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reviewer2708304 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Operations and Engineering at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Enterprise support enables building a flexible ecosystem for business
Pros and Cons
  • "The customer service and technical support of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been wonderful so far."
  • "The customer service and technical support of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been wonderful so far."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved by providing more support for on-prem."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved by providing more support for on-prem. As you go by industry by industry, the more regulation and control you need over your data, the more precious data sovereignty becomes, and being able to work in a hybrid environment with a push in that direction would be better."

What is our primary use case?

Our use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are diverse; it powers our servers, runs desktops for our development network, as well as some of our production hosts, and we'll see if it expands further.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat is giving that level of enterprise support helps us build a Linux ecosystem that makes sense for business.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps us solve pain points by providing tremendous support from our Red Hat representatives. 

The flexibility that we get through Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and the ability for people to build their own tools as they're working without having to deal with something like PowerShell or hack it through backwards ways in Windows is a real relief. 

Interactive Brokers is powered by our workforce, and we have really brilliant engineers, top to bottom, especially our developers. The flexibility that we get through Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and the ability for people to build their own tools as they're working without having to deal with something like PowerShell or hack it through backwards ways in Windows is a real relief and something that we couldn't operate without.

We deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in both cloud and on-premise environments in a hybrid environment. Currently, our management of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems when it comes to provisioning and patching has gone through many changes throughout the years. We are currently using KVM. We're exploring OpenShift and some other options, and I am satisfied with that management experience.

Security requirements were considered before choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We've been primarily with Red Hat for a very long time, and security concerns have kept us with RHEL throughout the years as we have not been comfortable with anything else.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) supports our hybrid cloud strategy effectively, and many of the options I've seen at the conference will make spreading out into the cloud without compromising our on-premise systems more convenient than it might be with another distro. I assess the knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as very strong; the customer relations management, support, and the fact that it's an open-source platform gives you huge clarity versus Microsoft or some other type of closed environment.

What needs improvement?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved by providing more support for on-prem. As you go by industry by industry, the more regulation and control you need over your data, the more precious data sovereignty becomes, and being able to work in a hybrid environment with a push in that direction would be better.

Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
June 2025
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for 11 years now, and our company has been using it for maybe close to 20 years at this point.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are very good. It's not throwing out mystery patches that break things constantly, as certain other server solutions do, so that stability has been strong because we can say we don't need that patch now, and review them on their own merits. We are looking forward to RHEL 10.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales to the growing needs of our company excellently, and the scalability is a big draw.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and technical support of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been wonderful so far. The community is a never-ending well of support, and my personal experiences with our customer relations manager have just been top notch.

I would rate the customer service for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as a solid ten out of ten. I have less experience needing their support for technical issues. Just as a partner, it has been very strong.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We have considered other solutions in our Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) journey. There have been arguments this way or that, however, they've never been enough to dislodge us. We do run Windows and other things. That said, our whole program base and everything we do back and front relies on having an enterprise Linux solution.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the appreciation of being a Linux shop with enterprise-level support, enabling us to keep it up. Trying to imagine running a worldwide company purely on free open-source software would be wholly unsustainable and require unfathomable levels of worker hours, so having the power and flexibility of a Linux ecosystem with that level of enterprise support makes it all work.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

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

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Software Engineer at Dell Technologies
Real User
Effective automation and seamless integrations drive successful transitions
Pros and Cons
  • "The customer service and technical support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are very responsive."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales excellently with the growing needs of my company."
  • "One of the tools I'm examining is the automation platform, and it appears there is still room for improvement since it is relatively new."
  • "One of the tools I'm examining is the automation platform, and it appears there is still room for improvement since it is relatively new."

What is our primary use case?

Our main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include our shift from VMware Tanzu container platform to OpenShift container platform about three to four years ago. We are also starting to use the Ansible platform to automate some networking.

How has it helped my organization?

One of the main benefits was that we were able to integrate with Github and minimize deployment to minutes versus days. 

What is most valuable?

The feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I find most valuable is the Ansible automation platform, which is very user-intuitive, and there is abundant documentation and guidance available. 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps us resolve many automation issues that we are facing now, as we attempt to automate setups and restore through Git and integrate with GitOps. It is working for us, and we are still in the deployment phase. We have been working closely with Red Hat, and it has been effective.

What needs improvement?

