components require upgrade but also preserve any already installed elements. Additionally, Red Hat offers a web-based solution for managing upgrade processes if required. However, we can choose alternative options: implementing the solution ourselves or employing open-source software for upgrades. I see no significant challenges with utilizing Red Hat tools for the upgrade process.
I recommend evaluating all the available solutions that offer the tools that Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers and comparing their functionality and cost to avoid issues after purchase.
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.
Senior Systems Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Secure, easy maintenance, and good support
Pros and Cons
- "We have access to the Red Hat knowledge base. We have frequent meetings with Red Hat. Red Hat partners provided us with all the information and any kind of training."
- "As such, there are no specific features that we are looking for. We have frequent meetings with them. We have had some issues on the application side and the OS side for which we opened cases and discussed those concerns and questions in the meetings offered by Red Hat."
What is our primary use case?
We had a lot of IBM AIX servers. We migrated a lot of them to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We have a lot of VMs, and we have a few physical servers. Currently, we are moving all the Red Hat VMs to the cloud. There are 1,600 to 1,700 Red Hat VMs that we are currently running.
How has it helped my organization?
The main benefit is that it can be easily recovered and easily restored. It is on the VM. We can easily restore every image that we back up on the VM. If something happens, we can easily fix it. Support and maintenance are easy. The most common issues that happen with Red Hat Enterprise Linux are password restore issues. We can go and restore the passwords through the single-user mode. This feature is well-developed and good.
We are using Ansible for the most automations. We can push everything through Ansible. We are moving towards automation to make sure our system can be easily maintained, and we can recover, restore, and do the things that we want. We have 1,600 to 1,700 servers. We have Ansible Tower, and we have a few satellite servers and a lot of capsules to support Red Hat servers.
If anything is supported by Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the feature is available in Red Hat Satellite, we are able to install it on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We are using Red Hat Satellite to install all the patches and all the packages, so if a feature is available, we can easily install it if it is supported.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has built-in security features for simplifying risk reduction and maintaining compliance. We are working with most of the security environments. Security is our main concern. We have zero tolerance when it comes to security. We are able to apply security rules and regulations within the Red Hat environment.
What is most valuable?
We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, and we normally look at how it can easily support the system. With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, we have a high-security system. We have a lot of features there. That is the main thing, but currently, we are moving from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Leapp and Red Hat Insights have been useful. RHEL Web Console is also helpful.
We have access to the Red Hat knowledge base. We have frequent meetings with Red Hat. Red Hat partners provided us with all the information and any kind of training.
What needs improvement?
We are using the features that are available with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ansible. As such, there are no specific features that we are looking for.
We have frequent meetings with them. We have had some issues on the application side and the OS side for which we opened cases and discussed those concerns and questions in the meetings offered by Red Hat.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for almost 10 years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Upgrades and migrations are ongoing processes to stay current. We are a big company. We always have migration going on. We always have the build process. Red Hat's presence keeps increasing in our environment. We are going to have about 2,500 Red Hat Enterprise Linux VMs in the next year.
How are customer service and support?
If there are any concerns, we have a meeting with Red Hat, and they provide the required support. When we have any concerns or questions, they answer them. It is easy. I would rate their support a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What was our ROI?
We have probably seen an ROI. Red Hat is getting better every day.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Infosec IT specialist at a government with 10,001+ employees
Useful for applications or automations but integrations are difficult
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is useful for application support and automations."
- "A completely new setup should not be required when upgrading to a new version."
What is our primary use case?
We are part of the State Department and use the solution to achieve operational excellence and readiness for the cloud. We think about what the next 20 to 30 years of consular systems infrastructure might look like to build and design for the next 40 years. Not many other companies think beyond a decade.
The solution was implemented in our environment in 2014. The initial mission is still the same but how we go about it is different. For now, the solution is more for application support and making sure we are following State mandates or executive orders.
For example, one use case involved planning, designing the implementation, and executing a launch of online passport renewals.
