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reviewer2772054 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Oct 28, 2025
Migration from discontinued systems has gone smoothly and supports reliable hosting for government websites
Pros and Cons
  • "Rocky Linux has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to migrate away from CentOS 7 as a result of the end-of-life for that operating system and then the end of CentOS 8, so we were able to move away from it without losing data and without having to rebuild VMs from scratch."

    What is our primary use case?

    My main use case for Rocky Linux is web hosting.

    I have used Rocky Linux to host Drupal websites for my employer.

    I don't have anything else to add about my use case or how I use Rocky Linux.

    What is most valuable?

    The best feature Rocky Linux offers is compatibility with Red Hat. This compatibility helps me because packages that aren't specifically available to the Rocky Linux repositories are able to be installed as long as the correct binary for the correct corresponding version of Red Hat and Rocky is selected.

    Rocky Linux has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to migrate away from CentOS 7 as a result of the end-of-life for that operating system and then the end of CentOS 8, so we were able to move away from it without losing data and without having to rebuild VMs from scratch. The migration process went smoothly, with the main thing that stood out being the exchanging of repository links and the use of purpose-built scripts by our infrastructure and hosting team that took care of the heavy lifting.

    What needs improvement?

    I don't have specific suggestions on how Rocky Linux can be improved.

    I don't want to add more about the needed improvements, even minor things or little annoyances.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Rocky Linux for a couple of years.

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    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    In my experience, Rocky Linux is stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Rocky Linux's scalability is good; it has handled growth or changing needs well considering that it was able to scale up our high availability environments for our web hosting services.

    How are customer service and support?

    I haven't needed to reach out for help regarding customer support for Rocky Linux.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    I previously used CentOS, and the reason for the change to Rocky Linux was because of the end-of-life of CentOS 7 and 8 since those distributions were being discontinued and we needed a platform to move to that wasn't going to cost us an arm and a leg for licensing.

    What was our ROI?

    I have seen a return on investment since there was definitely money saved at the time due to the lack of need for licensing since Rocky is available openly.

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

    My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been that there was no cost associated with licensing for Rocky at the time because it was available openly and freely.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Before choosing Rocky Linux, we evaluated one other option, which was AlmaLinux, and we chose to go with Rocky instead.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice for others looking into using Rocky Linux is to be sure to look at tutorials on how to get started if they are new users to the Red Hat RPMs or if they are unfamiliar with Linux as a whole.

    I think it's been a great operating system to use both professionally and personally, and I've been able to adapt Rocky Linux into my WSL environment on my personal computer running Windows 11 and WSL Rocky.

    I found out about the interview through LinkedIn.

    On a scale of 1-10, I rate Rocky Linux a 10.

    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.
    Last updated: Oct 28, 2025
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    reviewer2775468 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Junior IT Infrastructure Engineer at a hospitality company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Top 10
    Nov 10, 2025
    Has improved security practices and streamlined server hosting in on-premises environments
    Pros and Cons
    • "The best features Rocky Linux offers, in my experience, are its simplicity, which helps us troubleshoot effectively, along with enhanced security features, security hardening capabilities, and the ability to perform regular patches."
    • "I chose a rating of eight out of ten because Rocky Linux must grow more; it is not as comparable to Red Hat, which is why I took off those two points."

    What is our primary use case?

    My main use case for Rocky Linux is for the Nutanix environment, where we have a data center and everything is hosted there, including all the services and systems. Rocky Linux is the main OS of the Nutanix, which we use for hosting the servers.

    In the Nutanix environment, Rocky Linux makes security hardening easier because we have guidelines to follow for those processes as per their advice.

    How has it helped my organization?

    My organization has seen positive impacts, particularly in security, as it is more secure and scalable. The commands are quite easy to use in the open-source environment, and scaling up or down is simple. Overall, it is more scalable and security-wise, it is good, and after using many commands, I become familiar with them.

    What is most valuable?

    The best features Rocky Linux offers, in my experience, are its simplicity, which helps us troubleshoot effectively, along with enhanced security features, security hardening capabilities, and the ability to perform regular patches.

