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Mahendra Andhale - PeerSpot reviewer
Test Manager at Happiest Minds Technologies
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Jun 28, 2025
Offers good security and community support
Pros and Cons
  • "It's usually not that difficult; it's a couple of hours of work, and if any difficulties arise, it doesn't take long because we have a good community online to find solutions."
  • "Some libraries supported by others, such as Oracle, are not supported by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Especially in terms of Java, as now Java is with Oracle, if the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system could align with those libraries, it would be helpful for end-users, eliminating the need to figure out which library is causing issues."

What is our primary use case?

The main use cases were certifying our product with this OS platform, installing our product on this platform, and identifying the challenges we face, such as memory leak issues or OS-level issues, such as some libraries not being supportive, permission-related issues, or glitches due to different folder structures because the paths vary from Windows. Developers mostly keep Windows in mind as they have Windows laptops for the development environment.

What is most valuable?

Most of the time, we only certify our product with this OS. We perform most of the operations related to that only, leaving very little chance to explore features. However, as I read the news and newsletter from the Red Hat side, there are a good number of features, such as server editions, that can be really helpful.

System roles are helpful because we can achieve security through them. This is a good feature, as we can restrict permissions and policies with their help. 

What needs improvement?

When interacting with terminals, most of the errors can be a bit complicated for humans to read. If they used more user-friendly error messages, it would help people understand quickly. 

There are also a few changes needed at the library level. Some libraries supported by others, such as Oracle, are not supported by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Especially in terms of Java, as now Java is with Oracle, if the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system could align with those libraries, it would be helpful for end-users, eliminating the need to figure out which library is causing issues.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Linux solutions for four to five years.

Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
903,118 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

How are customer service and support?

We create a ticket when we contact Red Hat support, but most of the time, we are able to find solutions through the community. The support is good from both Oracle and Red Hat. I would rate their support an eight out of ten.

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

I have tried Oracle Linux and SUSE Linux, and we've explored different versions. It depends on the customer's requirement and whatever platform the customer is comfortable with; we have to certify our product with that.

There are multiple factors that led to our decision to move to Linux: pricing is one of the biggest factors, then security because Linux is more secure than Windows. Performance is another reason since malware programs do not run directly on Linux. Additionally, the command prompt is always faster than GUI mode.

When it comes to learning, it's all about perception because most people carry their perceptions from their college days. If someone is new or a fresher joining the industry, they have their own perceptions in mind. They often feel comfortable with Windows because most colleges provide Windows machines, but once they get hands-on experience with Linux systems, they start preferring Linux over Windows.

How was the initial setup?

I haven't seen many complications with the initial setup of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) because whenever we provide a build or our product, we have a readme file with all the steps included. It's usually not that difficult. It's a couple of hours of work, and if any difficulties arise, it doesn't take long because we have a good community online to find solutions.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2753127 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a government with 10,001+ employees
Consultant
Top 20
Sep 1, 2025
Improving security and usability with strong support and comprehensive training
Pros and Cons
  • "RHEL has addressed key pain points related to security and usability, making it one of the strongest platforms from a service-level perspective."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has significantly improved our organization by providing a stable, secure, and standardized operating environment for our applications."
  • "From a hands-on experience perspective, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could be improved in terms of user experience and ease of adoption, especially for teams that are still building their knowledge of the platform."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is hosting enterprise applications that rely heavily on databases and middleware technologies. 

The platform supports both application hosting and large-scale data collection, enabling us to manage and process significant volumes of data efficiently. RHEL provides the stability and reliability required for running these critical workloads in our environment.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has significantly improved our organization by providing a stable, secure, and standardized operating environment for our applications. 

Its reliability has reduced downtime and improved performance consistency across workloads. 

The strong security features and regular patching process have enhanced our compliance posture and reduced operational risk. 

In addition, the scalability of RHEL allows us to support growing data collection and application hosting needs without major infrastructure challenges. 

Overall, RHEL has helped streamline system management, improve efficiency, and provide a solid foundation for our critical business operations.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for us are its robust security capabilities, stability, and enterprise-grade support. These features ensure that our production environment remains secure and reliable, which directly reduces operational risks. 

