Our primary use case involves running custom applications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We mainly deploy it on-premises, with applications and custom-made solutions running on RHEL for our customers.
Senior Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Custom applications smoothly run on an extensively supported platform
Pros and Cons
- "Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) nine out of ten."
- "The technical support from Red Hat could be rated six out of ten because of the slow response times."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features include the classical operating system features, extensive community support, and the integration of open-source with enterprise support. Our customers often choose Red Hat because they receive support for open-source software, which is a major reason for its use.
What needs improvement?
I am not sure what needs improvement as our customers haven't shared any specific feedback. Perhaps some minor enhancements like a more user-friendly knowledge base and faster technical support could be beneficial.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for over ten years, with a recent focus on it in the last few months.
Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
October 2026
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2026.
918,169 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I find that Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is highly stable, and I would rate its stability nine or ten out of ten. It is a fully enterprise-grade operating system, and stability is crucial for our customers.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very scalable, and I would rate its scalability at nine or ten. Scalability is vital for our customers as they often expand their infrastructure.
How are customer service and support?
While the technical support could be faster, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) community service is excellent. The technical support from Red Hat could be rated six out of ten because of the slow response times.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very easy and straightforward. I didn't experience any problems during the setup process, similar to other operating systems.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment process depends on customer specifications. After discussing and agreeing on the specifications, we proceed with the deployment. We guide customers and provide recommendations as needed.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I do not have specific knowledge about pricing as I am not a seller. The price varies depending on the customer and the project. Therefore, I cannot provide an exact evaluation of pricing.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) nine out of ten. The knowledge base could be improved to be more user-friendly as it currently requires getting used to.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. integrator
System administrator at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Extensible integration enhances open-source projects while addressing hypervisor compatibility
Pros and Cons
- "Automation makes compliance a lot easier."
- "We have encountered compatibility issues with certain hypervisors, mainly with RHEL six hosts on the newer versions of FoxMox."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution primarily for simulation and CAD solutions. It serves as the main use for our operating systems.
How has it helped my organization?
The openness of the operating system makes auditing a lot easier, plus the tools for auditing make that a lot easier to maintain.
Automation makes compliance a lot easier.
The knowledge gained from using the system completely makes troubleshooting easier and increases the knowledge pool in the company.
What is most valuable?
The extendibility of the solution and its openness, along with its integration with all of our other open-source projects, are highly valuable.
We appreciate that it is one of the few enterprise-enabled Linux operating systems we can use.
It is very extensible, which aids as our needs change.
What needs improvement?
We have encountered compatibility issues with certain hypervisors, mainly with Red Hat Enterprise Linux six hosts on the newer versions of FoxMox.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for over ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution has performed really well for our business-critical applications and is very stable. I have no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very extensible, adapting perfectly as our needs change.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is very helpful and insightful. I would rate it very well, approximately an eight on a scale of one to ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What was our ROI?
The biggest return on investment is the knowledge gained by using the system. The access we have to the operating system increases user involvement and facilitates troubleshooting, thus expanding the company's knowledge pool.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing and licensing are reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
For non-business critical applications, a third-party Linux OS may suffice, however, for something running 24/7, it is advisable to go for stability 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?
Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
October 2026
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2026.
918,169 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior System Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
The built-in security features are excellent
Pros and Cons
- "I like open source and prefer it over some closed proprietary software. In my early days, I was involved in the open-source community of the Red Hat Directory Server, communicating with developers to ensure password policies were implemented and asking questions. It showed me the power of open source."
- "I'm happy with the value RHEL delivers, but there's always room to improve."
What is our primary use case?
We are a telco company hosting internal applications on the OpenShift platform. It's for general IT workloads, such as backend systems for billing. We are also using it for containerization projects.
How has it helped my organization?
With an open-source solution, there is no vendor lock-in at the OS layer, so it's more flexible. I am happy with the value Red Hat delivers, so we don't see a reason to change that.
What is most valuable?
