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Reviews from AWS customer

75 AWS reviews

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1,139 reviews
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    Jason Dew

A rock-solid, scalable OS that allows you to do things that you want

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

What is our primary use case?

We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for running various things. We have a lot of virtual machines. The applications that are running on it are a bunch of shell scripts for processing orders, marketing campaigns, generating reports, or running some Java applications.

How has it helped my organization?

We have the customization capability. We can easily customize it, and we can also automate and deploy it. I have a command line interface. I am a command line junkie, and I am able to use that, config files, and Ansible to be able to easily figure out what I need to do to automate things. It feels like I know what it is doing and how to make it do what I want. I do not have to weave some magical arcane hack the way I have to do in Windows.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has enabled us to centralize development in a lot of ways. We have it hooked in through our GitHub. We are trying to combine where we are storing things and then have a standard way of how we are deploying things and have some standard configurations. With every single server, we do not have to worry about how to set this up because we are doing the same thing the same way. We can just do it across the board, and then we only have to worry about the interesting parts.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux's built-in security features are great for risk reduction, business continuity, and maintaining compliance. There are published CVEs, and there is SELinux, which I do not use and I always turn it off. Firewalls and tooling around that make it easy to use. The automation on top of that makes it easy to configure. With a push of a button, it is done.

We do not have to worry too much about portability. We are coming from Oracle Linux. We were primarily an Oracle Linux shop, and because that is based on it, it just works. We have not had any issues.

What is most valuable?

The fact that it is Linux is valuable. Why I like it in general is that I know what it is doing. I can figure out what it is doing, and I can make it do what I want. I am not delving into arcane registry things.

What needs improvement?

I am still trying to figure out the features it has. There is so much that it can do. What it does really well is that it allows you to do things.

For how long have I used the solution?

It was probably 2008 when I first started using it. The company was using Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and I was with the internal help desk supporting the Linux side.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Its stability is great. It is stable and rock-solid.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Its scalability is also great. It does not matter if the host is beefy or not. It is just going to run on it, and it is going to handle the work. Whether you have a couple of cores or 64 cores, it is just going to do it.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is good. There is good responsiveness. They quickly get me to the person who knows the answer, but I have not used them much.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We were using Oracle Linux. We are switching because of some of the things. Oracle licensing has been a point of frustration. Their support is comparably difficult to work with, and the support documentation is a mess.

Red Hat is so much easier to navigate. It has been overall a much more pleasant experience to work with Red Hat.

How was the initial setup?

We are using it on-prem, and then our cloud is a Kubernetes cluster on AWS, so it is basically on-prem.

Our deployment model is a manual kickstart with Ansible for configuration. My experience with deployment is good. I kickstart it and then hit it with Ansible, and it is done. It is very easy.

What about the implementation team?

I did the deployment on my own.

What was our ROI?

We have not yet seen an ROI. It has not been in for long enough. There are no savings in terms of manhours because the actual day-to-day usage remains the same with Oracle Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. However, getting some of the metrics with Red Hat Insights is going to be helpful as we get into a better patching cycle. I am anticipating an easier life.

We are expecting an overall decline in the costs because of the differences between the Red Hat licensing and Oracle licensing. We are expecting a net decrease in overall cost. For using it, other than the license, there is no cost.

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

The setup cost is non-existent. With licensing, there was a little snafu because I misread something. There was a slight learning curve because we use virtual data center licensing. We had to understand how it all maps. We had to understand how that mapping works when the hypervisors are Red Hat or VMware. There is a slight learning curve, but it worked out. It ends up being easy.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did not evaluate other options mainly because I have had experience with it before. From my prior experience, I already knew what I wanted.

What other advice do I have?

We are trying to use Red Hat Insights. I need to finish updating the playbooks to hook our host. We are in the midst of transitioning from Oracle Linux to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. I have not fully hooked everything in, but we will be using Red Hat Insights.

We just started using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for containerization projects. We have not yet seen any impact of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on containerization projects.

If a colleague is looking at open-source, cloud-based operating systems for Linux instead of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, a lot of it would depend on their use case, what they are going to need for it, and whether they have an enterprise environment. There is a cost associated with it which can be a downside. I am an open-source lover. I do not like paying for stuff, but I get it. They need to look at the cost, and if the cost is prohibitive, they need to look at something that is compatible and as similar as possible.

Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a nine out of ten. I generally do not give out a ten. There needs to be something spectacular for a ten, so that is my personal bias against the top of the scale.


    reviewer2399652

Reliable, stable upgrades, and good support

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We have Red Hat Enterprise Linux for our staging and development environments. We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for our production servers. It is the only Linux operating system that we are using in our company. I do not think we will change it. We will stay with it.