I have been involved in several Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) upgrades and migrations, both on-premises and in the cloud. In my experience, RHEL’s built-in security features greatly simplify risk reduction and compliance management. Our team works closely with the security group on daily scans and vulnerability reports, and RHEL enables us to address findings quickly by streamlining patching and updates. This process has proven reliable, allowing us to remediate vulnerabilities and apply fixes in a timely manner.

RHEL has also helped us mitigate downtime and reduce risks during system changes. While I personally prefer replacing production systems with thoroughly tested builds in lower environments rather than in-place upgrades, RHEL provides the flexibility and stability needed to support both approaches.

One of the key differences compared to other platforms is the reliance on command-line operations. While Windows environments tend to emphasize GUI-based management, RHEL encourages working directly in the CLI. This has been a positive shift for our team, as we continue to expand skills across both Linux commands and PowerShell.

RHEL consistently provides the stability, support, and knowledge base required to keep mission-critical systems running smoothly. With excellent vendor support and strong documentation, it fully meets our enterprise needs.

Additionally, RHEL has addressed key pain points related to security and usability, making it one of the strongest platforms from a service-level perspective. We have also recommended RHEL to clients, particularly in cases where migrations from CentOS are required, as it provides a trusted and stable foundation for critical workloads.

What needs improvement?

From a hands-on experience perspective, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could be improved in terms of user experience and ease of adoption, especially for teams that are still building their knowledge of the platform. Enhanced usability tools, more intuitive configuration options, and improved documentation or guided workflows would help reduce the learning curve.

For future releases, additional features such as built-in automation templates, more advanced monitoring dashboards, and tighter integration with hybrid cloud environments would further increase productivity and make system management more efficient.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for approximately two years. Our adoption began with multiple environments, and it has since become the standard platform for our current operations.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is extremely stable and well-suited for production workloads. We have run hundreds of instances across a wide range of applications, and the operating system consistently delivers reliable performance with minimal downtime. Its predictable update and patching process, combined with strong vendor support, ensures that our critical systems remain secure and available. 

Overall, RHEL provides the stability we need to confidently support mission-critical operations.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales very effectively across both on-premises and cloud environments. We run hundreds of instances supporting diverse applications, and the platform has consistently handled growth without major performance issues. 

Its flexibility in supporting small workloads as well as large, mission-critical deployments makes it a reliable choice for enterprise scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Our experience with Red Hat customer service and support has been excellent. Support teams are responsive, knowledgeable, and provide clear guidance for troubleshooting and resolving issues.

How would you rate customer service and support?

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) was moderately complex due to the need to configure multiple services, integrate with existing databases and middleware, and ensure security compliance from the start. However, the clear documentation, enterprise support, and guided best practices provided by Red Hat made the process manageable. 

Once the initial environment was established, ongoing configuration and scaling have been straightforward, allowing us to reliably deploy and manage production workloads.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) was carried out by our in-house team. Our staff handled the installation, configuration, and integration with existing systems, leveraging Red Hat’s documentation and support resources.

What was our ROI?

The ROI of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is reflected in reduced downtime, improved system security, and streamlined operations. By providing a stable, supported platform, RHEL minimizes operational risks and resource overhead while enabling faster deployments and easier maintenance.

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

The subscription model is cost-effective, as it provides enterprise licensing and also includes access to Red Hat support and training resources. This combination has improved our team’s knowledge of RHEL features and enabled us to adopt new capabilities with confidence.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?


What other advice do I have?

I would confidently rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a ten out of ten for its reliability, security, and enterprise support.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
903,118 professionals have used our research since 2012.
MOHAMMAD SANAULAH - PeerSpot reviewer
Corporate Linux and Backup Administrator at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5
Jul 15, 2025
Ensures high uptime and robust security and has a good knowledge base
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat provides support for a variety of file systems, making it easy to create and manage them, and the knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is excellent, giving access to all documents online free of cost with even a single subscription."
  • "SUSE offers more flexibility in managing multiple environments, as their product can manage Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). However, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Satellite server can only patch Red Hat and CentOS, not Ubuntu or SUSE."