I like open source and prefer it over some closed proprietary software. In my early days, I was involved in the open-source community of the Red Hat Directory Server, communicating with developers to ensure password policies were implemented and asking questions. It showed me the power of open source.
While the built-in security features are excellent, we don't use all of them. It has many available capabilities, but it's not always up to the infrastructure people to decide what to use for security.
What needs improvement?
I'm happy with the value Red Hat Enterprise Linux delivers, but there's always room to improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for almost twenty years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I've never heard of any issues with Red Hat Enterprise Linux's performance on business-critical workloads. If there is a problem, it's mostly on the application layer, not the operating system.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has native containerization, so it can scale. It uses open-source technology and has Kubernetes underneath, which gives you the scaling you need. .
How are customer service and support?
I rate Red Hat support seven out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have been a Red Hat customer for over a year, and we are happy with the value it delivers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't know the exact pricing. Red Hat's subscription model is cost-effective because you pay as you go, which is better than paying upfront high license costs.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux eight out of 10. If you plan to implement Red Hat Enterprise Linux, make sure you get a vendor who can deliver and support it correctly.
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.
Platform architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Has a centralized development with a secure, standardized environment
Pros and Cons
- "RHEL performs quite well for business-critical applications."
- "Better comparisons between different stack providers in pricing and functionalities could help, especially since public clouds often appear less expensive during planning but are more costly in practice."
What is our primary use case?
We run IT and telco workloads and applications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helped us centralize development. We use a complete ecosystem of Red Hat for end-to-end development, deployment, and operations.
Centralizing development is achieved as we have clearly defined platforms to host applications, like OpenShift.
Additionally, the ACS on top of containers scans to ensure they are compliant, reducing vulnerabilities within our software.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides a standardized environment with Kubernetes and good support behind it. The end-to-end delivery for developing, testing, and deploying containers in the same ecosystem is a very valuable feature.
The built-in security features are fine, we don't receive complaints about them.
What needs improvement?
One area for improvement is dealing with specifics developed by Red Hat Enterprise Linux that are now end of life. We have to remediate these changes, which is a disadvantage.
Additionally, better comparisons between different stack providers in pricing and functionalities could help, especially since public clouds often appear less expensive during planning but are more costly in practice.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Red Hat Enterprise Linux personally since joining my company ten years ago. Within the company, it has been used for more than 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux performs quite well for business-critical applications. Although we have some outages, it's not unusual, and I cannot blame RHEL entirely for it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scaling Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS is smooth and without complaints. We are planning to widen its use by moving from OpenStack to bare metal according to Red Hat's roadmap.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service rating varies at around an eight or nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
They conducted tests with Ubuntu. That said, it was less expensive and not as stable or developed as Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
What was our ROI?
There is a return on investment since we can host our applications on top of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is quite expensive, yet the technical support, available roadmaps, and services justify the cost. We receive value for the price we pay, including technical support, which enables business continuity and compliance.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Ubuntu, but it was less stable.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise trying it out to see for yourself. Red Hat provides great technical support. That said, the pricing may need careful evaluation, especially when comparing with public cloud offerings.
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux 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.
Senior Systems Specialist at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Offers the greatest return on investment through reduced maintenance requirements and improved employee productivity
Pros and Cons
- "Red Hat's support and the latest versions offer significant advantages, including efficient resource utilization with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, allowing us to run more workloads with fewer resources."
- "There's room for improvement with some Linux tools."
What is our primary use case?
We are running standard workloads such as Spring Boot, Node.js, React platforms, and Liferay on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
We chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux for our workloads primarily due to its strong support system and the extensive open-source community surrounding it, making it a widely known and utilized operating system globally.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has enabled us to centralize our development using the OpenShift platform, where our developers utilize Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers for software runtimes.
It provides support, version updates, and security features that assist our containerization projects.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has performed well in our critical business operations.
We rely on Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its built-in security features, timely support, and rapid release of the latest patches and updates.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helped reduce risk and improve efficiency by enabling us to achieve more with fewer resources.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has significantly contributed to business continuity and compliance efforts due to its seamless integration with our existing environment.