Currently, I don't have any specific improvements in mind for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). One of the tools I'm examining is the automation platform, and it appears there is still room for improvement since it is relatively new. Red Hat is working on this, and it will improve, though there are some bugs present. 

To make Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a perfect ten, improvements could come from newer features and software additions, such as Ansible. They are transitioning from Galaxy to the automation platform, which is new and has some issues, but this is expected. As the platform matures, it will continue to improve.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for approximately three to four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very stable. We have been running it for approximately three to four years as our main container platform, and support is excellent. We can get people on the phone, and the response time is great. We haven't had to address any major issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales excellently with the growing needs of my company. It is easy to scale. With our OpenShift platform, downtime is close to zero when it comes to upgrades or scaling, and it is very easy for us, especially when integrating with GitHub.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and technical support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are very responsive. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

We are deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on-premises. I have been involved in many Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) upgrades or migrations to on-premises, and it is straightforward. The documentation and how-to guides make it very simple.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) from a technical perspective is minimal downtime for end users.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is superior to other solutions I've used in the past, such as VMware, primarily due to cost savings, which was our main reason for migrating.

What other advice do I have?

When managing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems regarding provisioning and patching, we use a cluster environment, so everything is cluster-based, and we use GitHub to perform upgrades and patches almost seamlessly with no downtime. 

Our upgrade and migration plans to stay current with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) involve upgrading our clusters. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped us to mitigate downtime and lower risk with zero downtime achievement. 

I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) an eight out of ten overall, as I am still relatively new to it on an enterprise level, having previously worked on standalone systems.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
June 2025
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer2708298 - PeerSpot reviewer
System engineer at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Server administration becomes more efficient through streamlined updates and compliance management
Pros and Cons
  • "The features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I appreciate most are the standard ease of use through Satellite and Ansible, which help us keep up with our demands."
  • "The stability and reliability of the RHEL platform are good."
  • "My thoughts on RHEL's built-in security features are that they might be better."
  • "My thoughts on RHEL's built-in security features are that they might be better; we haven't really gotten security to be very smooth, so we're not using much of it, and we have other tools to ensure compliance."

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is server administration, so we provide a group that delivers server software from RHEL, including Ansible and Satellite.

What is most valuable?

The features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I appreciate most are the standard ease of use through Satellite and Ansible, which help us keep up with our demands. The benefits of those features for my company include managing compliance issues or demands we face for the business, so we need to keep up with patching on a regular basis, which is important.

What needs improvement?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could be improved, and it appears 10 is a good way forward. Having been in this industry for so long, I don't have much on my mind, however, there is generally a barrier to getting used to it. The Lightspeed is improving it to help newcomers, so it seems a good idea.

My thoughts on RHEL's built-in security features are that they might be better; we haven't really gotten security to be very smooth, so we're not using much of it, and we have other tools to ensure compliance. At the moment, there is nothing I really miss from RHEL's features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat's products since 1990. I've been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) since 1996 or 1997; RHEL came in the 2000s.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped to mitigate downtime and lower risks since we don't have much downtime when it comes to Red Hat systems; it's quite stable. The stability and reliability of the RHEL platform are good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Regarding scalability, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been able to scale to the needs of the company; we haven't met any limitations yet, and we mostly deploy it with scale-out and scale-up strategies, but we haven't managed to scale up fully yet.

How are customer service and support?

My experience with customer service and technical support is that they respond, which is good. Sometimes, the bug fixes take a little while, especially on their supporting systems such as Satellite. From one to ten, I would give the customer service and technical support a seven or an eight.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

While using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I considered other solutions such as Ubuntu for client-side use; tying it into Microsoft software, such as Microsoft Entra ID, which was not possible at the moment when we started looking into it, could work even more with connections or using external vendors.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment is very easy. I've been doing it for a while too. Satellite helps a lot. AIP helps even more.

What was our ROI?

From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the stable environment it provides, along with the solutions going from A to B, from all the way from A to Z; we get the patches, it's updated, and it's alive.

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

The price is always an issue, and it depends on what you get; we have lots of development, yet I'm not economical and don't deal with finance, so it's not my area of expertise anymore. 

What other advice do I have?

We haven't made any upgrade or migration plans to stay current with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 10 since that's just released; most of our systems are running 8 and 9 at the moment, so it depends on the applications running on them, their dependencies, and we have many systems that can't be upgraded, however, we want to stay on track for the most important systems.

Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partnership
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Team Lead Riti Research Systems Engineering at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Streamlined use leads to significant time savings and reliability over years
Pros and Cons
  • "The deployment experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been very easy."
  • "I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) overall at least a solid ten out of ten."
  • "To improve Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the biggest thing is the availability of some tools that unfortunately have to be paid for."
  • "To improve Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the biggest thing is the availability of some tools that unfortunately have to be paid for."

What is our primary use case?

My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are everything from research computing to hosting websites. We've run a gamut of different things with RHEL

I used to use it a lot for a healthcare company and healthcare software. Now predominantly, it's research that is very statistically intensive. So anything where we have to do data computations, data rates, we need to synthesize data, aggregating it from instruments all over the world or within the lab itself. We take all of that, and we also use it to produce applications for people, whether it's just interacting with it via a website or an actual homegrown application where they can go through, search, look at the data, and do their own data manipulation.

What is most valuable?

My favorite feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the ease of use; it is streamlined, making it very intuitive to do things. 

The ease of use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) reduces time for my company. It reduces the time to do things, allowing us to do very complex tasks in a very short period, since it is very straightforward and makes it easier to get things done. 

It has been around for so long, and it's such a standardized platform that the knowledge base from the employee perspective is usually pretty high compared to other enterprise Linux distributions. Therefore, the overall time savings with RHEL is huge.

Our upgrade or migration plans to stay current with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) involve adhering to a rule: once a version reaches end-of-life, we do not enter the extended life cycle. We plan that out ahead, ensuring that all of our systems get migrated and updated about a year before the end of life of any version. Some systems get migrated to the latest version while others remain and just get updated to whatever is current. It depends on the application and its external dependencies, but it's just a solid plan we follow.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped us mitigate downtime and lower risks, as we've utilized virtual machines and process load balancing to minimize issues. While we've had downtime with any systems, there tends to be a lot less with RHEL. We have had some systems running just for fun for three years without any downtime, which reflects their stability. I would say that RHEL has reduced risks by at least 80% compared to open-source distributions based on experiences in recent years.

What needs improvement?

To improve Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the biggest thing is the availability of some tools that unfortunately have to be paid for. While I understand that you have to pay for resources, it would be nice to have a centralized location where you can easily find those tools.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for close to 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Regarding the stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), we have systems that we've kept running for years without any downtime, so I have never had a problem with stability or reliability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has scaled right along with our growing company needs; the only exceptions to that are with supercomputers, but that's a whole different animal.

How are customer service and support?

My experience with customer service and support from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been good so far. I haven't needed to use it often, which goes back to its reliability. Whenever I've had issues reaching out, they've responded quickly with appropriate information.

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

We have looked at other solutions while using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), such as Debian, Ubuntu (a Debian spinoff), FreeBSD, and some others, however, we keep going back to RHEL due to its reliability and available resources.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been very easy; we've been doing it for years. The automation that they've built over the years to do the deployments just makes it easier and easier every year, transitioning from kickstarts to using things OpenShift. I'm excited to see how this Image Builder works with that, too, so it has continuously improved.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment for me from using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is just overall time saved. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have looked at other solutions while using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), such as Debian, Ubuntu (a Debian spinoff), FreeBSD, and some others. We keep going back to RHEL due to its reliability and available resources.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) overall at least a solid ten out of ten.

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?

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partnership
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Network Systems Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Engineering simulations run smoothly without question and with reliable vendor support
Pros and Cons
  • "The deployment process of Red Hat is good."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps us solve pain points."
  • "When we go from version seven to eight, and eight's a little slower, or certain things don't work."
  • "The customer service and technical support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are okay; I would rate it a five out of ten."

What is our primary use case?

We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for engineering simulation activities.

How has it helped my organization?

The features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) benefit our company as we're able to run the simulation software without question.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps us solve pain points. We design our engineering products and need Linux systems to design the products. 

The feature I appreciate the most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that it's supported by our vendors that support the applications we run. 

What needs improvement?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is fine; I don't know how it can be improved. I don't think they could enhance one of their features. 