What is our primary use case?

The main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are all application-based; it's an enterprise-level OS based on open source. There are many applications. We are using it for Oracle databases and applications which need more security and flexibility. 

What is most valuable?

Red Hat provides support for a variety of file systems, making it easy to create and manage them. It also allows for straightforward management of volume groups. Although we have not used it for our client, Red Hat offers services such as Satellite service for online patching and automated patching, among other features.

The knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is excellent. If you have an account created with even a single subscription, you get access to all documents available online free of cost. 

From the security perspective, IP tables are very important for firewall protection and network communication. While these features exist in other Linux distributions, the implementation in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is particularly robust.

Regular patching rollouts and immediate bug fixes help maintain compliance with cyber security requirements. 

What needs improvement?

All major Linux distributions should have common commands, which would make it easier for users to understand and remember. Each flavor has their own native tools and features, which can be confusing when managing multiple flavors in a single environment.

Documentation is comprehensive and available in one place on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) portal, but connection and integration could be better with more out-of-the-box connectors. 

Recently, I came across something interesting regarding the management of multiple environments. SUSE offers more flexibility in managing multiple environments, as their product can manage Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). However, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Satellite server can only patch Red Hat and CentOS, not Ubuntu or SUSE. Cross platform support should be implemented in their product.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for almost 15 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It helps to mitigate downtime and lowers risk. Most environments have very high uptime values with Linux machines. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) rarely crashes or has issues. All the security features are very good in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

The documentation clearly explains what each patching or update will do to your environment, and whether it is required. When asking for support, even for informational purposes, they provide detailed information about whether it is required for your environment, including bug fixes and CVEs reported by local cyber security personnel.

How are customer service and support?

The business value of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) compared to other Linux distributors is their strong support process. While we haven't worked much with other flavors, we are satisfied with Red Hat support. Their technical expertise is excellent, especially for premium support. They helped us solve critical issues, such as when we had a file system corruption in a production environment that we couldn't mount or fix without their support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

There are other options such as Ubuntu, SUSE, and Oracle Linux. It depends on requirements. Some application vendors want to go with Ubuntu, so we have to provision Ubuntu. Some want to have SUSE. SUSE is used less frequently, but mostly people are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Ubuntu here.

Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux distribution. While all belong to the Linux category, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is more mature and flexible but costlier in terms of support. Ubuntu is less costly but has a different system administration approach due to being Debian-based. SUSE has more inclination towards ERP systems, with most SAP environments running on it.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operates in a vast environment with multiple products including Ansible, containers, and OpenShift. System administration is straightforward in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) because people are more familiar with these open source tools and commands. There is extensive online documentation and free versions available, making administration preferred by most administrators.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is very straightforward. Even someone with minimal experience can follow the documentation and install it.

What was our ROI?

It brings ROI and measurable benefits. When support is needed for issues such as security vulnerabilities, ransomware protection, or bug fixes, Red Hat will resolve system downtime issues.

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

The licensing cost for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is comparable to SUSE for premium support. For approximately $2,000 per year, you can get premium support for one subscription which allows you to run two VMs.

What other advice do I have?

I have not tried the Leap or Red Hat Insights feature because we currently work with standalone systems. For image builder and system roles, we can get the recovery system built with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) tools, which are very good and handy for recovery.

Since most systems are based on VMs in private cloud or hypervisors, it's straightforward to take snapshots for any changes on Linux. If something goes wrong, reverting the snapshot is simple.

My advice to other organizations considering Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that while other enterprise Linux distributions such as SUSE and Ubuntu are good in their respective areas, they should have cross-environment support for products, especially for patching, centralized monitoring, and user management.

Based on my experience, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Ahmed Shamil - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at InfoTech Business Solutions
Real User
Top 10
May 22, 2025
Built-in security features and comprehensive support streamline user management
Pros and Cons
  • "It makes my system more secure, which is another important point since no one can have direct access."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped me mitigate downtime and lower risks by about 80%."
  • "Unfortunately, any MasterCard or Visa card from Iraq is blocked by Red Hat."
  • "Unfortunately, any MasterCard or Visa card from Iraq is blocked by Red Hat. The Red Hat website works for Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, VMware, etc., and we can purchase learning and vouchers. With Red Hat, it's blocked, so I have to travel to Dubai to buy it outside the country."

