Reliable, Secure, and Enterprise-Ready
What do you like best about the product?
I appreciate that Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the market leader for Linux operating systems. It's reliable, flexible, and cost-effective. I find it strong in security and suitable for enterprise-grade applications, making it a great replacement for some legacy Unix systems. The initial setup is rather easy, and one of the benefits is that it's based on open source, which makes it more customizable and user-friendly.
What do you dislike about the product?
Since Red Hat Enterprise Linux is now owned by IBM after its acquisition, there are concerns about its cost effectiveness, the freedom of open source development, and the quality of customer support.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux for enterprise applications, solving issues from support functions to cybersecurity management. It's reliable, flexible, cost-effective, and strong in security, suitable for enterprise applications and replacing legacy Unix systems. It's customizable and user-friendly due to its open-source base.
Mature, Stable, and Security-First: RHEL Keeps Surprises Out of Prod
What do you like best about the product?
See, I'm more into ethical hacking and security stuff so for that the only distro I primarily used is redhat. RHEL doesn’t chase shiny features. It ships mature, well-understood components. That means fewer surprise attack surfaces and fewer “oops, upstream broke prod” moments. Most distros ship SELinux and tell you to disable it. RHEL treats it as a first-class citizen.
What do you dislike about the product?
As a security guy, I dislike RHEL because it’s overly conservative. Backported patches complicate vuln validation, packages are outdated, SELinux is painful to manage, and the locked subscription model slows labs and automation. Great for defense, frustrating for real security testing.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
RHEL solves the problem of running secure, stable systems at scale without surprises. It gives me predictable patching, long-term support, strong defaults like SELinux, and built-in compliance alignment, so I spend less time firefighting and more time actually improving security. The benefit to me is simple: fewer production incidents, cleaner audits, and an OS I can trust to stay hardened and stable over time.
Best OS for Performance, Security, and Stability
What do you like best about the product?
This is the best OS we have used. We have been ensured its performance, security and stablity. The os is fast enough while performing complex task. Strong Product documentation and Community.
What do you dislike about the product?
It is abit strict while working in its code. The cost and its subscription management seems to be complex. It takes some time to learn to operate, but once it done its very easy to manage.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
its opensource, portable and stable, secure OS to use. Easy to setup and easy to integration with other product.
Automation has reduced downtime and supports reliable zero‑disruption deployments
What is our primary use case?
I am currently working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as I administer a lot of Kubernetes clusters installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I use it as an operating system for our platform which powers all our company's software, mostly for Kubernetes or for IBM BPM or IBM PEL.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a robust operating system, and I believe it is much better than Windows. I work with Windows and Ubuntu, but Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the best distribution I have worked with.
The knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is excellent. Red Hat documentation is the most valuable documentation in the market.
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I think the most time-saving aspects come from Red Hat Ansible because we use Ansible to automate many tasks and repetitive tasks on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Windows. Ansible automation and the Ansible automation platform are the most valuable products that save us time and money.
Overall, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me save time through automation using Ansible. For OpenShift, the core of containers saves time by automating the DevOps processes using the Red Hat pipeline built into OpenShift, Tekton, and source-to-image build. All of this saves us time.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps to mitigate downtime and lower risks for me, as most of my work is with OpenShift which enables us to do a zero downtime deployment. The deployment is done without any downtime. Red Hat OpenShift is a stable system. Red Hat OpenShift and Linux are very stable and the downtimes are very minimal.
What needs improvement?
I think Red Hat needs to implement more AI features in the operating system or Red Hat OpenShift.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for about 14 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very stable. The product is very stable and very mature. All issues are documented in documentation or in the support portal and support knowledge base. When I have an issue, I primarily search the knowledge base and the support portal and find the solution. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a very secure operating system, and they provide security patching every month.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I find Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scalable.
How are customer service and support?
We have many cases where Red Hat helped us with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or OpenShift, and their support is great. On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the best, I would rate the tech support a nine.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Most enterprises work on Linux, and as I am a DevOps and platform engineer, most of our systems run Linux, including Kubernetes, OpenShift, and the DevOps pipeline, all working on Linux. This is why I switched to Linux.