When we go from version seven to eight, and eight's a little slower, or certain things don't work, they should ensure there's 100% improvement or stability; I don't want anything broken.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are fine; I'd be surprised if it wasn't stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales to my needs just fine.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and technical support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are okay; I would rate it a five out of ten. What could make it a ten are improvements in customer service to reach Dell quality. It might be an unfair advantage since Dell is all hardware, and the quality of their support is top-notch for hardware, while Red Hat's all software. It's a whole different situation; support is easier with hardware than it is with software. My only suggestion would be to get support to the right people. 

I don't want to go through two levels of support to get somebody who can solve my problem; I want to talk to somebody who can work with me around the globe. If I call and get someone who's in the UK on his shift when it's ending, give me someone in San Jose to pick up where he left off.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I considered other solutions before choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We were all open to CentOS, AlmaLinux, and similar options, which is why I've been using the open-source software for 15-20 years.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment process of Red Hat is good. There were no problems.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for me is just its compatibility. We have one source of truth that's generally accepted in the industry for application software.

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

I don't handle the pricing or setup costs for my company as we've got a big contract.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) due to the fact that when Red Hat bought CentOS, they eliminated the model; otherwise, we would probably still be using CentOS.

What other advice do I have?

Our upgrade or migration plans to stay current with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are limited by the applications we run, so I won't upgrade to version ten until the applications say they can run it; that's the number one thing. 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped us mitigate downtime and lower risk as we have plenty of extra systems. I don't have an application that's a 24/7 application that I can't shut down. 

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in general an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Peperina Software
Real User
Top 20
Comes with huge community, organization support, and constant enhancements
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat is a good partner for us, and the service and support guides are really valuable for understanding and improving our knowledge in this area."
  • "The stability and quality of their service are very good."
  • "I believe they need to improve in terms of compatibility between services. I know that it's difficult to follow the different versions and maintain compatibility."
  • "I believe they need to improve in terms of compatibility between services."

What is our primary use case?

Our use case involves modernizing applications for our clients. We take the application, extract the main functions and features, and modernize them to have those features in the cloud with a new customer experience. One way to do this is to prepare a new platform or solution in the cloud. Then we get the data from their on-premise services and move this data to the cloud. 

We mainly have customers from the public sector, telecommunications, and fintech, and these customers require many systems to modernize because most of them are 15 or 20 years old, and that's why they need to modernize for a better customer experience and journey.

What is most valuable?

It's almost a standard for us because all of the infrastructure in the cloud is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We are using OpenShift as an orchestration platform. We work with several orchestration platforms, such as Kubernetes and EKS from AWS. In the case of Red Hat, we are using OpenShift. The main feature of OpenShift for us is the continuous integration, continuous delivery, and security; the granularity of security is important for us. They have a lot of features on top of Kubernetes

Red Hat is a good partner for us, and the service and support guides are really valuable for understanding and improving our knowledge in this area.

The main benefit of Red Hat is the huge community. They are delivering better quality by constantly updating and adding features for different products. The stability and quality of their service are very good.

What needs improvement?

I believe they need to improve in terms of compatibility between services. I know that it's difficult to follow the different versions and maintain compatibility. For example, in OpenShift, they have several internal tools that are not completely compatible with the product, and that's an area they need to work on. Supporting different versions and ensuring compatibility between these versions is necessary for us to continue putting effort into this.

For how long have I used the solution?

We started on-prem about 15 years ago, and we have been working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the cloud for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The quality of their services is high because they have people internally working on improving features every day.

How are customer service and support?

Red Hat is a good partner. I would rate their support an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

Two of our clients switched to Red Hat because they have support from the organization. The management of their products, in terms of documentation and processes for installation and configuration, is well-documented. It's not like other open-source products in the market that lack the full support of an organization. This is the main reason they pay for licenses or subscriptions; there's an organization behind the products supporting them.

How was the initial setup?

Upgrades or migrations are pretty straightforward and not complex, according to our experience.

What about the implementation team?

We require a small team of between three and five people for upgrades or migrations. For such projects, we mainly have developers and cloud engineers. For the data itself, we also have data engineers.

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

Pricing is sometimes an issue for our clients because it's not a cheap solution. The different licenses have a high cost, and perhaps they could improve by offering different kinds of discounts or lowering the price to make this solution more appealing compared to other cloud providers.

What other advice do I have?

Moving workloads between centers depends on the knowledge of the data and the frequency of synchronization. It depends on different factors, but normally, it is a matter of knowledge about the data structure and the different mechanisms and techniques for moving this data. It's not only a matter of tools; it's related to understanding how the data is structured and how often it changes.