What is our primary use case?

My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are for the core banking systems. It is a much more stable OS than other competitor operating systems, especially with Databases.
Most banks in Iraq use Linux, whether it is free like CentOS for a UAT environment or enterprise like Red Hat.

What is most valuable?

The Red Hat Satellite makes my life much easier when it comes to managing my Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems for provisioning and patching. Before few years ago, each server had to have internet access to make updates or deployments. After joining the Satellite, it's just one push, and all the patching is done. And all the datacentres prohibit having external access. So we can create a local repository at our Red Hat Satellite and then push it to other servers, with the option of choosing a specific version to push for all servers.

Furthermore, the IDM, which is FreeIPA, is great. I appreciate how it makes the management much easier for me, even when managing more than 500 users same time. Like when someone leaves the company or someone joins, it's easier for me to onboard or respond to other things. It makes my system more secure by monitoring all the user's activity, which is another important point since no one can have direct access to the server without being authenticated and authorised by the IDM.

The Red Hat Satellite makes my life much easier when it comes to managing my Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems for provisioning and patching. At first, we had to access each server to make updates or deployments. After joining the Satellite, it's just one push, and all the patching is done. All this distribution also helps us as we use it on-prem, and all the data centers prohibit external access. So we can create a local registry at our Red Hat Satellite and then push it to other servers without issues regarding version changes.

I am a big fan of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) built-in security features, which simplify risk reduction and maintaining compliance, and I would just say we achieve 99% success. I remember a few years ago when there was a zero-day attack. Red Hat was the fastest company to respond. We found out about it at six o'clock PM, and the next day at eight AM, they had some fixes and pushed updates. So we could respond directly and implement the fixes. Any security breach with Red Hat, I do not want to speak about others, since we face worse responses from other companies.

My upgrade or migration plans to stay current involve understanding the concept of OpenShift, which has not yet become very popular in Iraq. I try to keep pushing the client to understand the concept of containers and other things. It will take some time, however, it's a good feature to move ahead with OpenShift containerization. Even with the Central Bank regulation, we have to remain on-prem, thus OpenShift supports this point and offers a flexible solution. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped me mitigate downtime and lower risks by about 80%.

I am a big fan of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) built-in security features, which simplify risk reduction and maintaining compliance, and I would just say we achieve 90% success. I remember a few years ago when there was a zero-day attack. Red Hat was the fastest company to respond. They had some fixes and pushed updates in few hours from discovering the security breach. So we could respond directly and implement the fixes. I don't like to mention the other competitors, since we face worse responses from other companies.

My upgrade or migration plans to stay current involve understanding the concept of OpenShift, which has not yet become very popular in Iraq. I try to keep pushing the client to understand the concept of containers and other things. It will take some time, however, it's a good feature to move ahead with OpenShift containerization. Even with the Central Bank of Iraq regulation, we have to remain on-prem, thus OpenShift supports this point and offers a flexible solution. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped me mitigate downtime and lower risks by about 80%.

What needs improvement?

I can't pinpoint something specific to improve Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). I feel they are doing good. I haven't thought much about what they could enhance to become even better for me.

Currently, I manage an issue not related to the OS. It's more about how to purchase vouchers or training from them. Unfortunately, any MasterCard or Visa card issued by a bank inside Iraq is blocked by Red Hat without a clear reason.

While other vendors like Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, VMware, Veeam, Nutanix, etc., we can purchase learning and vouchers directly without any issue. Only Red Hat it's blocked, so to solve this, I have to travel to Dubai and buy it outside the country. This is a significant issue for me and all Red Haters in Iraq, and that's why I also develop myself with non-official content and stopped pursuing their certification since I must travel each time I need it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for about six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Regarding stability and reliability, I didn't face any issues with that. It's 99%. Any issue I face with it is due to some mistake from a colleague or something pushed the wrong script, yet I haven't faced a sudden crash.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales to my company's growing needs very effectively; I didn't face any issues with scalability. Before working in my current company (Red Hat partner), I was a work at a payment gateway company. And we made a successful story by scaling out our datacenter and migrating the version from 6 to 8 without any major issues. Also, we did clustering with Enterprise Linux and other things, and all scalability was good, just requires specific knowledge. That said, it's manageable.