We are currently deploying our operator in the OpenShift environment, along with advanced cluster security. This automated solution scans Red Hat Enterprise Linux server images and can be customized to meet our needs.
The portfolio helps lower the total cost of ownership for our enterprise landscape due to its robust support system and rapid updates, making it the optimal solution.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat's support and the latest versions offer significant advantages, including efficient resource utilization with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, allowing us to run more workloads with fewer resources. Furthermore, the seamless integration with our existing systems adds substantial value.
What needs improvement?
My primary focus on assisting development projects and CI/CD pipelines has been largely issue-free. However, there's room for improvement with some Linux tools.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for around 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has consistently delivered strong performance for our business-critical operations.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is scalable due to the container environment, which is beneficial as our needs change.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Red Hat is top-tier.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What was our ROI?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers the greatest return on investment through reduced maintenance requirements and improved employee productivity due to its stability, security, and ease of management.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have limited information regarding Red Hat Enterprise Linux pricing and licensing, but our managers appear satisfied.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux ten out of ten.
While some may consider third-party Linux operating systems, Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers superior robustness, maintenance, and consistent platform upgrades, making it a more reliable choice due to its dedication to providing a consistently updated environment.
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.
Senior Systems Reliability Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Helps reduce our total cost of ownership due to its security, stability, and enterprise support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable aspects of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are the security and stability it provides."
- "I encountered an issue updating the time zone for one of my assigned countries due to a daylight-saving time change."
What is our primary use case?
We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux to provide a Platform as a Service for our customers in the cloud, upon which we have built additional software. This encompasses Red Hat and Synthos, including all Red Hat derivatives.
We also use it for our security-related applications primarily due to the robust enterprise support and comprehensive security features it offers.
How has it helped my organization?
Using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for containerized workloads has increased security, stability, and trust, ultimately simplifying our work.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux enhances the reliability and security of our hybrid cloud environment.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux performs well for our business critical applications.
We chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux for our environment due to its robust built-in security features, including proactive security fixes and an enterprise-class operating system with reliable support services that enhance security and reduce risk. Furthermore, the secure base OS Docker image strengthens our environment's overall security posture.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps reduce our total cost of ownership due to its security, stability, and enterprise support. The tightly integrated Red Hat portfolio simplifies working with their products and achieving the desired return on investment.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspects of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are the security and stability it provides.
What needs improvement?
I encountered an issue updating the time zone for one of my assigned countries due to a daylight-saving time change. Although we collaborated with Red Hat to build a package that addressed the issue, it wasn't delivered promptly, necessitating manual workarounds to resolve the problem.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for almost 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is exceptionally stable, minimizing the risk of outages or issues stemming from the operating system itself. This reliability allows it to run seamlessly in the background, freeing administrators from constantly addressing kernel bugs or faults in core system applications, ultimately saving significant time and manpower.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers flexibility to scale as required.
How are customer service and support?
My experiences with Red Hat technical support have been mostly positive, though I've encountered some issues occasionally.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is suitably priced with various support tiers to match organizational needs and environments.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux nine out of ten.
When considering a Linux operating system, the choice depends on the intended use. For enterprise environments requiring dedicated support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is recommended. Smaller projects or testing environments may start with a similar option and transition to Red Hat as the business grows.
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.
Support Engineer at Alcadis
Enables a stable, more secure environment that is well-supported
Pros and Cons
- "I find the most valuable aspect of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to be its comprehensive support, encompassing both technical and security issues."
- "The deployment learning curve for Red Hat Enterprise Linux could be more user-friendly."
What is our primary use case?
We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux for our infrastructure, and in recent years, we have also been using it for Ansible, primarily for appliance deployment on the customer side.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is deployed on-premises on our virtual machines.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux provided our organization with increased stability over the past decade.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has allowed us to centralize development and focus on our projects by providing a consolidated platform for our enterprise distribution.
