I am working on a Cloud Infra project in which many analytics applications are hosted on Cloud Infra, and their applications are hosted on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

The applications are customer-facing and mainly focus on analytics regarding an automotive company.

The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) was pretty smooth, as we can subscribe the servers from the RHEL portal.

We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on both on-premises and public cloud.

One of the best features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that it is lightweight and it is the industry standard.

Whenever I start the servers, they switch on very fast compared to other Linux servers.

We can deploy clusters in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and we can scale up and scale down our infrastructure with the help of the RHEL server.

The subscription model and vendor support are also good. We can subscribe our servers to RHEL so that we can get the packages installed for our project-related dependencies.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has positively impacted my organization. The speed of the applications has improved after deploying them on RHEL.

Whenever we face an issue and need to reboot the server, it comes up very fast compared to other servers, and it has improved the latency of our applications.

Time has been saved since using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and the application performance has improved after using it.

There should be some automation for patching the servers in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Patching in the sense that automatically, whatever servers we need, we can patch them using a utility present inside RHEL.

It is stable, but compared to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Ubuntu is more stable for Kubernetes and Docker-related applications. If improvements can be made in RHEL so Docker and Kubernetes-based applications can be deployed more easily, that would be great.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for the past six months.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales up very easily, and RHEL vendor support is also good; it has helped us many times.

We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) from the start; we can see that RHEL provides good vendor support and bug fixes.

Positive

We did not evaluate any other options before choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

I can see more improvements can be added to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). They provide many certifications such as RHCE and RHCSA which are very important for learning Linux, learning about automation, and deploying the servers in the cloud.

The architect-level certifications are very important. The customer support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) rates around an eight.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a great platform to learn Linux. Red Hat provides many certifications such as RHCSA, RHCE, and RHCA, which is architect level.

RHCA is an architect-level certification through which you can learn Ansible and many automation-related activities in Linux; it can help you grow your Linux knowledge as a professional in the IT industry.

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) an 8.5 out of 10.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) regularly in my current role since 2021, and I leverage RHEL for our daily Linux administrator administration tasks, orchestration tasks, patching, monitoring, and self-healing, while ensuring compliance with all security standards. From a product perspective, RHEL's robustness allows us to use Ansible, Jenkins, and ArgoCD to optimize our CI/CD processes, and we manage more than 50 clusters across five regions: Amer, Paris, Hong Kong, North Singapore, ensuring all deployments are secure. It is reliable and offers enterprise support, making it suitable for scaling workloads in both on-prem and cloud environments.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on a daily basis as a foundation for my DevOps and Kubernetes infrastructure tasks, where it stands out as a primary tool for managing clusters. I regularly monitor system administration tasks such as patching, performing OS level troubleshooting on RHEL servers, and executing kernel updates on a monthly cycle, all while leveraging automation using Ansible. For monitoring, we utilize Prometheus, Grafana, and Kibana to visualize performance metrics, health checks, and set up alerts for CPU, memory, and disk usage on RHEL nodes. Regarding container orchestration on Kubernetes, we are responsible for deploying and maintaining workload shifts on OpenShift and Kubernetes clusters, which are built on RHEL nodes to ensure stability and scalability. Thus, RHEL is a core VM for both Kubernetes and OpenShift, with OpenShift being the main focus to ensure our infrastructure is stable and ready for daily use.

The best features I have seen in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include its scalability, enterprise-grade security, and stability. It incorporates features such as SELinux, kernel live patching, and RBAC systems, making it very reliable for production environment workloads, allowing for automated cycle processes akin to Kubernetes, which can manage itself over long-term stability, demonstrating good, consistent performance along with integrated Linux support via Ansible and OpenShift. Thus, RHEL is a trustworthy platform.

Compared to other operating systems, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is specifically designed for production environments. It integrates tightly with OpenShift, Ansible, and other tools that others cannot deeply support. RHEL seamlessly works in hybrid cloud and container platforms, and in comparison to Windows, RHEL provides greater flexibility for containerization and DevOps-related tools, making it a more reliable option.