How has it helped my organization?

We started with CentOS, so it is quite similar. We have various features, and it is stable. The updates and upgrades are stable. This is the most important thing for my company. We are a gambling company. Reliability and performance are the most important for us. We like to press the update button and have an updated operating system after one, two, three, or five minutes. The most important thing about Red Hat Enterprise Linux is that it is a stable operating system.

We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for containerization projects. Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Docker daemons have been running for years without any problems. It is very stable. We are happy with it.

Every time we did an update or upgrade for the operating system or some dependencies, it worked well. It was very fast and stable. We are not afraid to press the button. We are happy with it.

The portability of applications and containers built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux keeps our organization agile. We are running some Docker applications. They are not our production applications. We are running some containers. It is very quite easy.

We use Red Hat Insights, and we are happy with Red Hat Insights in urgent situations due to security issues, noncompliant settings, or unpatched systems.

Red Hat Insights provides us with vulnerability alerts and targeted guidance. We have not had any problems.

What is most valuable?

It is a very stable operating system. We are not afraid to upgrade it.

If I want GUI, its GUI is better than other open-source operating systems. I prefer it for package management for sure. I am happy with it.

What needs improvement?

At the moment, I am happy with it. I cannot think of any areas for improvement. We have everything. The biggest challenge that we had was the migration from CentOS to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but after some tests, it was easy.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for almost two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. We plan to increase its usage.

How are customer service and support?

We are partners of Red Hat. We have support, so we are good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We were using CentOS. The architect in my company chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux because we were already partners with Red Hat.

How was the initial setup?

We are mostly on-prem. We are trying to migrate our applications to the cloud. We are using Azure Cloud.

The main data center that we have is in Ireland, but we are serving a lot of countries. We have small data centers for some countries. We have 2,000 VMs in Ireland, and we also have VMs in other countries. We have almost five data centers. We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux in all of them.

Migration from CentOS to Red Hat Enterprise Linux was a big challenge, but Red Hat had software to migrate and convert all CentOS VMs to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It was an adventure in the beginning, but after some tests, it was easy. We migrated and converted almost 2,000 VMs in two to three months, and we had only ten cases where the migration failed, but it was our fault. We were happy.

For migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, we created a template and made the changes that we wanted. We ran some Ansible Playbooks, and we created the VMs.

What about the implementation team?

We used a consultant from Red Hat the first time.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other solutions.

What other advice do I have?

To a colleague who is looking at open-source, cloud-based operating systems for Linux instead of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, I would advise going for Red Hat Enterprise Linux because of support. There would be someone who already knows about your issue and can help you in a couple of hours. There is no need to spend time fixing the issue by yourself. Imagine running Ubuntu and having a production issue. You need someone to guide you.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has not enabled us to centralize development. Our company is based on the .NET language. Our developers do not care about our infrastructure. They develop their applications, and we deploy them in OpenShift. We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for other services, such as MongoDB, Postgres, and our logging infrastructure. We use it for Elasticsearch, Graylog, and Docker services. Our applications do not run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. They are running on CoreOS for OpenShift.

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a ten out of ten. It is stable. We are not afraid to upgrade it. We are happy to use it. This operating system is for us.


    Tim J.

RHEL makes things easy to get your tasks done effeciently

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
The abilty to rollout images and upgrades, scripting and OS admin is very easy to learn and improve on.
What do you dislike about the product?
None that I can think off. Thank you. Its been a pleasure
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I dont have to run windows systems


    Higher Education

Using RHEL 9

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
The most helpful thing about RHEL so far is the stability. I haven't had any system crashes or app lockups since I've been using it. The install process was pretty easy.
What do you dislike about the product?
It's really locked down security wise compared to Windows. It's hard to accomplish simple things like renaming files using the GUI. As an IT administrator I often have to work on system files and it would be nice to just be able to sign in as an administrator and not have to type my password in every time I need to make a change to a sytem file.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We are using it as a web server for our knowledge base product. It has been working smoothly.


    Cor Kujit

Offers stability and long-term support

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We mainly use RPM-based systems to give our developers virtual machines.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of using RHEL for us are the standard way to run Linux and tools like NetworkManager. They make things easier for us.

What needs improvement?

I prefer a product that offers everything in a yearly subscription, like VMware, and I think RHEL should consider offering it as well.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using RHEL for 15 years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is good.

How was the initial setup?