We are satisfied with Red Hat's built-in security features, which effectively reduce risk, ensure business continuity, and maintain compliance. Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides a more secure operating system than other Linux solutions due to its robust security features and a supported kernel that receives regular security updates.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, when used with Ansible, has significantly automated various tasks, leading to a reduction in the total cost of ownership.
It has helped save the organization costs.
What is most valuable?
I find the most valuable aspect of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to be its comprehensive support, encompassing both technical and security issues.
Red Hat's comprehensive documentation eliminates the need to contact technical support for any issues encountered.
What needs improvement?
The deployment learning curve for Red Hat Enterprise Linux could be more user-friendly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for 14 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers exceptional stability, with downtime limited to scheduled maintenance periods.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Although Red Hat Enterprise Linux is designed for scalability, our current deployments are not large.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Our organization has always used Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be challenging, but the documentation provides valuable assistance.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What was our ROI?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers a significant return on investment through Ansible, a powerful tool that enables the automation of our environment.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux nine out of ten.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux distinguishes itself from other vendors by offering exceptional support and ensuring that organizations have readily available assistance when needed.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the industry standard compared to other Linux vendors.
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.
Head of IT Operations at NWAXITLHUMANI PROJECTS (PTY) LTD
Good automation capabilities, excellent performance, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
- "The automation is great."
- "It would be nice if they improved vulnerability management."
What is our primary use case?
We are using the solution for automation. Mainly, we're doing a lot of automation with it. One of the projects, for example, is for ensuring payments processes on forms. We streamline and optimize the insurance claims process using OpenShift. This has enabled us to do faster claims processes and make resource utilization more efficient than it was. Everything can be done online. There are no papers involved.
How has it helped my organization?
It is mainly just cutting out redundant tasks. The focus was mainly driven by driving costs down and efficient resource utilization. We wanted a solution that could make deployment easy and ensure scalability.
The biggest benefit has been the automation. It affected our delivery schedule. Instead of doing something in two weeks, we do it faster. We've cut down our production time. And people are able to focus on other tasks since they're automating a lot of things. Even with our clients, when they have issues, we have created a system where they can send out a ticket. And from that ticket, we can diagnose, and it's easier to solve the issue at hand.
In terms of cost per head, we've seen a drastic drawdown from that. It is mainly optimizing a lot of our systems and resources.
What is most valuable?
The high availability is great. It's available most of the time - even when we're doing upgrades, provisioning, configuration, and patching. It made things easier for us.
The automation is great. I'm a big fan of offering convenience to people and making systems easier for people to understand and use.
There are good features, such as proactive monitoring as well. It offers predictive analytics, which helps you identify issues before they impact operations. We can foresee several problems. On top of that, this is how we can combat those problems. These types of features are really valuable when considering a company's strategy and when it comes to the impact of operations.
We are able to move workloads between different clouds or our data center using Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
The knowledge base on offer is quite extensive. We started learning from a third-party provider since we've had a lot of use cases. Maybe you are installing something, or maybe during virtualization, you have to do something, and you need more information. The Red Hat OpenShift community is quite huge. Even a resource such as YouTube has people releasing videos on common problems. Even outside of Red Hat itself, the Red Hat community is very good. The information is extensive. The knowledge base is there. There's a lot of information sharing. People do not try to gatekeep information.
When it comes to provisioning and patching, so far, we have not had a lot of issues. We currently are using a subscription model. In terms of getting security patches and updates, they support us quite well. There's a 24-hour support base and they're quite good.
I've tried the Leapp and Red Hat Insights features. It helps with proactive monitoring. It did analyze the system configurations and compares those against databases of known problems and fixes. Basically, there's a pool of data that has common issues and it analyzes how you've configured your system and then compares them. It can come back to you and say, "Hey, this is your problem. Why don't you try the solution?" It's like a good AI tool. It gives us a lot of help. It's quick. Thanks to this feature, we sometimes find that we don't really need to open a ticket for support.
