CIS Hardened Image Level 1 on Rocky Linux 9

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.

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.

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.

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

In my experience, Rocky Linux is stable.

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.

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

Positive

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

My main use case for Rocky Linux  is the user-friendly commands and being able to work much easier on the RHEL  supported flavor as compared to other flavors whereby you have to ask for escalation when you want to install something or change file permissions or anything of that sort.

A specific example of how Rocky Linux  has made things easier for me is that it has streamlined processes by not requiring privilege escalation all the time. Once I'm logged in as root, I don't have to escalate using sudo, which makes things much easier, especially since it's not a security risk when proper restrictions are set up in the perimeter with SSH and firewall rules and jump host, making it much smoother.

The best features Rocky Linux offers include not having to escalate privileges all the time, and it is binary compatible with RHEL  systems, which means long-term support, making it much more predictable when it comes to updates. It also has a strong focus on enterprise workloads.

Binary compatibility and long-term support features have made things simpler because you can easily integrate the two systems with your Red Hat kernel. The long-term predictable updates make it a clear choice because I know that whatever I'm implementing now is guaranteed to receive updates in the long term.

Rocky Linux has positively impacted my organization by making things simpler, especially with not having to escalate privileges all the time using sudo as compared to Ubuntu  flavors.

I've experienced less downtime in terms of having to focus on updates, which improves the security posture. Rocky Linux is compatible with automation tools, including Ansible , whereby we can deploy the infrastructure using code. It easily integrates with other containers and automation tools, making it easier to push updates, particularly security updates, and upgrade packages.

At the moment, I don't see much improvement that can be made to Rocky Linux. We work in IT and security is the main factor that we focus on, so perhaps more security control rules could be implemented. However, so far, I don't see much room for improvement.

I have been using Rocky Linux for three to four years.

Rocky Linux is stable.

In terms of scalability, you need to have automation tools.

The customer support for Rocky Linux is good, as it offers long-term support.

Neutral

I haven't necessarily switched. I used Ubuntu  before, and we still use Ubuntu even in this current company along with Rocky Linux.

It is not difficult to deploy Rocky Linux in my organization which is set up on a private cloud.

I never worked on the implementation or pricing part, but I know that Rocky Linux is free, and I can download it and deploy it in whatever environment I have, whether it be H3C, VMware, or Hyper-V . I am not involved in costs.

Regarding return on investment in terms of time saved with automation, I wouldn't know about money saved as I am not in the finance department.

I never worked on the pricing part, but I know that Rocky Linux is free, and I can download it and deploy it in whatever environment I have, whether it be H3C, VMware, or Hyper-V . I am not involved in costs.

Before choosing Rocky Linux, I didn't evaluate other options.

My advice to others looking into using Rocky Linux is they should go for it. There isn't much difference compared to other flavors, and it is much closer to RHEL systems, so whatever commands you would use in your Red Hat, you would use in Rocky Linux. I rate Rocky Linux 8 out of 10.

For the last two years, I have been using Rocky Linux  for our project. I do all the things: installations of Rocky Linux , coding in Rocky Linux, and using Rocky Linux as a platform.

We use Rocky Linux as a base OS for our project, and on top of Rocky Linux OS, we are building our project. We have chosen Rocky Linux because it supports long-term support.

We are using Rocky Linux for one of our projects in CommScope, using it as a base OS, and on top of that, we are installing many RPMs and making it customized. We are adding numerous security patches, as Rocky Linux continuously provides security updates and patches, which is one of the best benefits we are getting. We are also using Rocky Linux for high availability purposes, with approximately 11 to 12 server clusters.

We are using Rocky Linux because it has strong security, compatibility with RHEL , and enterprise-grade stability, which is the main reason for choosing Rocky Linux. The plus point is that they regularly provide security updates and patches, which is very helpful to us.

Rocky Linux offers strong security and enterprise-grade stability as its best features. These are the two main advantages compared to others.

Enterprise-grade stability refers to the fact that it uses the RHEL  source code, ensuring compatibility, and is suitable for servers, production environments, and critical applications, built to be a reliable, long-term support OS.

In terms of security, we are getting regular security patches and updates, which is one of the best use cases I've noticed positively impacting Rocky Linux in my organization.

Day by day, the vulnerabilities are decreasing, and as we have implemented good practices, there is less downtime.

Currently, I have nothing to say about how Rocky Linux can be improved.

The rolling update for Rocky Linux is very limited and focused on stability, so the software may not always be the latest version, which is something they need to improve.

I have been working in my current field for the last two years and eight months.

Rocky Linux is stable.

Regarding scalability, Rocky Linux is a very good OS, and we haven't faced any issues currently.

Currently, the customer support for Rocky Linux is not fully developed and is in a growing stage; the customer support is also not very responsive.

Previously, we were using CentOS , which reached its end of life, prompting us to switch to Rocky Linux because we found it is an LTS with stability and long-term support.

The pricing for Rocky Linux has no major difference compared to enterprise-level software, which is similar to enterprise-level Linux, so there isn't much difference and it's a good experience with both the older and newer versions compared to CentOS  and Rocky Linux.

We checked some enterprise-level OSs such as Debian  before choosing Rocky Linux, but we found we were more inclined toward Rocky Linux as it gives LTS support and stability, so we moved to Rocky Linux.

If you are looking for a long-term support OS, an LTS, then I recommend choosing Rocky Linux, as they are releasing many patches and updates regarding security.

Rocky Linux is best for someone who wants good scalability, enterprise-grade stability, substantial community engagement, compatibility with RHEL, and strong security. I also feel there is good documentation with Rocky Linux, along with providing long-term support, which makes it better to choose Rocky Linux.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Rocky Linux a nine out of ten.