How are customer service and support?

In my six years working with Red Hat, I only remember opening cases three times since the technical documentation on the Red Hat site is so comprehensive that if you carefully check it, you often won't need further assistance.

The support itself is satisfactory, and they solved my issues. They understood my concerns about the side effects of some changes, however, and they were perfect in their response.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I did consider other solutions before or while using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), including Ubuntu, CentOS, and Debian. I am a big fan of Red Hat. This is why I will always choose them. When you love something that much, you just stick with it. That's why I will consistently recommend it to clients as a Red Hat partner.

How was the initial setup?

For the first time, it was a little bit complicated. However, once you know how it works, it's very easy.

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

My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) it's a little bit higher. I suggest that if they could make the price more affordable, it would be great. Some clients are just startups and when opening a budget with Red Hat, it doesn't cover what they need. Perhaps they could create a specific version for startup companies or offer discounts for first-time users.

What other advice do I have?

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

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partnership
PeerSpot user
reviewer2708205 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
May 22, 2025
Built-in security features streamline compliance and vulnerability management
Pros and Cons
  • "RHEL and the Linux architecture system are easier to work with for our program maintenance and updates."
  • "The customer service is amazing."
  • "When we tried it last week, we found it challenging to automate things using Ansible."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 discontinued support for X11 and started support for Wayland. All of our machines run on X11 window manager, which creates a huge issue in our transition."

What is our primary use case?

We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as the operating system on our systems. Everything is built on it.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps us solve pain points. It keeps us easily compliant from my perspective with security compliance and streamlines everything in a multi-system environment.

The OpenSCAP vulnerability scanner is what I appreciate most about RHEL. We benefit from that tool specifically due to the fact that RHEL is under the recommended operating system mandate. Through that, they have their security requirements, and RHEL's OpenSCAP vulnerability scanner is a really good automatic scanner to scan for cybersecurity vulnerabilities in our system. The way it produces reports is really nice and it's better than the old vulnerability scanner that our system used.

My assessment of RHEL's built-in security features for simplifying risk reduction and maintaining compliance centers around OpenSCAP. It's better than any other tool I've seen. I've seen two or three other ones. It is really streamlined and nice. It feels professional when using the product.

When it comes to managing our Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems for provisioning and patching, our software team handles it efficiently. We maintain a close connection with our Red Hat account managers and representatives who are extremely helpful with any Linux or Red Hat level issues.

RHEL and the Linux architecture system are easier to work with for our program maintenance and updates. Given our 30-year-old product, making current updates would be almost impossible on Solaris. The maintenance and updates for today's requirements can really only be executed with a Linux architecture, making it essential for our operations.

What needs improvement?

One of our current issues is that Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 10 discontinued support for X11 and started support for Wayland. All of our machines run on X11 window manager, which creates a huge issue in our transition. Red Hat is working with us on this matter.

There's a high barrier to entry for getting into Ansible and automating things on a system level from my perspective. When we tried it last week, we found it challenging to automate things using Ansible.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been at my company for two years now. The entire time has been heavily involved with using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been able to scale to meet the needs of my company and its growth. I credit that to the Linux architecture that can scale to our requirements. We have a unique configuration. That said, my company primarily runs on Linux, and it has scaled very effectively.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service is amazing. The accessibility of the support team and their responsiveness is consistently impressive. 

I would rate the customer service and technical support as nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We were previously on Solaris before switching our in-house systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7. We actually skipped RHEL 8 and are transitioning from RHEL 7 to RHEL 9. We are not yet on RHEL 10.

How was the initial setup?

We have had issues with deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux. I'm actually really focused in on one of our current issues where Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 discontinued support for X11. All of our machines run on X11 Window Manager. And that's a huge issue that we're transitioning. It totally breaks everything we have, and we're working with Red Hat to figure that out. It's nice they're working with us. Yeah. However, it is a big problem during our transition.