We realized the benefits of using RHEL in months. We were told when we were doing the onboarding, we'd see benefits in six months. For us, it took a little over eight months. That was due to some of our internal processes that we had to do, some sign-offs, et cetera. Still, it took us less than a year. Over time, we are down 20% to 30%.
In the beginning, we didn't start on the cloud. Only now are we fully transitioning to going off-site. There are still some clients who are a little resistant to going to the cloud. It's nice to be hybrid, to accommodate both. We've done a lot of virtualization and server consolidation. So far, everything is running smoothly.
What needs improvement?
When moving workloads between different clouds or data centers, it's not that simple. There are a lot of things that you need to consider, including prerequisites and things like hardware, network, operating systems, et cetera. Once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier. However, in the beginning, it was very, very challenging. Coming from a development background, I found it easier to use command lines.
I've hit some snags doing updates or changing things for clients.
It would be nice if they improved vulnerability management. They could add more security tools and tools for provisioning.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. We don't really have any downtime. I'd rate stability nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We've had no issues with scalability. It's quite user-friendly.
How are customer service and support?
During the implementation, we did have to open a support ticket. They assisted us effectively.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've never tried other solutions. I know of other solutions, such as Ubuntu. However, my interactions with that solution have been minimal.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was a little bit complex. The instructions, however, were very clear, and our deployment strategy was clear. Still, for the technicians doing it, it was complex.
The setup took about a week and a half.
I've been involved with two upgrades so far. They were challenging. There were a lot of teams involved. There needed to be a lot of migration planning. We had to use the Link Utility and we did a lot of testing first. We spent a long time verifying the applications and checking dependencies. It was quite a learning curve.
There is some maintenance needed in the form of system updates.
What about the implementation team?
We did get a lot of help from RHEL. We had senior engineers guide us through the setup.
What was our ROI?
We've seen an ROI of around 30%.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When we went through IBM, it was quite expensive. Now, we are going through AWS, which is less pricey.
What other advice do I have?
We started off as a partner to IBM, and IBM opened up the opportunity for us to build certifications for Red Hat through the certification program. Then we became support specialists, taking on RHEL projects. We are in the process of becoming a reseller.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. We're doing a lot of big data infrastructure and they are giving us good stability and performance.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Senior systems engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Our applications and databases run fast and it enables us to do in-place upgrades
Pros and Cons
- "The feature that I am enjoying right now is the actual LEAP program that they created for the actual in-place upgrades. I am upgrading from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8."
- "I like the way the operating system works now, and I do not really see any bad functionality with it. The only thing I would say is getting rid of some aspects. That is the one part that a lot of admins probably get annoyed with."
What is our primary use case?
Most of our infrastructure is made up of Linux servers. All of the apps that we have published are running on a Linux system. That is the main functionality.
I am responsible for Ansible for automation, and I am also responsible for our Satellite server, which is for patching and things like that. We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux a lot. We have 80% Red Hat Enterprise Linux and 20% Windows.
How has it helped my organization?
The benefits have been in terms of the speed and how the operating system does not interfere with apps that are running on it. That is the best aspect, at least from a business point of view. Databases run smoother, and so do the applications we have. There is no latency or issues like that.
We have a small number of servers up in the cloud in AWS, and then most of our servers are on-prem. We have a data server. Red Hat Enterprise Linux has made the deployment of servers smoother. We can do that pretty much with the click of a button, especially using AWS's platform.
For security and compliance, we have to be in sync with our security team. We cannot leave anything open. In Ansible, we have set up an actual configuration management playbook where it keeps all of our systems security compliant. It is really cool. Right now, we only have it working on our Dev and QA environments. We have not moved past that because we still have Chef. We are trying to get off of Chef completely. As of now, we are a hybrid. We have Chef and Ansible. Eventually, we will be completely Red Hat Ansible.