In Societe Generale, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped us maintain a secure environment across our container platforms through SELinux and kernel patching, which has directly lowered the risk of downtime and improved trust in the system. Notably, the ability to automate server patching and manage cluster upgrades has eliminated the need for manual intervention, significantly reducing errors and saving several hours of work. As a result, our team can focus on more innovative topics rather than repetitive tasks, leading to improved deployment times and increased reliability by around 20 to 25%. Overall, RHEL has made scaling applications in hybrid cloud environments much smoother, positively impacting my organization by providing a stable and secure platform.

By using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), our team saves approximately 10 hours per week on routine patching and monitoring housekeeping tasks, which allows us to focus more on innovation topics. The time saved has led to improved knowledge among the team on how to create pipelines and better support application teams, thereby positively influencing delivery timelines and productivity.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is stable and secure, but I think one area for improvement is that licensing should be automatically updated, particularly in multiple environments. Additionally, a faster GUI experience would save time, which would enhance usability.

From the suggestions for improvements, I would advocate for simplifying license management and providing a more efficient web console that can run RHEL faster. Furthermore, built-in tools for monitoring and automation should be made easier to grasp, as we create many dashboards using Grafana, which are much needed.

I have been working in my current field for more than four years.

I have only used Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and did not evaluate other options, as RHEL is very stable and designed according to its lifecycle. My consistent experience with RHEL underpins its foundation for OpenShift and Kubernetes clusters, supporting critical applications without unexpected failures, especially with Ansible handling our patching, which contributes to better stability.

From an organizational perspective, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pricing is justified for entry-level support, especially given the long lifecycle of kernel patching. Once deployed, RHEL demonstrates smooth operations that considerably reduce long-term operational costs. Utilizing RHEL with automation saves both time and money by preventing manual patching and minimizing downtime, allowing users to focus on more valuable tasks. Despite the initial setup effort, once implemented, RHEL significantly delivers savings in both money and time through automation, resulting in smoother daily operations.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) exhibits high scalability, as adding more CPU, memory, and storage to a single system is seamless within my organization, enabling applications to scale easily across on-premises clusters. I could rate its scalability between 8 to 10 on a scale, as it provides enterprise-grade stability and flexibility for workload scaling in various environments, whether they consist of a few servers or thousands. The primary area needing improvement is the speed of scaling operations.

My advice for others considering Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is to take full advantage of its automation capabilities and how the system is set up. Utilizing tools such as Ansible can save considerable time across patching, upgrades, and other administrative tasks. I recommend focusing on RHEL's scaling capabilities compared to other operating systems and highlighting the efficiency of the monitoring tools available, such as Prometheus and Grafana. Thus, I believe RHEL is an excellent choice for facilitating organizational growth and enabling smooth scaling without issues. I rate this solution 9 out of 10.

For administering Linux servers, my main use case for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is focused on day-to-day tasks.

I used Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on newly deployed on-prem VMs for the company I work for, which adds to my use case.

Stability definitely stands out to me as one of the best features Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) offers.

What makes Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)'s stability stand out for me is that I've noticed it's very error-prone, which I appreciate.

Since using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) instead of Ubuntu, my organization has seen more stability in our infrastructure.

I noticed fewer outages and less downtime as specific outcomes since we began using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

I appreciate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) the way it is right now, and I believe it can be improved but have no specific requests.

If I had to imagine one thing that could be even better about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), it would be more information in the man pages.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for three years now.

In my experience, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is indeed stable.

Scalability for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is excellent; it can easily grow with my organization's needs, making it easy to add more servers or resources as needed.

I have interacted with Red Hat's support team, and I find their customer support to be pretty much okay.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the customer support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a nine.

Positive

Before switching to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), we used Ubuntu, but we decided to make the switch because of stability.

I think Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) saved nearly 20 or 30% of our money, indicating a positive return on investment.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) was straightforward, without facing any challenges.

Before choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), we evaluated SUSE, but we preferred RHEL for its more stable ecosystem.