What was our ROI?

Regarding the security features and vulnerability scanner with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), we have not yet seen a return on investment as we haven't proposed it to the organization. We are currently working on scanning and fixing vulnerabilities. We are confident the the organization will be pleased with our improved compliance using the RHEL scanner, which should lead to a return on investment.

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

I don't have much insight into the pricing, setup costs, and licensing. I know we are licensed and have maintained a good relationship with our account manager.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

While using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as our operating system, we do consider other solutions for specific features. We have alternatives available for various tools, however, we prefer to default to Red Hat since it's the organization-wide preferred operating system. In the past two years, we have been increasingly transitioning to RHEL tools.

What other advice do I have?

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

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Senior Director at a media company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
May 21, 2025
Security and reliability boost confidence and support growth strategies
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me solve pain points related to reliability, stability, and security mainly."
  • "The stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been excellent for us; aside from a couple of upgrade challenges, we generally don't face any issues during a normal business day."
  • "One of the suggestions I have for improving Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is finding better solutions around domain authentication, as we are facing several issues with our current methods."

What is our primary use case?

My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are mainly all of our business applications, as they all run on RHEL.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me solve pain points related to reliability, stability, and security, mainly. 

Feature-wise, what I appreciate the most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is security; it's much more secure, and I don't have to patch it that much. For us, security is a very key aspect of our operations, especially since we are even more security-conscious due to what happened with us in the past, so having Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in our environment makes us much more confident. When we deploy new applications, it's RHEL by default; we don't even consider another operating system right now since it keeps our environment secure and our business stable.

Security requirements are always a consideration in choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for the cloud since it is much more secure than other operating systems and has a proven track record of being compliant and secure for many years.

When it comes to managing my Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems for provisioning and patching, it's about 50% manual and 50% automated, and we are currently starting a project with Ansible to fully automate it end-to-end. Right now, it's all semi-automated, and we want to make it fully automated.

For us, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) supports our hybrid cloud strategy mainly through seamless migrations from on-premise to cloud, which has been really helpful. Frankly, we don't use the knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that much; our team prefers to get help from Red Hat support directly.

What needs improvement?

One of the suggestions I have for improving Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is finding better solutions around domain authentication, as we are facing several issues with our current methods.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been excellent for us; aside from a couple of upgrade challenges, we generally don't face any issues during a normal business day.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales with my company's growing needs, as we are increasing our footprint in both on-premise and cloud, with all new deployments on Linux without any scaling issues.

How are customer service and support?

In terms of customer service and technical support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), it has been good in general, although we have recently faced some challenges around domain authentication where support is lacking. 

At this point, I would rate customer service and technical support a solid eight out of ten due to recent issues; I would have given a nine otherwise.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

We deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) both in the cloud and on-premise.

The deployment has been great. I've never had any issues either patching or upgrading it. We are right now on Red Hat 9. I saw that Red Hat 10 has been announced. Our team has been able to manage the entire life cycle from starting at Red Hat 4 until now. It has not been a problem at all.

I am involved in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) upgrades all the time; we are currently in the process of upgrading from Red Hat 8 to 9 for all of our environments. Upgrading Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has its challenges; we had a couple of hiccups in a couple of cases. Overall, about 95% of the use cases have been issue-free, with just 5% of cases occasionally encountering problems.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment for me when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) comes from security, as we experience fewer incidents, more stability, and less business impact, without outages resulting in revenue loss.

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

My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been good; the licensing isn't very expensive compared to other products we're using.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

While using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), we still consider other solutions as we do have other operating systems, however, for business-critical applications, we usually prioritize RHEL.

What other advice do I have?

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

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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reviewer2757639 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Dev at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Oct 19, 2025
Commands and packages have supported automation through shell scripting and cron job management
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales very well with the growing needs of my organization, and within on-prem, it's very easy to scale it, so we've never had any problems."

    What is our primary use case?

    I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on and off for at least 10 years, as I've changed many companies. My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are mostly on the server-side for deployment.

    What is most valuable?