    My organization has seen positive impacts, particularly in security, as it is more secure and scalable. The commands are quite easy to use in the open-source environment, and scaling up or down is simple. Overall, it is more scalable and security-wise, it is good, and after using many commands, I become familiar with them.

    What needs improvement?

    I am not an expert on Rocky Linux, but I do not have anything to say regarding improvements; I think it is doing better.

    I chose a rating of eight out of ten because Rocky Linux must grow more; it is not as comparable to Red Hat, which is why I took off those two points.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Rocky Linux for a couple of years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Rocky Linux is stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability of Rocky Linux is very good.

    How are customer service and support?

    We take customer support from Nutanix, and I think Nutanix support users are familiar with Rocky Linux, so I find the customer support to be very good.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    I am not sure what solution we previously used before Rocky Linux, as I am new to the organization. I think they might have used VMware, but those were not on Rocky Linux, and the licensing cost was likely higher, which is why we changed to Rocky Linux in the Nutanix environment.

    How was the initial setup?

    Rocky Linux is a product of CentOS, and I have experience using CentOS as well. I think CentOS and Rocky Linux are similar to each other, with almost all of the features being similar.

    The pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Rocky Linux are favorable because they come bundled with the Nutanix environment, making the costs and licensing cheaper than the VMware environment, which is why we chose the Nutanix environment.

    What was our ROI?

    I have seen a return on investment, including money saved and time saved.

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

    The pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Rocky Linux are favorable because they come bundled with the Nutanix environment, making the costs and licensing cheaper than the VMware environment, which is why we chose the Nutanix environment.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Before choosing Rocky Linux, I evaluated options based on cost.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice to others looking into using Rocky Linux is to go ahead and use it. I give Rocky Linux a rating of eight 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 does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    Last updated: Nov 10, 2025
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    Rocky Linux
    January 2026
    Learn what your peers think about Rocky Linux. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
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    Jetsada Malaisirirat - PeerSpot reviewer
    System Engineer at a government with 51-200 employees
    Real User
    Top 10
    May 21, 2025
    Enhancements in package management elevate user experience
    Pros and Cons
    • "The solution is free and open source."
    • "The package versions can be quite older compared to other distributions such as Ubuntu."

    What is our primary use case?

    I have been using Rocky Linux for three or four years. It is used for HPC, online assessments, and Ceph storage.

    What is most valuable?

    The solution is free and open source.

    What needs improvement?

    The OS choice in my project is quite specific. It is based on customer requirements, as they might want to use Rocky Linux or Ubuntu, depending on their needs.

    The package versions can be quite older compared to other distributions such as Ubuntu.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using this solution for about three or four years.

    What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

    The deployment process is simple.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I would rate the stability an eight out of ten.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is quite good, though there are some issues with Rocky Linux. I would rate the scalability a five out of seven.

    How are customer service and support?

    I rely on self-support and community resources.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    I previously used VirtualBox but now tend to use Proxmox.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is simple.

    It involves a normal setup process using a USB drive or network installation.

    What about the implementation team?

    It requires a plain installation. The server can be set up with UI, similar to a desktop installation in an on-premises environment.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I use Rocky Linux on the production server first. For Ubuntu installations, it depends on customer requirements.

    What other advice do I have?

    The package management system requires attention when working with Rocky Linux.

    There can be some issues with scalability that need consideration.

    I would rate Rocky Linux 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.
    Last updated: May 21, 2025
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    KRISTOF Laenen - PeerSpot reviewer
    Senior Network Engineer at a consumer goods company with 51-200 employees
    Real User
    Top 20
    Oct 5, 2025
    Scripting and networking management run smoothly with competent backend operations
    Pros and Cons
    • "The experience of working with Rocky Linux is the same as with other Linux distributions; there was no difficulty for me in learning how to work with it."
    • "To be honest, Rocky Linux is almost similar to each Linux distribution, so I have no specific reason why it should offer me its features."

    What is our primary use case?

    My typical use case for Rocky Linux is that it's the backend operating system for managing where we have a lot of scripts managing networks.

    I don't have a use case for AI integration yet because we simply did not look into it, so I don't know if it's there or not.

    What is most valuable?

    The experience of working with Rocky Linux is the same as with other Linux distributions; there was no difficulty for me in learning how to work with it.