My advice to others looking into using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is to examine its ecosystem.

My company doesn't have a business relationship with Red Hat beyond being a customer.

I was offered a gift card or incentive for this review.

I don't have any additional thoughts about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) before we wrap up.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a ten overall.

My main use case for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is server management and cloud operations.

I use RHEL for server management and cloud operations to perform multiple tasks, such as user access management, user management, patch management, and troubleshooting.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) offers multiple features that are really accessible and stable, providing security and compliance, hybrid cloud compatibility, enterprise-grade container support, task automation through cron jobs, and an overall good platform.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has positively impacted my organization through automation, as my recent task saved a lot of time by reducing the work from months to a day using scripts developed in RHEL, thus boosting our productivity and cutting costs while empowering a skilled workforce, enabling scalable and secure infrastructure, and fueling innovation and digital transformation.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could be improved with a modernized knowledge base and documentation, better performance under high load, and possibly a reduction in the cost of the professional subscription. Apart from that, I don't see much need for improvement.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for more than five years.

In my experience, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is perfect in terms of stability.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) handles increases in users, applications, or data smoothly, which is why we use it for all our projects, as it provides us with confidence. We also use Amazon Linux, but primarily it is RHEL.

I have reached out to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) customer support multiple times, and I've found the experience amazing, as issues get resolved in a lesser time compared to Amazon AWS.

Neutral

I have majorly worked on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) only and did not use a different solution before switching.

We have seen a return on investment with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), having saved a lot of money and time due to the automation and scripting we perform, resulting in savings on man-hours as well.

I have mentioned earlier that the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could be reduced a bit, indicating a scope for improvement there.

Before choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I evaluated other options like SUSE and AIX, but I don't think any of them are better than RHEL.

We do a lot of automation using Bash scripts. In a recent task, I had about 2,500 to 3,000 EBS volumes that I needed to change from GP2 to GP3 and calculate their throughput and IOPS, which would have been impossible manually due to time constraints, but we accomplished it with a Bash script thanks to RHEL. It's really very useful.

My advice for others looking into using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that everyone working on Linux should at least give it a try because it's a great platform.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) an 8.5 out of 10.

From the start of my career, I started working on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

My work role is a network engineer and systems engineer. We manage customers' servers, which run the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system.

The servers are Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and my job role involves troubleshooting and ensuring the servers are running properly.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very good concerning security; it's much better than other Windows systems. RHEL is something I normally use command prompt with, and it's very easy to manage as a network engineer.

The Red Hat systems build in their own security features, which is unique, and it's better to use for enterprise-level customers. Most enterprise-level customers prefer RHEL to run their systems and applications.

I can work with less downtime, and if anything happens, it's very easy and direct to troubleshoot compared to other operating systems. The FAQ rules, details, and commands in the Red Hat FAQs are very helpful.

Currently, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) supports all types of integration using other systems, but it might be better if they had more documentation on the relevant integration with other apps or systems.

There can be some improvements in this area.

The solution has been in use for nine years.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is stable.

When it comes to cloud, it's easy to scale up using the AWS management tool; we can easily upgrade or downgrade the systems. However, when it comes to physical on-premises deployment, that is a different situation.

We are not using only Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). As Lumen Technologies is the largest MNC, we have all types of systems. RHEL is one of the main systems which most customers use, but we currently use other solutions as well. We didn't switch to anything exclusively.

We host web applications and websites in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) servers.

RHEL is a reliable and best operating system for users to implement.

I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a 10 out of 10.

I have completed RHCSA and RHCE certifications. In my day-to-day work, I mainly use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for basic installation of Red Hat OS, configuration, MariaDB setup, Apache setup, and cluster management.

Regarding my main use case with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), it is an open source OS which allows us to modify the system as per our requirements. It is also secure and user-friendly.

The system is user-friendly because we can use it through both CLI and GUI interfaces, which provides flexibility, and the ability to modify the OS helps me in my daily work.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has positively impacted my organization because we can check for vulnerabilities, and when we have internet access, we can directly install packages. The system provides easy access to internet resources when needed.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has potential for improvement, though currently all features are working well based on my experience. Different versions have increased security measures, which is beneficial.