How was the initial setup?
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the setup is very straightforward. OpenShift is a little complex, but once you do it once, you will master it.
What about the implementation team?
I performed the deployment all by myself.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When it comes to our business value, most of our customers are enterprise-grade customers from banking and government sectors, and they prefer to use an enterprise-grade operating system, not Ubuntu or CentOS. Additionally, in many cases, we need enterprise support from Red Hat as Ubuntu does not provide this.
Exceptional Reliability and Support for Enterprise Workloads
What do you like best about the product?
This is one of the best Linux distributions, offering regular updates and security patches that make it highly reliable. The support from the Linux team is excellent, and the Redhat community consistently provides outstanding assistance. In our experience, this system has managed our production workloads smoothly, with very few outages resulting from the regular upgrades performed by Redhat. This reliability has increased our confidence in using it within our enterprise environment, where we run important enterprise applications such as open source databases and Kubernetes services.
What do you dislike about the product?
Overall, migrating users from different operating systems, such as Windows servers or various Linux distributions like Ubuntu and OpenSuse, can be quite challenging.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We can host various databases on different RHEL versions and run our enterprise applications, including open source password safe servers, without issues. These virtual machines also interact seamlessly with other services, such as cloud-native Kubernetes solutions like AKS and PaaS databases.
RHEL: The Ultimate Enterprise OS
What do you like best about the product?
RHEL, is the best OS for enterprise use,
What do you dislike about the product?
log level, easy upgradeation like green/blue
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
OS and vertialisation
Using robust security and detailed documentation has improved our enterprise operations
What is our primary use case?
I use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and we have a couple of customers using OpenShift, the Kubernetes platform based on Red Hat, and also Red Hat Virtualization. My first contact with the Linux platform was with Red Hat.
What is most valuable?
The best features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are its stability and the RPM, Red Hat Package Manager, which is perfect. They also deliver Satellite, a platform for updates. It is a very robust, excellent platform.
For me, and for every Linux distribution, the most important security feature in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is SELinux. Security is often misunderstood by others. SELinux is very important because it provides security for the kernel. Many people disable SELinux, but it is the most important and most misunderstood feature. People do not understand it. The updates and SELinux are very important to me. SELinux is very good, but it is complex, and I have seen many administrators disable it because instead of helping them, it causes trouble. For example, securing my NGINX configuration is a pain. It is a very good security option, but I would say it is excellent only if one is an expert.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) documentation is very good and very complete. Regardless of my opinion about the IBM acquisition, the documentation is excellent.
What needs improvement?
IBM committed two major mistakes with Red Hat. The first was destroying the CentOS project, which was a fork of Red Hat. The second was limiting the use of free options and restricting hardware to support Red Hat on just some limited hardware. One can use the system for free, but the statement is not entirely true because it is limited to a couple of virtual processors and I do not remember if it was 24 or 16 GB of RAM. If one goes beyond that configuration, one has to pay, and IBM is IBM. Many companies were in trouble because from one day to the next, IBM said they would no longer support CentOS and told them to move to another distribution. People had to migrate, and for that reason, there are Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, and other Linux distributions that are trying to rise and taking advantage of that situation. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is just for corporate companies with money to waste on licensing.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very expensive. In the case of our customers, the couple of customers with OpenShift, they have enough money to license Red Hat. They bundle Red Hat with virtualization and OpenShift packages. However, it is not suitable for an SMB company. It is not payable or affordable. For me, it is very expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a lot, though I do not remember the exact frequency.
How are customer service and support?
I have worked with Red Hat support, and it is very good because they have very good engineers. In Latin America, during my time, the support in Spanish was mostly provided by engineers from Argentina. In Colombia, I have worked with a couple of engineers from Colombia, and they were very good. I have not worked with support in English for Red Hat, only in Spanish with those engineers.
What other advice do I have?
My first Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) certification, Red Hat Certified Engineer, was for version 6, which was approximately 12 to 15 years ago.