We use RHEL deployed in different zones, only on-premise, not in the cloud. Deploying RHEL depends on the end user, but migrations aren't usually a problem due to site forwards. The hardest part is dealing with end-user applications on the machines. We use Ansible for scripting, especially with Oracle. Sometimes, meeting the end of life for RHEL versions is tough, and we have had to buy extended support for RHE because some applications reached the end of life within a year. I appreciate the extended support option, though I prefer not to use it.

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

RHEL's pricing and licensing are quite expensive. For a big company, paying these fees might be manageable, but as a government organization, spending tax money on such expensive solutions is challenging, even though we do have the funds.

What other advice do I have?

I see benefits in using RHEL because it offers stability and long-term support. Although we use both RHEL and Ubuntu, I have noticed that updates in Ubuntu can change things unexpectedly within a main release, which I don't like. That is why I focus on RHEL for its consistent and reliable updates.

RHEL's built-in security features are very good for risk reduction, business continuity, and maintaining compliance. We apply security guidelines in Linux using RHEL, which provides all the necessary baselines. We can choose and apply what we need directly to our RHEL systems.

I would say that open-source cloud-based operating systems like Debian are stable and have been around for a long time. There is a whole community supporting it, making it a strong alternative to RHEL with fewer licensing costs.

Overall, I would rate RHEL as a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises


    Phillip D.

RHEL Rules

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
Great support, active community, opensource, and good training. I can geat everything done with speed.
What do you dislike about the product?
Sometimes the diferent GUI's cause confusion for users
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
RHEL being the host is just making management easier


    Fine Art

RHEL

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
The support and engagement from Red Hat. Also the stability.
What do you dislike about the product?
I do not like Satellite for OS Patches. 5
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It is our general use OS of choice.


    reviewer2399628

Extremely reliable and improves support for container management within our organization

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use RHEL for data analysis servers supporting our scientific researchers, who access the systems remotely.

What is most valuable?

The reliability and long support lifespan of RHEL are crucial for us. It lasts for ten years, meaning we don't need frequent changes. Updates are quick, simple, and reliable, automatically backing out if issues arise, saving us from patching headaches.

What needs improvement?

I'm eager to see how the AI features in RHEL can enhance our capabilities. We hope it will improve tasks we have found challenging in the past, like documentation searches. We are particularly interested in automation and easily finding information.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using RHEL for 15 years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

RHEL is scalable. We have scaled our data analysis clusters with it quite well.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate the customer support as a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

Deploying RHEL for the first time was simple. It was a long time ago, and we had documentation from previous admins which made it straightforward. We did the deployment on our own.

What was our ROI?

We have seen ROI with RHEL. Our biggest investment is in professional development through Red Hat Summit, online training, and a Red Hat Learning subscription, which we have used for courses.

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

Our experience with RHEL pricing and setup costs has been good. We will be purchasing an extended license for another year.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have used RHEL since I joined my company about 15 years ago. We have looked at other options like Fedora and Ubuntu for more up-to-date libraries, but we keep coming back to RHEL for its reliability and long-term support.

What other advice do I have?

Using RHEL for containers has simplified our processes. While we, as system managers, aren't heavily involved in development, we provide RHEL containers for our developers. Overall, it has improved support for container management within our organization.

We rely on Linux for our web and file servers to ensure file integrity and service verification. Additionally, we use the host firewall regularly on all our hosts for enhanced security.

We started agile development and containers help us by making it easier for developers to teardown and recreate environments. This allows for more frequent updates, improving our workflow.

Our Red Hat portfolio reduced our cost of ownership by using RHEL Workstation instead of full server licenses where possible, saving money. We use full RHEL only on our enterprise production servers.

I would advise a colleague to check out Red Hat for its long-term support and reliability compared to other open-source Linux-based operating systems.

Overall, I would rate RHEL as a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises


    David L.

RHEL Lifecycle Management

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
We use RHEL for everything. The Red Hat team has been a partner with us throughout our entire journey from datacenters to cloud.
What do you dislike about the product?
Lack of integration between the tools to support and run RHEL. We'd love for Satellitte, Insights, In Place Upgrades, and Image Builder to be a more opionated and integrated suite of tools. Rather than a disparate group of tools that needs a consulting team to stitch together. It impacts our ability to manage and deploy RHEL at scale.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Providing a common platform all our users.


    Andrew e.

I have been using RHEL since version 4 and I love it.

  • May 09, 2024
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
Red hat linux in my opinion is one of the best operating systems out there in the terms of scalability and maintenance.
What do you dislike about the product?
with the addition of Network Manager in the newer versions it took away the ability to easily edit the config files.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We are leaning toward ansible to assist in our day to day activities.