Regarding needed improvements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), increasing its cloud capabilities would be beneficial. Additionally, it would be helpful if they provided direct RPM package downloads via the Red Hat site without requiring a Red Hat subscription.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for more than five to six years.

I used a different solution before Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) when I was working at SBI, where they had a Galera cluster. Sometimes servers would unexpectedly remove themselves from the cluster, which caused major issues requiring troubleshooting and node verification.

My advice to others considering Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that compared to Windows and Mac, Red Hat is very comfortable to use.

I currently use both Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS as tech products.

In my particular case, we have some development and testing environments that we run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and we currently produce specific software for financial entities that is developed and certified for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), with clients running it in production and us delivering support to those clients.

Stability and performance are what I appreciate the most about it. 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) makes it easier to manage hybrid environments because it is widely compatible with all kinds of platforms and protocols, allowing integration with various systems. It is very convenient for me since I have both on-premises installations and cloud installations. A few years ago, we transitioned several machines from baremetal systems to the cloud, and the process was very smooth. One of the advantages of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that it operates consistently across different platforms, meaning you don’t have to change your processes or tools when working with various environments. This reliability is particularly beneficial for my operations.

One improvement could be more radical removal or disabling of obsolete, non-secure features, specifically regarding hardening the system. While I'm not sure if this is different on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 10, my team has installed the first one today.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for 10 years now, and I have been working with Red Hat as an older brand for about 25 years.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very stable, and I don't recall the last time we had an issue that was not caused by a user.

The scalability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very good because it allows changes to be introduced on the fly without having to reboot machines, and it is very stable. We have reached a maturity level in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that is very efficient, giving us a lot of confidence in the product.

I haven't contacted technical support or customer support regarding Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in the last few years.

Neutral

While not exactly comparable, we also work with AIX from IBM as another platform, which is currently provided by the same group because IBM owns Red Hat. I have worked in previous years with other Linux distributions, such as Debian, Ubuntu, and Slackware, although I haven't worked with them for a while.

I have a very strong empathy for open-source systems, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) runs on an open-source kernel, which I appreciate because it allows for innovation and development of the system itself based on collaboration from different inputs. AIX is more closed with its own benefits, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) runs on more platforms, while AIX is IBM-based.

Deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is easy. It isn't a complex process right now, and there is a lot of documentation and information available to support them during that process.

The patching process is currently stable and very efficient, with frequent and scheduled releases that allow us to plan how we roll them out on our side. We have a scheduled patching process every month, even if there isn't anything to do. There are usually updates available, and we also have monitoring features that ensure the system is healthy and working properly, so we don't require live monitoring by a user, just some occasional cleanup in terms of logs and environment since it's mainly a development and test setup.

When you have your own systems on-premises, defining a lifecycle means needing to replace hardware, storage, and acquire equipment beforehand, whereas in the cloud, you don't have to do that because you pay as you use. This makes it easier to acquire new VMs on the cloud and install new images, moving from old machines to new ones without needing to get rid of old physical machines, thus making the cloud more flexible in the lifecycle perspective.

The business value of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) compared to other Linux distributions lies in the full set of systems and services it offers. While I haven't used the service support in recent years due to having a mature team that can solve problems, the support from Red Hat gives us great confidence in the software's quality, patching, and continuous development.

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a 9 out of 10.

It depends on the company environment and client environment. Currently, we are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for application deployment and server management, and sometimes we use it for DB deployment also.

We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for learning purposes for new things in Red Hat technology.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) offers a very easy-to-use experience in the Linux environment apart from any other flavors, and it's a very easy, systematic structure that provides easy support from Red Hat if any complex issue arises, which is the best point of RHEL, along with its affordable subscription model.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) saves time, saves money, and it's very easy for automation purposes; we support third-party tools for automation, so it's very beneficial.

I see a return on investment from using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) because patching is very easy; it supports third-party tools such as BMC or BigFix, so it's very time-saving for patching and performing any operation to fetch data from multiple servers.