Our environment is moving toward tools that provide automation to remove human error. These are tactical operations and use cases. We currently use SaaS, OpenShift, and Ansible to a limited degree.
How has it helped my organization?
We had many issues with staff turnover during COVID. Working from home and trying to maintain databases was not ideal. During this time, the solution would have been rated a five out of ten.
Sometimes, vendors provide the government or bigger organizations with band-aids but not solutions. Everything seems to be a problem so many fixes are provided. A fix for this or a fix for that is equivalent to putting a band-aid on a large cut which will not work. Vendors tend to look at the money game because larger companies are their bread and butter. There should be an appreciation for the needs of bigger organizations.
It took some time to get us in a good position with the solution. There is definitely some growth and appreciation. We are at a place now where we can grow our environment. Today, the solution is rated a seven out of ten.
What is most valuable?
The solution is useful for application support and automations.
What needs improvement?
A completely new setup should not be required when upgrading to a new version of the solution. For example, moving from RHEL 7.7 to RHEL 9 requires us to go through every minor version upgrade as well as RHEL 8. We do not have the ability to patch as quickly as we would like, but there are pathways. We got on 6.8 this year and migrated to 6.11 where we are trying to work on the automation portions of deployment. Before, we had variations of versions 7.2, 7.3, and 7.5 in our environment. We have not yet been able to use the supported versions that we are accustomed to with our applications. We are now on 7.9.1 and are trying to implement the minor upgrade versions in our environment. We have not yet experienced a healthy environment or the joy of using RHEL because we keep encountering issues and problems.
There are issues when upgrading or integrating with previous applications or systems such as Satellite, vRA, SaaS, or OpenShift. This is extremely, extremely important because a lot of our infrastructure is on RHEL. We need to have someone onsite to adjudicate our infrastructure's most important applications, when we would rather be able to patch them in a timely manner without having the whole world assist us.
The solution should be more user-friendly so we better understand how to scale. It is not that we shun professional services, but there is a major knowledge gap in our understanding of the solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
With anything, when you nurture it things work. Now that we are finally on 7.9 and migrated 6.11 we are actively trying to automate. This puts us in a better and more stable position.
How are customer service and support?
We rely primarily on our contracting staff or professional services for support. We receive onsite support from account engineers who apply critical patches or troubleshoot code that is not cohesive. For the most part, turnaround time is moderate but certain legacy applications are harder to troubleshoot, so they take more time.
Technical support steps in for big issues and provides good help. For example, support assisted with decommissioning 6.2 and 6.5 because they were at end of life with no option for purchasing ongoing support. We had professional services and many different products, so technical support made an exception to help with migrations and that was appreciated.
Technical support is rated a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I do not know the setup details. The solution was implemented in 2014 and I joined the team in 2018.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are currently experiencing issues when upgrading or integrating with previous applications and are looking for solutions. We push out patches and look at Tower. We already tried Puppet and it integrates with Satellite, but we prefer to use home-grown products.
Because we use Satellite, it would be nice if the automation portions come from Tower or others. We have explained this to an account manager but solutions are being presented to us from a sales perspective. For example, we are told that we should ramp up, get other applications, or purchase more licenses.
Decommissioning is one of our biggest issues. We upgrade and spin it up, but then have problems decommissioning some applications so more user licenses are required. For example, we have an unused server but cannot remove the license because we are either unable to get assistance or do not know how to perform the action.
We used vRA with the solution but it did not work for us.
We also used CloudForm but are attempting without success to decommission because it was not a useful case.
What other advice do I have?
It is important to ensure there is a level of training for implementation. You need to understand compliance for your organization to determine whether vendors can provide appropriate tools.
Do not be afraid to ask questions once the solution is implemented in your environment to ensure you are where you need to be.
Stay on top of version or patch releases to prevent bugs or security vulnerabilities to your ISSO or agency.