I have tried Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Image Builder and System Roles, and it is pretty good.
I would rate the support at an eight out of ten. My overall rating for this product is ten out of ten.
RHEL - Reliable, Secure, and Resource-Efficient Server Solution
What do you like best about the product?
It is more reliable and stable and secure as compared to Windows server or other os in production or client server enviournment.It works smoothly with low hardware resource.It has lots of builtin tools and services for server management.
What do you dislike about the product?
There is no much graphical interface as compared to windows server.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Provide graphical interface.
Effortless to Use with Top-Notch Security
What do you like best about the product?
Easy to use and more security purpose we use
What do you dislike about the product?
Operational license is more when compared
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Best operation
Improved cloud backups and security have transformed how our team builds and manages servers
What is our primary use case?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is used primarily to build AWS servers. A specific example of how RHEL is used to build AWS servers involves purchasing licenses from third-party vendors like REL and also from AWS. Once an AMI is obtained from the Marketplace, the AMI is customized by injecting all organization standards.
After internal tools have been built on the AMI, that AMI is used to build AWS servers.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has positively impacted the organization by helping track everything, such as how many users have access to the server, which is easy to monitor. RHEL also offers better options for downloading repositories easily, and the ability to stripe the EBS volumes has allowed for pulling more IOPS and throughput.
The impact on the team and organization has been significant, as it has helped improve application performance and backup performance. Since AWS backend is used for backups, RHEL striping has proven very useful.
By using RHEL striping, throughput and IOPS have increased, which reduced the backup completion time from fifteen to sixteen hours to just fifteen to sixteen minutes. The main reason is the backend and the striping implemented for EC2 instances.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) offers several valuable features, including being secure and standard, and making whatever commands are executed easier to manage. When security and standardization are considered, no other person can access those RHEL servers.
Another good aspect is that whatever is downloaded comes from the repository, and every command is tracked, including the person who entered the command. Tracking on RHEL AMIs and OS standardization is very effective.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps mitigate downtime and lower risks by using the Pacemaker role for high availability. The primary and secondary systems are managed by the Pacemaker role, which helps reduce downtime for applications.
What needs improvement?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could be improved by including a better app stream module experience or simply phasing out modules in favor of straightforward version repos. Red Hat could also integrate more common tools directly or integrate EPEL more seamlessly. Additionally, enabling AI-based operational tuning for kernel parameters, file system parameters, and network stack optimization could enhance the experience.
Regarding needed improvements, simplifying the subscription and licensing would help reduce complexity in subscription management. Clear visibility of consumption and unused subscriptions and compliance is also important.
For how long have I used the solution?
Seven years of experience have been accumulated in the current field.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) offers great scalability and supports very large memory.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support received is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been the only solution used, and no switch from any other solution has occurred.
In comparing the business value of RHEL to other Linux distributions, no other Linux distributions have been used; only Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been utilized.
How was the initial setup?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems are managed with a dedicated cloud support team that handles provisioning and monthly patching. Additionally, focus is placed on security hardening and optimizing it with cloud-init, instance tuning, and subscription activation.
What about the implementation team?
Image Builder has been used, but the AMIs are not built personally. A dedicated support team handles the building of the AMIs.
What was our ROI?
A return on investment has been seen, as it has saved a tremendous amount of time.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps save time; for example, the Pacemaker role facilitates faster task completion, and it optimizes backup processes.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing, the pricing is good; however, licensing is a bit confusing.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for others looking into using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is to be aware that subscriptions can be challenging to manage. When a server reboots, the subscription goes to open, which can lead to others consuming the subscription, creating a challenge regarding the subscription and licensing part.
Security requirements were a significant consideration in choosing RHEL in the cloud because it is not open source and is highly secure.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is assessed as having a better knowledge base offered through its tuning capabilities. By better tuning, the documentation is referred to, which helps in day-to-day work.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) entitlement management can be confusing, as converting systems between subscription modes is not straightforward.
I would rate this review a nine out of ten.