We don't manage Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for provisioning and patching because we work with the cloud directly. These services are managed by AWS.

We move workloads between on-prem and the cloud using Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For this, we are using other tools, such as Divisio, which is also supported by Red Hat. We have Apache NiFi and Kafka for messaging delivery and integration between the services.

If you have a multi-cloud strategy, Red Hat is a better fit. However, if you only use one cloud service like Amazon or Google, I'm not sure if Red Hat provides great benefits compared to the cloud provider. Our clients have had only one cloud provider.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

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?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
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Principal Consultant at Dev One Pro Services
Real User
Top 10
Offers commercial support and a well-developed ecosystem
Pros and Cons
  • "The only reason our clients use Red Hat Enterprise Linux is because Red Hat offers commercial support."
  • "The setup is pretty simple and very straightforward."
  • "Recently, Red Hat did a strange thing where they took over the CentOS project and changed several things in their pipeline. I don't believe that I, or the vast majority of Linux systems engineers out there, are fans of their development process for the operating system."
  • "The only reason that I, or anybody else, uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux is because it offers commercial support. That is it."

What is our primary use case?

I typically use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in my federal government contracts. Federal government customers are the only ones that use Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Most government agencies use Red Hat Enterprise Linux because they have a requirement for commercial support. That is the only reason why Red Hat Enterprise Linux gets used over any other Linux distribution.

What is most valuable?

The only reason our clients use Red Hat Enterprise Linux is because Red Hat offers commercial support. 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a solid product. They have decent support, although not the best. They have a good knowledge base and a well-developed ecosystem.

What needs improvement?

Recently, Red Hat did a strange thing where they took over the CentOS project and changed several things in their pipeline. I don't believe that I, or the vast majority of Linux systems engineers out there, are fans of their development process for the operating system.

The way that Red Hat used to work was that they had a free version. It was the community version called CentOS. Everything that Red Hat developed, they backported to the CentOS community. About four or five years ago, they took over the CentOS community and they killed off CentOS. They were pushing the Red Hat Enterprise Linux stream variant, which was supposed to be the replacement. I wish they would just go back to the way it was before. I do not like the new development process and the new hierarchy. The vast majority of people in the Red Hat open-source community also do not care for it much.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux since its inception. I started using Red Hat Linux in 1999, but I do not remember what year it became Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

How are customer service and support?

They are typically slow to respond. I feel their first-line support is lacking in knowledge.

Their knowledge base is pretty decent. It is pretty standard. Linux is such a mature product now that the knowledge bases for all the major distributions, even the open-source free ones, are so vast. I do not know if any Linux distribution offers any real advantage over others when it comes to the knowledge base.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I have worked with all operating systems. I have been doing this for 30 years. In the military, I was a Windows and Linux systems administrator. I was using Solaris Unix back then. I have been using Windows for about 30 years, and then I have used all Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, Mandrake, Yellow Dog, etc. If there is a Linux distribution out there, I have probably used it in a project somewhere.

The only reason that I, or anybody else, uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux is because it offers commercial support. That is it.

The Red Hat package management system is inferior to most other package management systems in the Linux world, mostly to the Debian-based ones that used the App system versus the Red Hat RPM package management systems. Red Hat is also not as unified or as streamlined as other distributions.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is pretty simple and very straightforward. I would rate it a seven out of ten for the ease of setup. Its upgrades are moderately straightforward.

The management depends on where those systems live. On-prem ones are managed differently than the cloud ones. Cloud-to-cloud ones are managed differently. Red Hat is slightly more work-intensive than other Linux distributions. I feel that Debian-based distributions, such as Ubuntu, Devuan, and AntiX, are easier to manage than the Red Hat-based distributions, and obviously, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the flagship for all those distributions.

What was our ROI?

It is used just to meet requirements. Being government agencies, they do what they have to do to meet requirements. It helps them meet the requirements of having commercial support, and that is about the extent of it.

What other advice do I have?

I am not a big fan of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. I use it because government customers have a requirement to use it, but outside of that, I would never voluntarily use it. In fact, I recommend against using it. 

We do not use features that are proprietary to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We do our best to avoid proprietary tools. We stick to open-source tools. Typically, we use things like Ansible to achieve those goals.