    Rocky Linux is similar to other distributions. I did some research on Google, and then it was manageable without needing documentation.

    What needs improvement?

    To be honest, Rocky Linux is almost similar to each Linux distribution, so I have no specific reason why it should offer me its features.

    I haven't noticed anything special that could be done better in Rocky Linux.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I switched less than a year ago from my previous company, and I think they have been using it for one or two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The experience of working with Rocky Linux is the same as with other Linux distributions; there was no difficulty for me in learning how to work with it.

    How are customer service and support?

    First of all, there is in-house knowledge for handling technical support or community issues.

    If I have specific issues that couldn't be resolved by myself, I either contact an outside ICT company with specialized engineers or contact the vendors.

    We have not yet needed to contact a vendor regarding Rocky Linux.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    It's equal whether it's now CentOS, Rocky Linux, or Ubuntu; actually, a bash script remains a bash script.

    How was the initial setup?

    A server on VMware rolls out the template, so it's a one-hour job to deploy it.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    It's equal whether it's now CentOS, Rocky Linux, or Ubuntu; actually, a bash script remains a bash script.

    What other advice do I have?

    I'm just using tools, so I'm not in any decision making.

    The decision is made at the customer, so it's not my decision. I'm not in any decision maker role.

    All these decisions have been made. I'm just following it, and for me, there's no real preference between A or B.

    I switched less than a year ago from my previous company, and I think they have been using it for one or two years.

    It's a hard question to determine the most helpful or useful features in this tool.

    I rate Rocky Linux eight out of ten. An eight means that I'm satisfied with it; a product having a ten never exists because things can always be better.

    I have nothing really in mind that could make Rocky Linux a nine out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    Last updated: Oct 5, 2025
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    PeerSpot user
    IT / IAM Senior Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Top 10
    Sep 22, 2025
    Migration has reduced costs and maintained seamless performance with familiar processes
    Pros and Cons
    • "In my opinion, the best features Rocky Linux offers are stability, compatibility, and community support, all of which I think are extremely necessary and essential for the distribution, and I find that all three pillars are very supported by Rocky Linux."

      What is our primary use case?

      My main use case for Rocky Linux is that we had some web servers that we used as internal web servers on a LEMP stack with Nginx for some internal websites and systems. At the time, they ran on CentOS, but we felt it would be better to migrate them to Rocky Linux. I remember we had a script to migrate those servers and it worked very well. Since then, I have left the company, but my colleagues who are still there are using it with no problems so far.

      How has it helped my organization?

      Stability and good old trusted baseline.

      What is most valuable?

      In my opinion, the best features Rocky Linux offers are stability, compatibility, and community support, all of which I think are extremely necessary and essential for the distribution, and I find that all three pillars are very supported by Rocky Linux.

      The big difference was the compatibility, one-to-one compatibility, and packages and repos, and that was the main thing that helped us significantly after all.

      Rocky Linux has positively impacted my organization, specifically through cost savings, because we did not have to buy any licenses or extra licenses of other distros, such as Oracle or RedHat, and that helped significantly, giving us independence in this project without needing a budget specifically for it. This helped tremendously.

      What needs improvement?

      I cannot think of anything right now that could improve Rocky Linux. I think they should keep up the great job.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been using Rocky Linux on and off since its first release, right after CentOS changed its releases and both Rocky Linux and Alma started.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      Rocky Linux is stable.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      For my case, Rocky Linux's scalability has been very good.

      How are customer service and support?

      I have not had any experience with customer support so far because I usually research things on my own, and the documentation and community help significantly in those cases.

      How would you rate customer service and support?

      Positive

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

      We previously used CentOS, and we switched because their release politics were not really going into the stable way that we always thought CentOS was praised for, which is why we chose to migrate.

      How was the initial setup?

      I decided to migrate those web servers specifically to Rocky Linux instead of another option because I actually tried both distributions, Alma and Rocky Linux, and I believe that the one that was most similar to how we used CentOS was Rocky Linux. This was the best choice after all.