    The features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I most appreciate are the inbuilt commands and the packages that come with it, which are pretty helpful for us, as we usually deal with a lot of shell scripting. These features benefit my organization by allowing us to write cron jobs and related tasks.

    What needs improvement?

    I don't have much to say about how Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been working in my current field for 20 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me solve the pain point of periodically needing to keep it updated, but apart from that, it's very stable, which is one of the best things about it. We have already expanded usage.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales very well with the growing needs of my organization, and within on-prem, it's very easy to scale it, so we've never had any problems. The process has been smooth; even on-prem, it's all automated, and we are using OpenShift, so using that software makes it very easy to scale.

    How are customer service and support?

    I evaluate customer service and technical support from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as very good; I have personally called customer support and was surprised at how easy it is to get a hold of someone. It was easy for them to come to a solution.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    Prior to adopting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), my company was using different Linux environments before moving to RHEL, although mostly the companies that I've worked in have always used Linux for deployment.

    How was the initial setup?

    The deployment model for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) includes both on-premise and cloud, as we are using OpenShift for on-prem and cloud also.

    What about the implementation team?

    We have our migration and upgrade team which manages Linux; as soon as the new, stable version of Linux becomes available, we try to update our Linux version to the latest.

    What was our ROI?

    I have seen a return on investment with the solution; in our team, we have noticed that the cost doesn't increase drastically, and it's a very stable product, although this is not my domain since mine is very specific, mostly development.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Before selecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), my company considered different Linux environments, as I have worked in Fedora, Red Hat, and Ubuntu, but I feel most companies now are adopting or going with RHEL due to its stability and better pricing; again, this is not my domain, I can just surmise.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice to other organizations considering Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is to go for it, as it's a pretty stable product. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) overall around an 8.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    Last updated: Oct 19, 2025
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    Presiyan Rusinov - PeerSpot reviewer
    Linux system administrator at BICS
    Real User
    Top 20
    Sep 1, 2025
    Administer Linux servers efficiently for three years with fewer outages
    Pros and Cons
    • "Since using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) instead of Ubuntu, my organization has seen more stability in our infrastructure."
    • "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."

    What is our primary use case?

    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.

    What is most valuable?

    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).

    What needs improvement?

    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.

    For how long have I used the solution?

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

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    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.

    How are customer service and support?

    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.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

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

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

    What was our ROI?

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

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

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

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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

    What other advice do I have?

    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.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Technology Leader at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Top 20
    May 21, 2025
    Innovative support and extensive knowledge improve service and minimize downtime
    Pros and Cons
    • "What I appreciate the most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the innovation; it constantly drives the need to go faster."
    • "I am not sure how Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved."
    • "To achieve a perfect score, we need more focus on version management."

    What is our primary use case?

    My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include working with applications such as Middleware and databases to provide services to different technologies, including Middleware, databases, and applications such as SAP, while managing these in my company.

    How has it helped my organization?

    The innovation benefits my company by providing good support through Insights, which offers comprehensive vulnerability scanning.

    What is most valuable?

    What I appreciate the most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the innovation; it constantly drives the need to go faster. 

    The TAM support is excellent with weekly meetings where the representative has extensive knowledge, allowing us to resolve all questions. 

    The software consistently releases new versions with features and ensures stability compared to other systems, such as Ubuntu.

    We have reduced downtime issues from patching by 30% over the past year, thanks to our TAM who provided a testing site where we can check patching in our test environment first, allowing us to find any issues before they reach production and thereby minimizing impact.

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me solve pain points due to their good support team, which usually has quick access to information, resulting in minimal downtime when problems arise. You only need to call, and they can provide a solution, often found in the Knowledge Base on the internet and web page.

    What needs improvement?

    I am not sure how Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for 20 years.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales effectively with the growing needs of my company due to our global contract, which allows for more VMs than we initially anticipated, ensuring we receive the necessary licenses.

    How are customer service and support?

    My experience with Red Hat's technical support and customer service is positive; they have good support, always trying to find solutions and understanding my requirements, which is important for me.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    In the past, we considered other Linux OS solutions, specifically demoing with Canonical, however, it was not suitable for us.

    How was the initial setup?