I am a consultant, so I have worked with both on-premises and cloud deployments. I have used it in both Azure and AWS. It is client-defined. Our workloads are not hybrid workloads. They are usually dedicated. If we put a workload in the cloud, it is all in the cloud. If we put a workload on-prem, it is all on-prem. I do not know if Red Hat necessarily provides any special features to support hybrid workloads, and if it does, we certainly do not use them. We try to stay away from Red Hat-integrated tools and utilize industry-standard tools. We use Terraform and Ansible. Ansible is now owned by Red Hat, so it is technically a Red Hat tool, but it is also an open-source project.

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux an eight out of ten. It is good for commercial usage, but I would never use Red Hat Enterprise Linux in a startup environment.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
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Syed Azhar - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5
The command-line capabilities boost productivity and give us useful information about our resource utilization
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is its command-line capabilities, which allow you to execute large operations quickly. For example, let's say you want to create a hundred files or directories. In Windows, you need to create each one by hand, which is difficult and time-consuming. Linux has multiple commands to create files in a few seconds. It also has the "top" command that gives you all the processes running and their utilization of resources like CPU, RAM, etc. That isn't possible with a management console or GUI."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux has increased our productivity by making monitoring more manageable and allowing us to be more proactive."
  • "RHEL could make some back-end improvements. On the front end, RHEL could make the interface more colorful and improve the user experience. A better-looking interface would attract more customers."
  • "Most Indians will find Red Hat Enterprise Linux a little costly."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case for Red Hat Enterprise Linux is for cloud-related tasks, such as working on AWS. Specifically, I create virtual servers on Amazon EC2 instances. My department has 50 people using the solution.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has increased our productivity by making monitoring more manageable and allowing us to be more proactive. We get more information we need from the virtual machines using the command line. It's also a highly secured system with built-in protections. We've also saved time because command-line operations are more efficient. Time is money, so we also save money by decreasing our time on these tasks. 

When I started working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux in March 2021, I did not immediately realize its benefits. It took me several months to understand the full power of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the problems it solves. After three to six months, I recognized the full power of Red Hat Enterprise Linux

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is its command-line capabilities, which allow you to execute large operations quickly. For example, let's say you want to create a hundred files or directories. In Windows, you need to create each one by hand, which is difficult and time-consuming. Linux has multiple commands to create files in a few seconds. It also has the "top" command that gives you all the processes running and their utilization of resources like CPU, RAM, etc. That isn't possible with a management console or GUI.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has good security features, so it's harder to breach than Windows. There's also a large Red Hat Enterprise Linux user community, so when I get stuck, I can go to Stack Overflow or other user forums and get help. I typically get a solution within a few hours when I post a question. 

I don't handle patching and provisioning because I don't have much experience, but I've heard from senior engineers that it's easy on Red Hat Enterprise Linux

What needs improvement?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux could make some back-end improvements. On the front end, Red Hat Enterprise Linux could make the interface more colorful and improve the user experience. A better-looking interface would attract more customers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux since March 2021.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is stable, providing a reliable platform for our operations.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux as nine out of ten, indicating it scales well with our needs.

How are customer service and support?

I rate Red Hat support eight out of 10. The technical support is excellent. They are readily available to assist with any technical issues that arise. Their documentation is clear and built into the GUI, so you can easily access information if you're curious about a topic. Red Hat has a large, well-informed user community.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

Previously, I used only Windows, but now I use Windows, Linux, and AWS environments. I transitioned to Red Hat Enterprise Linux as it enhances productivity, reducing the time-consuming aspects of software development and project management.

How was the initial setup?

Setting up Red Hat Enterprise Linux wasn't complex, but also not overly simple. It was about average. It took about half an hour to deploy the solution at one location. After deployment, we need to install updates, but that process has gone pretty smoothly.

What about the implementation team?

We have a team of more than twelve individuals working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

What was our ROI?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has saved us time and increased productivity. We've also saved money by not purchasing other operating systems, such as Windows or Mac. 

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

Most Indians will find Red Hat Enterprise Linux a little costly. It's slightly above average. Its pricing has room for improvement because it's more expensive in the local market due to purchasing power parity in India. 

What other advice do I have?

I highly recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux to others due to its productivity benefits and efficient command-line operations. It offers key advantages in terms of time-saving, security, and community support.

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?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.