      If I recall correctly, I had some problems during the migration process, but it was not with Rocky Linux; it was with AlmaLinux installation. That was one of the main factors as because we had some bugs. Rocky Linux was a very good choice in the end and it is working efficiently.

      What about the implementation team?

      I have seen a return on investment because our team was very small and is still small in overall support in the company. One good thing is that we did not have to contract any other team member specifically for the migration since everyone was already well-versed with CentOS. This should count as a point, and while I do not have exact metrics of expenses, I believe it saved around some thousands of dollars for the company.

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

      I did not have any experience with pricing because we used mainly the free version of Rocky Linux at the time.

      Which other solutions did I evaluate?

      Before choosing Rocky Linux, I evaluated other options such as AlmaLinux, and if I recall correctly, we also researched RedHat.

      What other advice do I have?

      I would advise others looking into using Rocky Linux to try it out, especially if they have servers on CentOS, as it is very valid for an upgrade. I know a lot of CentOS servers have already reached the end-of-life state, with no more updates or security updates, so I would recommend a migration to Rocky Linux. I rate Rocky Linux 10 out of 10.

      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 does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
      Last updated: Sep 22, 2025
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      Dominique Locksley - PeerSpot reviewer
      Linux System Administrator at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
      Real User
      Top 5
      Feb 28, 2024
      Very simple to work with, easy to learn, and has a competitive pricing
      Pros and Cons
      • "It's very simple to work with, easy to learn, and know where things are."
      • "The solution's audio integration for virtual machines could be improved."

      What is our primary use case?

      I'm currently running the solution at home to teach myself all of the flavors of Linux. If a new one comes out that I don't know or haven't worked on, I'll install it and see how easy it is to configure and set up. I evaluate it for users who don't have very strong computers and want to move away from Microsoft because they don't want to upgrade.

      I evaluate Linux as a recommendation so that users can get away from Windows because Windows is so memory-intensive. For people who have an older machine and can't necessarily run Windows 10 or Windows 11, I usually recommend a Linux flavor based on the hardware they're running.

      What is most valuable?

      The UX design, the user front end, and the user GUI are very well done on the GNOME and KDE platform side. It's very simple to work with, easy to learn, and know where things are. I have worked with a lot of different solutions like Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat, and CentOS.

      Rocky Linux is very easy, and if you switch from one to the other, you can easily detect your tools in the front end. Since it is very similar to the file system breakdown of downloads and documents, it's very easy to show users where things will be.

      What needs improvement?

      The solution's audio integration for virtual machines could be improved. It took me almost a day to get my audio drivers to work while running it as a virtual machine. I run Oracle Virtual Box. Within Oracle Virtual Box, I would really like it if they looked at the audio integration or the audio driver specifically for virtual machines.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been using Rocky Linux for five years.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      Rocky Linux runs very well for me on low-resource systems, which only have four gigs of memory and one CPU. Rocky Linux is not very resource-intensive.

      I rate the solution ten out of ten for stability.

      What about the implementation team?

      If I put it on a low-spec machine, the solution's deployment will take a maximum of one hour, which is a reasonable amount of time. Comparatively, Windows takes much longer to deploy.

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

      Rocky Linux is a cheap solution. Compared to the market prices of other tools, the solution has a very competitive pricing. The solution comes at such a price that I can recommend it to users who do not want to spend money. I spend no more than $10 per year for Rocky Linux.

      What other advice do I have?

      For a Windows migration, I'll do a full backup to external, set up Rocky Linux, and bring it in. Then, I'll just import all the relevant files. Most solutions like Rocky Linux and Ubuntu have a downloads folder or documents folder. I try to recreate the user experience from a UX perspective to be the same.

      One of the other Linux tools I'm currently evaluating is Zorin. Zorin looks almost identical to Windows. When you log in, the interface and everything looks very similar to Windows 11. CentOS, Rocky, and Zorin are three solutions that I recommend for users who want to move away from Microsoft but keep the same experience. I can make it look and feel the same way it looks and feels on Windows.

      So, migrating a user from Windows is easy because as long as it looks the same, they don't really care what happens in the backend. They don't really care what happens when they click on a button. They just want to see what they saw when they worked on Windows.

      I set Rocky Linux up to update once a week with the package management. It does its own updates, and as long as there's internet, there are no problems.