    I find the deployment of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) easy. We automate everything in one pipeline, so you only need to execute that pipeline and in a few minutes, you have your new server.

    What was our ROI?

    From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the meantime to repair issues; with good support, our downtime is practically nothing, which is a significant return for us.

    What other advice do I have?

    The innovation benefits my company by providing good support through Insights, which offers a good scan of vulnerabilities, and the TAM support is excellent with weekly meetings where the representative has extensive knowledge, allowing us to resolve all questions. 

    I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) eight out of ten.

    To achieve a perfect score, we need more focus on version management.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Other
    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Senior Infrastructure Systems Administrator at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Top 20
    May 20, 2025
    Efficiently manage data growth with seamless partition and storage expansion
    Pros and Cons
    • "I would describe my experience with deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as very easy."
    • "I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a ten out of ten overall."
    • "The only improvement I can think of for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that I'm unsure how their migration tool works to go to the next version. I've heard people say it doesn't work properly."
    • "If the migration process was seamless without backing up data and restoring data, that would probably be the biggest improvement, as managing over 3,400 servers manually is quite substantial."

    What is our primary use case?

    My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) involve running a lot of applications that run on Linux, as my company is more Linux-based than Windows, so we prefer Linux over Windows.

    What is most valuable?

    The feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I appreciate the most is the logical volume feature as it's so easy to increase partitions and disk space. This logical volume feature benefits my company as sometimes we have a client whose data storage needs are unknown at the outset, allowing us to start small. As things increase, we can easily increase it without taking the server down, and we can do it seamlessly while the server is online.

    One of the pain points that Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me solve is security, as RHEL is more secure than Windows. I have migrated from RHEL 6 to RHEL 7 to RHEL 8 to RHEL 9, however, it's just been a manual install; while Red Hat has a tool to use for migrations, I've never used that and have just reloaded to the new version. The upgrade wasn't bad at all; it was actually a smooth upgrade.

    When it comes to managing my Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems for provisioning and patching, I use Ansible Tower, and I'm very satisfied with that. It allows me to schedule jobs and go to sleep while looking at the email in the morning. That's a very effective and efficient product for me.

    My upgrade or migration plans to stay current involve starting eventually, especially since I work in the government world, where we use their tools to harden the system. When those tools are available, we'll start looking to migrate to the next version of Red Hat. When those tools are ready, we'll start putting RHEL 10 into our development environment to start testing.

    What needs improvement?

    The only improvement I can think of for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that I'm unsure how their migration tool works to go to the next version. I've heard people say it doesn't work properly, however, I haven't looked at it myself. If the migration process was seamless without backing up data and restoring data, that would probably be the biggest improvement, as managing over 3,400 servers manually is quite substantial.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) since 2002.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    RHEL it is very stable and very reliable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales effectively with the growing needs of my company, as all our developers can develop code and software on a Linux-based system using RHEL without any complaints about functionality.

    How are customer service and support?

    Their support is fairly good, as they work to resolve issues, though sometimes it takes a while due to time zone differences affecting ticket responses. 

    I submit tickets that might get answered early morning, and I only reply once I get to work, which causes some delays. However, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) support is great, as they go beyond their duty to help resolve issues and provide solutions even for third-party software such as XRDP.

    I would rate Red Hat's customer service and technical support an eight out of ten.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    When I first started, it wasn't really my choice to make. I originally used CentOS. Ansible is the best product when it comes to Linux.

    How was the initial setup?

    I would describe my experience with deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as very easy, as I use a kickstart file to deploy an OS in about ten to 15 minutes, and Ansible is another very significant feature that Red Hat provides to accomplish many tasks quickly across multiple servers.

    What about the implementation team?

    I'm not really sure how to assess Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)'s built-in security features in terms of simplifying, risk reduction, or maintaining compliance.

    What was our ROI?

    The biggest return on investment from using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is due to the feature Ansible, as before we started using it, I was manually updating all systems. It definitely saves me a lot of time since I can set things up in Ansible Tower and let them run without having to manually log into systems or watch processes.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We aren't currently considering another solution; we do use a little bit of Ubuntu; we prefer Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

    What other advice do I have?

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

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: June 2026
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.