My main use case for Rocky Linux  is to use it as an enterprise server OS, providing a production-grade server platform equivalent to RHEL , running critical workloads, ERM, CRM , database servers like PostgreSQL  and MySQL , and supporting broadcast and media workflows, where it serves as a stable OS for encoding, transcoding, and streaming platforms like Haivision and other OEM encoders, ensuring predictable performance for low-latency live streaming and content packaging workflows.

My use case with Rocky Linux  also includes web and application hosting, cloud and virtualization, media and streaming workflows, serving as a stable foundation for live encoders, packagers, and CDN  nodes; we use it with platforms such as Titan Live, Near-live, Haivision, and Wowza for OTT delivery, high-performance computing, and security-sensitive workloads.

The best features Rocky Linux offers include being 100% bug compatible compared to RHEL , providing enterprise stability for production workloads, meeting the need for reliability and long-term support, and being managed by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, with its security and compliance features and migration tools making a significant difference for us.

Rocky Linux performs excellently in low-latency live streaming and content packaging workflows, as we use it for optimizing compatibility with the streaming platforms, utilizing an optimized kernel for networking, tuning profiles, IRQ affinity, security, reliability, and hardware and driver support.

Rocky Linux has positively impacted our organization; it works reliably and enhances our low-latency streaming workflows for our affiliates, performing well without noticeable glitches in our workflow. Since we started using Rocky Linux, we have drastically reduced low latency, especially across the public network, and we haven't seen much downtime, significantly decreasing downtime for the servers accommodating low live streaming workflows.

Rocky Linux could be improved with API-based tools that would help our streaming environment be monitored using DataMiner . Having REST API or SNMP-based protocols would be beneficial, as we want to integrate Rocky Linux for monitoring with our DataMiner  platform.

I have been using Rocky Linux for three years.

We haven't tried to scale Rocky Linux since we recently started using this solution, but in the future, we definitely plan to scale as per our needs.

Rocky Linux is up to the mark; the solutions are really customer-focused and revenue-oriented, and the support level is extraordinary, providing on-time assistance, making it commendable.

Positive

The migration tools have been incredibly helpful; we use migrate2rocky.sh, a primary tool developed by the Rocky Foundation, which automates the conversion process of a compatible system to Rocky Linux, and applies it for log correlation and diagnosis of issues we encounter in our live streaming workflows.

Rocky Linux has a long-term life cycle for 10 years, being minimal and customizable, with performance tuning tools and an enterprise hardware ecosystem that stand out for our team.

My advice for others looking into using Rocky Linux is that if any organization is in search of a robust, stable, scalable solution in the broadcast media tech sector, they should definitely assess it, as they will likely achieve the desired results.

Currently, we are just a broadcaster and not a partner or reseller for Rocky products; however, in the future, we will explore a partnership for a B2B relationship.

We are currently satisfied with Rocky Linux, but if we encounter issues in the future, we will definitely highlight them.

I rate Rocky Linux 9 out of 10.

Our main use case for Rocky Linux  is to host servers and developer environments for leading telecom vendors.

The best features Rocky Linux  offers, in my experience, include long-term support, stability, and one-to-one binary compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux .

Rocky Linux has been a major driver for our cloud migration strategy and has proven to be one of the most cost-effective solutions for us, allowing us to save huge revenue while maintaining fantastic consistency with updates.

From a feature or experience perspective, it has been fantastic, but the only drawback we have seen is that even though there are timely deliveries of security patches and vulnerability fixes, the Rocky Linux Security Advisor or RLSA updates via the DNF utilities are broken or delayed. When we use the DNF functionality to search the affected RLSA or RLSA with CVE IDs, it's not working as expected, and the mirrors or the XML files need to be updated similar to Red Hat, which would help us keep our environment more secure and make maintenance easier. Otherwise, we have to do extensive research to identify the affected packages or RPMs with specific RLSA numbers.

I would like to see improvements in the security areas and updates of RLSA details as soon as the RLSA numbers are updated in the XML file. Security has been a major driver for IT organizations across the world and must be addressed at a faster pace. The unavailability of RLSA in the DNF search has been a major drawback that I would like to see improved in the future.

I have been using Rocky Linux for three years for our day-to-day use cases.

We have seen a stable Rocky Linux environment as of now.

Our solution does not currently involve architecture with scalability.

Customer support for Rocky Linux is excellent, and the documentation is also very good.

Positive

We were using CentOS  previously, and as the lifecycle of CentOS  was changed by Red Hat, we looked for an alternative, and Rocky Linux suited us best.

It has been a wonderful experience associating with Rocky Linux, and we would continue to use it full-fledged. I don't see that we have to choose any alternative OS in the near future.

ROI has been good as we have significant open source community involvement. In fact, we have increased our footprints, allowing us to onboard more resources or employees, which is a positive sign.

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Rocky Linux is good and streamlined, with no hiccups.

Before choosing Rocky Linux, we evaluated other options including Ubuntu , Oracle Linux , and a few other flavors, but since Rocky Linux has one-to-one binary compatibility with Red Hat, it was the best fit.

Rocky Linux has been a ready-to-use solution for us, so we don't need to have vendor dependency or vendor lock for any support or help. The community has been a great help in resolving all issues, and while from a monetary point of view, it has resulted in significant savings, we cannot provide the exact numbers as some of this is company confidential.

There is not much need for further improvements at this juncture.

If you want to get a premium product with the best in-house community support, Rocky Linux would be the one solution.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Rocky Linux a 9 out of 10.