To improve Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), they have to provide a playground for their OS for free or for some time, or they have to provide OpenShift multitenant clusters for improving skills in Red Hat technologies and in RHEL also, which will be very easy for a growing career in technology and providing support in an organization.

They have to make it easier to raise a ticket for Red Hat. Currently, when we raise a ticket, they show multiple options, so they should provide a direct option for raising the support cases.

They should provide patches on a quarterly basis instead of monthly, as patching every month makes it a burden on us.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) since my career started in 2020.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is stable. In my last five years of experience, I haven't encountered any stability issues when everything is done properly.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has good scalability, and with the RHEL OpenShift tool, we use the scale up and scale down features.

Customer support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very quick and provides support on call. It's easier to get support from RHEL compared to other enterprises such as IBM.

Positive

We did everything manually before Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), but since working with RHEL, we use automation, which saves time and costs.

I am not aware of billing, but for the setup of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), it's very easy because we directly get a golden image and replicate to make a new machine, so it can be set up in very little time.

Before choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I evaluated other options such as CentOS, Rocky Linux, and Ubuntu. However, RHEL is an enterprise OS that provides multiple features and support, with a very systematic structure.

The Ansible tool is very nice, and currently, they have released OpenShift, which is also a very nice product provided by Red Hat.

I would advise others looking into using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that if they don't have budget issues, they should go for RHEL; otherwise, they can consider AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux, which are also open-source products.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a very nice Linux distribution that provides quick support, and in my last five years in the corporate world, I found it to be a very good OS, but they should lower their charges for mid-scale and startup companies in countries such as India, Bhutan, and Nepal, as they can't afford that much amount in dollars.

On a scale from one to ten, I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a ten.

We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux to host web applications written in the Java programming language, along with an Apache server. We deploy applications using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for both internal and external customers. Additionally, we utilize Red Hat Linux to host our Oracle database.

It provides us with long-term stability, meaning we often don't have to reboot servers for months. This contrasts with Windows, where we typically have to reboot every week. Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers long-term stability and security, allowing for prolonged periods without reboots. Moreover, the Linux operating system is regularly patched, ensuring a secure environment. We receive timely updates from Red Hat whenever there is a new patch available.

Security requirements were significant consideration in choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux. As a bank, security and performance are our top two priorities. We are promptly notified by Red Hat whenever any zero-day security vulnerabilities or loopholes are discovered. This allows us to quickly inform our team and make decisions on whether to apply patches immediately or to wait. We prefer not to experience any downtime during the week, so we typically wait until Saturday to perform any necessary shutdowns for patching. For some patches, Red Hat offers hot patching, which means we don't have to shut down our servers. This allows us to apply patches while the servers are still running, minimizing downtime.

Multithreaded environment is a standout feature. It enables Java to execute multiple workloads simultaneously, which speeds up processes. Instead of executing tasks sequentially, we can handle them in parallel. It allows us to deliver more code execution in the same period through parallel execution, providing real-time benefits. We can monitor our progress in real time.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved, particularly in the documentation side. 

I would also suggest improving performance and allowing the OS to be run on Intel and optimized for Intel as well as AMD CPUs. Improving compatibility with hardware is also important so that we can run on any hardware. 

Additionally, we would appreciate Red Hat offering a built-in monitoring solution so that we don't have to depend on third-party tools such as Dynatrace and others. Better integration with built-in solutions would increase reliability on Red Hat.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for over ten years.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux has indeed helped us mitigate downtime and lower risks. We can run for months without needing to reboot, which contributes to its stability.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales efficiently with the growing needs of our company because we have a recovery time objective. We have Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) installed in our primary data center as well as in the disaster recovery data center. When we do a failover and fail back, it meets the timing that we specify.

If we run into issues, such as OS-level issues, we raise Internet tickets with the Red Hat team. We have a dedicated account manager who helps track the ticket status to ensure it is resolved within a timely manner.