I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
System Architect at CGI
User appreciates dependable functionality and extensive knowledge base offered
What is our primary use case?
I am still working with Red Hat. I work with other Red Hat products as well, mainly with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and OpenShift, and I also use Red Hat JBoss, but JBoss is now deprecated. We are moving our applications to OpenShift. I would not improve anything because we are using RHEL mainly for system functions, virtualization of system virtual machines, some system parts of OpenShift for control plane and infrastructure nodes, and some technical virtual machines such as HAProxy, and we are satisfied with it.
What is most valuable?
I find the most valuable feature to be stability, as it is important for me, and we have all the functionality that we need because we are using mainly the KVM for running the virtual machines, along with other packages that are part of the operating system, such as HAProxy, Nginx, or other modules.
The knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very good; not only is the knowledge base excellent, but also the documents and the reported issues along with solutions on their website are very helpful.
What needs improvement?
The technical support could be improved to be quicker and of higher quality. For me, it is better when I can speak in my language, in Czech, and sometimes I need to discuss it with someone who does not speak Czech. However, I understand this is difficult; to have the support only in Czech for such a company as Red Hat is challenging.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for several years, maybe longer than 15 years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We are using mainly the command line interface, and we do not see any issues regarding the interface or scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I am satisfied with the technical support provided by Red Hat. I would rate their technical support as nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
I think it is easy to deploy it in our system; however, it might be difficult for me to answer all of the questions because I am not the only one who works with it. We are a team of several technical people, and I am the team leader, so maybe they would have more information.
What was our ROI?
I have not seen any return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I find the pricing reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as a product a 10 because I do not know about any issues or problems.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
IBM
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Last updated: Aug 9, 2025
Flag as inappropriateSenior Systems Specialist at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Offers the greatest return on investment through reduced maintenance requirements and improved employee productivity
Pros and Cons
- "Red Hat's support and the latest versions offer significant advantages, including efficient resource utilization with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, allowing us to run more workloads with fewer resources."
- "There's room for improvement with some Linux tools."
What is our primary use case?
We are running standard workloads such as Spring Boot, Node.js, React platforms, and Liferay on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
We chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux for our workloads primarily due to its strong support system and the extensive open-source community surrounding it, making it a widely known and utilized operating system globally.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has enabled us to centralize our development using the OpenShift platform, where our developers utilize Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers for software runtimes.
It provides support, version updates, and security features that assist our containerization projects.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has performed well in our critical business operations.
We rely on Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its built-in security features, timely support, and rapid release of the latest patches and updates.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helped reduce risk and improve efficiency by enabling us to achieve more with fewer resources.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has significantly contributed to business continuity and compliance efforts due to its seamless integration with our existing environment.
We are currently deploying our operator in the OpenShift environment, along with advanced cluster security. This automated solution scans Red Hat Enterprise Linux server images and can be customized to meet our needs.
The portfolio helps lower the total cost of ownership for our enterprise landscape due to its robust support system and rapid updates, making it the optimal solution.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat's support and the latest versions offer significant advantages, including efficient resource utilization with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, allowing us to run more workloads with fewer resources. Furthermore, the seamless integration with our existing systems adds substantial value.
What needs improvement?
My primary focus on assisting development projects and CI/CD pipelines has been largely issue-free. However, there's room for improvement with some Linux tools.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for around 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has consistently delivered strong performance for our business-critical operations.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is scalable due to the container environment, which is beneficial as our needs change.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Red Hat is top-tier.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What was our ROI?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers the greatest return on investment through reduced maintenance requirements and improved employee productivity due to its stability, security, and ease of management.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have limited information regarding Red Hat Enterprise Linux pricing and licensing, but our managers appear satisfied.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux ten out of ten.
While some may consider third-party Linux operating systems, Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers superior robustness, maintenance, and consistent platform upgrades, making it a more reliable choice due to its dedication to providing a consistently updated environment.
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.

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Updated: September 2025
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