Sold by: ClearScale
Deployed on AWS
A high-performance, production-ready Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 ARM64 base image optimized for AWS Graviton. Pre-hardened to CIS Level 1 benchmarks for immediate compliance, stripped of unnecessary packages and fully supported by Clearscale.
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Overview
This is a hardened, enterprise-ready operating system image optimized for AWS deployments. Built-in security hardening and ongoing lifecycle maintenance are included for an additional charge.
Leverage the reliability and security of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, engineered specifically for AWS environments. This Amazon Machine Image (AMI) delivers a highly secure, stable foundation right out of the box, drastically reducing the time required for initial configuration and manual security patching.
Core Capabilities:
- Latest Updates: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 deployed with the most recent security updates applied at build time.
- CIS Hardening: CIS Level 1 Benchmark configurations applied to guarantee a secure baseline.
- IMDSv2 Enforced: Strictly enforced metadata service to protect against SSRF vulnerabilities.
- Seamless Management: Native AWS Systems Manager (SSM) Agent pre-installed for streamlined remote management.
- Clean OS: Zero unnecessary telemetry agents and absolutely no cross-cloud bloatware.
- Secure Access: SSH heavily hardened, with root login and password authentication entirely disabled.
- Graviton Optimized: Compiled and tuned specifically to maximize price-performance on AWS ARM64 Graviton processors.
Operational Advantages:
- Rapid Deployment: Spin up fully hardened, compliant instances in minutes rather than hours or days.
- Reduced Overhead: Eliminates the tedious need for manual OS hardening, patching, and agent installation before deploying workloads.
- Audit-Ready Infrastructure: Pre-configured to align with strict industry security standards, easing the burden of compliance audits and security reviews.
Use Cases:
- Enterprise Workloads: The perfect foundation for deploying and managing mission-critical applications or services at scale.
- Regulated Environments: Highly recommended for industries requiring strict security baselines, such as finance, healthcare, and public sector.
- Development and Testing: Provides a secure, highly predictable environment for software engineering teams to iterate and stage safely.
Accelerate your AWS journey with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and build your cloud strategies on a secure, optimized infrastructure.
Highlights
- CIS Level 1 Compliant Out of the Box: IMDSv2 enforced, SELinux set to enforcing, firewalld default-deny, and root SSH disabled at build time.
- Zero Bloat, Operationally Ready: Carefully stripped of legacy packages, stale kernels, and unnecessary background services to minimize vulnerabilities. Includes the native AWS Systems Manager (SSM) Agent for seamless remote access without a bastion host.
- Graviton Optimized: Compiled and built specifically to maximize price-performance on AWS ARM64 processors.
Details
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Delivery method
Delivery option
64-bit (Arm) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Latest version
Operating system
Rhel 8
Deployed on AWS
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Features and programs
Financing for AWS Marketplace purchases
AWS Marketplace now accepts line of credit payments through the PNC Vendor Finance program. This program is available to select AWS customers in the US, excluding NV, NC, ND, TN, & VT.
Pricing
Pricing is based on actual usage, with charges varying according to how much you consume. Subscriptions have no end date and may be canceled any time.
Additional AWS infrastructure costs may apply. Use the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate your infrastructure costs.
Dimension | Cost/hour |
|---|---|
t4g.small Recommended | $0.12 |
t4g.nano | $0.06 |
x2gd.12xlarge | $2.88 |
i8g.24xlarge | $3.84 |
c6g.2xlarge | $0.48 |
r7gd.metal | $3.02 |
c8g.4xlarge | $0.96 |
m8gd.medium | $0.06 |
m8gn.4xlarge | $0.96 |
c7gn.16xlarge | $3.84 |
Dimensions summary
You pay by the hour for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 running on ARM-based (Graviton) EC2 instances, with ClearScale support included. Each dimension maps to a specific EC2 instance type, so your rate depends on the instance you choose. Options span general-purpose (m, a, t), compute-optimized (c), memory-optimized (r, x), storage-optimized (i, is, im), and GPU (g) families. Within each family, larger sizes (from medium up to metal) carry higher hourly rates. You are billed only for the hours each instance runs. Pick the instance that fits your workload and scale by running more or larger instances.
Top-of-mind questions for buyers
Each rate covers one running ARM-based EC2 instance of the named type, with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and ClearScale support. The instance type sets the vCPU count, memory, and storage. Larger sizes give more capacity and cost more per hour. You choose the type that fits your workload.
The hourly software and support charge applies only while an instance runs. Stopped instances do not accrue this hourly rate. Underlying AWS storage fees may still apply for stopped instances, but that is separate from this listing's per-hour software metering.
Each running instance meters independently at its own type's hourly rate. Charges add together across all instances you run. Running more instances, or larger sizes, increases the total. You are billed per instance-hour, so total cost scales with both the number and size of active instances.
www.clearscale.com
Helpful?
Vendor refund policy
Usage is billed by AWS on a pay-as-you-go basis by the hour. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (ARM) instance can be stopped or terminated at any time to stop incurring additional software charges. Refunds are not available once launched. To completely avoid future costs, ensure you terminate the instance and cancel your AWS Marketplace subscription.
Legal
Vendor terms and conditions
Upon subscribing to this product, you must acknowledge and agree to the terms and conditions outlined in the vendor's End User License Agreement (EULA) .