      The transition to Rocky Linux wasn't as difficult as I had expected, but it wasn't as easy as I had expected because Rocky Linux is one of the lesser-known versions of Linux. When I had trouble with my audio drivers, very little information was available on resolving the issue. That was a little difficult, but it was purely because Rocky Linux is not as well known as Ubuntu, CentOS, or the bigger versions of Linux.

      From that perspective, I struggled a bit. Otherwise, it was quite smooth. The only problem I had was on the audio side.

      The solution's deployment time was very much dependent on the hardware that I was running it on. Depending on the hardware, it's quite simple because it has the same features as all the new Linux. I can also configure and run a little LVM installation.

      I like the fact that, in a lot of ways, it's still the same as the old Linux and all the other Linux you know. It looks very similar, but it adds little tweaks, and it still looks like Rocky Linux when you're inside it.

      Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten.

      Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
      PeerSpot user
      Managing Director at a computer software company with 1-10 employees
      Real User
      Top 20
      Aug 24, 2024
      Allows us to set up multiple virtual machines quickly and requires minimum maintenance
      Pros and Cons
      • "The custom install scripts streamline the setup process, making it straightforward."
      • "Improved integration with Windows, particularly Active Directory, would be beneficial for the product. Currently, this aspect requires additional effort."

      What is most valuable?

      The platform's ease of setup, reliability, and minimal maintenance are valuable features. The custom install scripts streamline the setup process, making it straightforward.

      What needs improvement?

      Improved integration with Windows, particularly Active Directory, would be beneficial for the product. Currently, this aspect requires additional effort.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been working with Rocky Linux for approximately 18 months, which aligns with its release timeline. We are currently using version 9.4 of the solution.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      The product is stable and reliable. I rate the stability a nine. 

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      Approximately 40 to 50 customers are using the solution. Most of our on-premises servers run Linux, with some running multiple instances. I would rate the scalability as a nine. It performs very well in scaling scenarios.

      How are customer service and support?

      I have not utilized official technical support and have relied on community resources and forums.

      How was the initial setup?

      The setup is straightforward, with minimal manual intervention. Depending on the customer's requirements, it is deployed on cloud-based systems or on-premises hardware. 

      The deployment typically takes about an hour. Virtual machines can be set up in this timeframe, with additional time needed for specific customer configurations.

      I rate the process a nine and a half. 

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

      The product is expensive. I rate the pricing a three. 

      What other advice do I have?

      The solution allows us to quickly set up multiple virtual machines, reducing costs and requiring less management than other systems.

       It is a robust solution for various server needs. I rate it a nine. 

      Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. msp
      PeerSpot user
      Mahesh Pansare - PeerSpot reviewer
      Linux Administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
      Real User
      Top 5
      Aug 28, 2024
      Installation, setup, and deployment are easy to manage
      Pros and Cons
      • "The most valuable feature of the solution is its stability."
      • "I have certain problems with the tool's DNS part, making it an area where improvements are required."

      What is our primary use case?

      I use the solution in my company to do some automation stuff to run Ansible, and it has an administration server to provide all the Linux control like a client node can be connected to that master node. Basically, it is an administration node, and I can manage all of the on-premises machines. Basically, it acts as a bastion host or jump host for me.

      What is most valuable?

      The most valuable feature of the solution is its stability. The tool's stability is similar to CentOS. The project for CentOS is not functional as of now, a reason why I moved to Fedora and Rocky Linux by another distributor.

      What needs improvement?

      I have certain problems with the tool's DNS part, making it an area where improvements are required.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been using Rocky Linux for three years and seven months.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      Around 400 people in my company use the tool.

      How are customer service and support?

      I have not contacted technical support for the solution.

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

      I do use multiple operating systems, like CentOS, Red Hat, Fedora, and Rocky, which are all enterprise OS tools meant for commercial use only.

      How was the initial setup?

      The product's installation, setup, and deployment are easy to manage.

      The solution is deployed on an on-premises model. My company also uses AWS, Ubuntu versions, Amazon Linux versions, and Red Hat, so the images are used by opting for a cloud provider.

      What other advice do I have?

      I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

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