I would rate them an eight out of ten because sometimes we get very experienced people. They resolve issues quickly, but sometimes we get a junior person, so there is a different level of response. They can offer a consistent level of service. Rather than mix junior and senior engineers in the same team, and just give us more senior engineers.

Positive

Our overall experience deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been positive. However, we sometimes encounter challenges with documentation, as it may not always be up-to-date. There are occasions when our OS version is ahead of the corresponding documentation. We patch our OS, and that version may be newer than what the documentation reflects. This can lead to inconsistencies, so we often request that they refresh their documentation to ensure it is in sync with the OS. On the plus side, another benefit is that there are many online discussion forums available due to its wide usage, where we can seek answers if we encounter issues.

We operate on-premises due to regulations and compliance requirements, as we are a bank. We handle many personally identifiable sensitive information, which we cannot deploy to the cloud, so everything is hosted on our servers.

We host Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on our servers and use VMware to virtualize them. On a single physical server, we can run three or four virtual servers. This approach enhances server utilization and allows us to manage more workloads on the same hardware.

I've participated in upgrades from version 6 to 7, 7 to 8, and 8 to 9. The only issues we encountered were related to the Samba file-sharing system, where we had to uninstall and reinstall it instead of migrating directly. This was frustrating because we expected everything to be backwards compatible. Additionally, we faced challenges when upgrading from version 6; we couldn't jump directly to version 9 and had to go through intermediate versions, which was a pain point for us. We wish we could upgrade from version 6 to 9 directly instead of having to go from 6 to 7, then 7 to 8, and finally 8 to 9.

Regarding our upgrade or migration plans, we recently migrated to version 9, which is a long-term service version. We plan to stick with version 9 for the next year or so.

The biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that it's a very stable overall operating system and is really optimized for running Java-based workloads, meaning we can get more workloads done. This stability gives us a consistent performance which translates into a strong SLA service level agreement.

We receive volume licensing as part of our IBM relationship. We use many IBM servers, so we get a volume discount. We tend to go through a value-added reseller to secure that volume discount.

In India, we prefer Red Hat because it offers the industry-leading container platform, Open Shift. As a result, we are gradually transitioning away from VMware and exploring other options to better meet our needs.

I would recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) if you're looking for a very stable operating system and if you happen to run Java-based workloads and you want high performance, high stability, and high availability. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been around for more than 20 years, and you're looking for an excellent track record. If a bank can trust Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I'm sure that all other industries can trust it because we require the most stable, secure platforms. 

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are on the infrastructure side, including patching, building, engineering, administration, and a little bit of everything.

The feature I appreciate the most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is its installation, which includes numerous capabilities. The installation process, especially when automating tasks, provides great satisfaction when it works. These features benefit my company because they enable tasks to be completed quickly.

I cannot identify specific improvements needed for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) at this time. We are currently using version 9.6, and it is performing satisfactorily. I would need to work with it daily to provide specific feedback. However, the documentation could be more user-friendly and comprehensive. Instead of simply stating procedures, it should provide more detailed explanations through multiple layers of implementation. The documentation could be simplified for beginners who are unfamiliar with the system. In our organization, we write our own documentation to address these needs.

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) along with CentOS throughout this period.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me address vulnerabilities, particularly high CVEs with scores of 10 and nine. The build-out capabilities are beneficial, and Ansible integration works effectively with RHEL.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales very effectively to meet my company's needs.

The customer service and technical support are good, though they have declined in quality compared to previous standards. Currently, support often responds by sending PDF documentation, and scheduling direct calls can be challenging.

Security requirements were a key consideration in choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) due to its ease of use, robust security features, and comprehensive experience and support. Support availability was particularly important among these factors.

From my perspective, the biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been its excellent performance and issue resolution capabilities.

I am not considering alternative solutions to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) at this time due to our current three-year contract commitment.

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a 9 out of 10 and advise other companies considering RHEL to proceed with implementation. They should complete their customer assessment and work with Red Hat representatives. The solution is highly recommended, despite minor support-related concerns.