Content disclaimer
Vendors are responsible for their product descriptions and other product content. AWS does not warrant that vendors' product descriptions or other product content are accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free.
Delivery details
64-bit (Arm) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.
Version release notes
[Release v17AUG26] ClearImages Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 stage build (arm64). CIS Level 1 hardening, IMDSv2 enforced, SSM + CloudWatch agents pre-installed.
Additional details
Usage instructions
- Launch via AWS Marketplace 1-Click or EC2 console.
- Select t4g.small or larger. Ensure your security group allows inbound SSH (port 22) from your IP.
- Connect via SSH: ssh -i your-key.pem ec2-user@<public-ip> Or use SSM Session Manager from the EC2 console (no SSH key required).
Resources
Vendor resources
Support
Vendor support
Email support for this AMI is available through the following: https://clearscale.com/clearimages/support OR clearimages-support@clearscale.com
AWS infrastructure support
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
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Customer reviews
reviewer2856162
Hardened, fast-launching base image that streamlined our Kubernetes node deployments
Reviewed on Jun 14, 2026
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is running containerized Kubernetes workloads on EC2. We use the image as the base for our Kubernetes worker and control-plane nodes, hosting backend microservices, internal APIs, and CI/CD build agents that require a stable, secure, and consistently configured Linux platform.
How has it helped my organization?
It has reduced the time spent on node hardening and patching before workloads can be deployed. Because the image ships CIS Level 1 hardened with the SSM agent pre-installed and IMDSv2 enforced, our Kubernetes nodes come up audit-ready without a manual hardening pass, which has improved deployment consistency and reduced configuration drift across our clusters.
Predictable, repeatable EC2 launches have lowered our operational overhead and increased our confidence when scaling node groups.
What is most valuable?
The CIS Level 1 hardening applied by default is the most valuable feature. Root SSH is disabled, password authentication is off, UFW with default-deny is implemented, and MaxAuthTries is reduced to give us a secure baseline out of the box.
The pre-installed AWS Systems Manager (SSM) agent is also valuable because it lets us manage nodes through Session Manager without a bastion host or SSH keys. Removing snapd and stripping unnecessary packages reduces the attack surface and keeps the image lean, which matters for Kubernetes nodes where we want a minimal host footprint.
What needs improvement?
More published documentation around the exact CIS controls applied and how to layer additional Kubernetes-specific hardening, such as kubelet and CIS Kubernetes benchmark, on top would be helpful.
A minimal or slim variant tuned specifically for container hosts and clearer release notes per version would also be welcome. Out-of-the-box monitoring and observability integration could be expanded.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used the ClearScale-hardened image for around 1 year and Red Hat Enterprise Linux overall for over 5 years.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used the stock Red Hat Enterprise Linux AMI and applied our own hardening with configuration management. We switched to the ClearScale image to get a pre-hardened, CIS-aligned baseline maintained by the vendor, which removed the burden of writing and maintaining our own hardening playbooks for every node.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The per-hour software charge is modest and should be weighed against the engineering time saved on hardening, patching, and compliance work. For teams running Kubernetes at scale, evaluating the total cost of ownership rather than the hourly rate alone is important.
The time saved on audit preparation and node maintenance generally justifies it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated the stock Red Hat Enterprise Linux AMI with in-house hardening, and rebuilding our own golden image internally before selecting the ClearScale-hardened image.
What other advice do I have?
I advise validating your application and Kubernetes component compatibility against the hardened defaults early. It is important to confirm firewall rules allow your cluster's required ports since UFW ships with default-deny. Once that is configured, the image is a solid, low-maintenance foundation for production Kubernetes nodes.
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
reviewer2855640
Robust security and consistent operations have supported reliable enterprise workloads
Reviewed on Jun 11, 2026
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is hosting enterprise web applications, backend services, containerized workloads, and cloud-based infrastructure that require a stable, secure, and supported Linux platform.
How has it helped my organization?
The platform has improved system reliability, security, and operational consistency across our infrastructure. The enterprise-grade support and predictable release cycle have helped reduce maintenance overhead and improve confidence when deploying critical workloads.
What is most valuable?
There are strong security features, including SELinux and timely security updates. It offers excellent stability for production workloads and compatibility with enterprise software and cloud platforms. Podman and container tooling are beneficial for modern application deployment. The long-term support lifecycle simplifies infrastructure planning.
What needs improvement?
The initial setup and configuration process can be complex for teams without prior Red Hat experience. Some administrative tools could be more intuitive, and documentation for newer features could be expanded. There is room for enhanced automation and provisioning tools, more built-in cloud cost optimization capabilities, improved monitoring and observability integrations out of the box, and additional AI-assisted system administration features.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using ClearScale Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 for approximately 6 months in both development and production environments.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Ubuntu Server. We switched to Red Hat Enterprise Linux because we required a more standardized enterprise platform with commercial support, longer support lifecycles, and stronger compliance capabilities.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
While the subscription cost is higher than community Linux distributions, organizations should evaluate the total cost of ownership rather than the license price alone. The support, security updates, and enterprise ecosystem can justify the investment for business-critical workloads.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Ubuntu Server, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server before selecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
What other advice do I have?
ClearScale Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 is a solid choice for organizations that prioritize stability, security, and enterprise support. I recommend planning the migration carefully, validating application compatibility early, and taking advantage of automation tools to maximize operational efficiency.