When it comes to keeping our organization agile, it is easy to decommission servers. Most of it is on VM, so we can just delete and then rebuild. If we accidentally delete a server, we can always bring it back because of backups and things like that. That is possible because of VMs. We do not have OpenShift, so I cannot say that Red Hat is the one that is keeping us agile.
What is most valuable?
The feature that I am enjoying right now is the actual LEAP program that they created for the actual in-place upgrades. I am upgrading from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8. We are in the process of that, so that is the best functionality right now. It never had that ability in the past. That addition has been an amazing aspect.
What needs improvement?
I am not too sure how it could be better. I have not yet used Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, so I cannot say if there have been any changes or improvements. Honestly, I cannot see it getting any better. I like the way the operating system works now, and I do not really see any bad functionality with it.
The only thing I would say is getting rid of some aspects. That is the one part that a lot of admins probably get annoyed with. For example, we are now going to DNF from using YUM. At some point, YUM will be taken away completely, but right now, you can use both. There are those minor tweaks, and you just have to roll with the punches. Maybe it is just a better version of what was there prior. DNF is probably used at a simpler level, and it probably does not take up as much configuration and space as YUM. I am not sure exactly why they make those changes, but that is probably the only thing that is kind of annoying.
For how long have I used the solution?
In my current company, we recently switched from CentOS to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We are also working with CentOS. It has been around three years with this company, but I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux a lot longer. I am a Linux admin and I have been using it since 2006 or 2007.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is definitely stable. We never have any issues. Everyone wants to blame the patching or some change in the OS, but it is never that. It is always the other side.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It has a lot of scalability. We have plans to increase its usage. We are in the process of getting off Oracle Linux, which is, again, another version of theirs, but we are going to be converting those over to Red Hat. All of our databases are going to be running on Red Hat.
How are customer service and support?
It is awesome. I just upgraded my Satellite server. I moved from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and then also upgraded to Satellite 6.14, which is almost the most recent version. I did that in the last month. Their support was awesome. I worked through what was said in the documentation on how to do the upgrade. I created my own spreadsheet for the upgrade and what I needed to do. I worked with their support. I had a meeting with them to check if it would work and if anything needs to be added or taken away. They worked with us that way. Their support is awesome.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We had CentOS. It is still based on Red Hat.
We are just now starting to use Podman. We were using Docker, and we are now moving over to Podman, which is the Red Hat Enterprise Linux-specific version of containers. It has been an easy transition. We do not necessarily work with Podman. Application owners are the ones who want us to install it, and then they utilize it the way they want to.
How was the initial setup?
We have three data centers. We have a data center in the East in Pittsburgh, and then we have one in Arizona. We also have it in the cloud in AWS. Even there, there are two, so we have four data centers.
We do have a few Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems on the cloud. We are not sure if we are going into the cloud completely, but we do have some servers in the cloud. Our cloud provider is AWS. Our main app resides in the cloud. All the data, most of the data servers, and other applications are on prem.
I was involved in the deployment of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We were the ones who converted it. It was very simple. Red Hat's technical person gave us the conversion script and tools. We just utilized that conversion script to switch from CentOS.
What about the implementation team?
We did not use a consultant or an integrator. Red Hat gave us the tools, and we did it.
What was our ROI?
I do not know what the impact is financially because I am not in that department. For compliance, it has been helpful. Especially the banks have to be compliant in terms of being patched and things like that. Red Hat has been beneficial.
The biggest return on investment has been the ease. I have been a Linux admin for many years. I have used Solaris, AIX, CentOS, etc. I have always liked Red Hat Enterprise Linux better. It is just a better OS.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I do not know the overall cost, but I know that Red Hat is cheaper than Windows.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not evaluate any other solution. We were going to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
What other advice do I have?
We just switched from open source, which was CentOS, to Red Hat. My advice is to stick with Red Hat only because with open source, you do not get the updates at the same time. The updates come later for vulnerabilities and things like that. I would not recommend open source for an organization. If you are at home, you can go ahead and easily use CentOS. It is free, so why not use it? For an organization, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is better.
Currently, we are not using Red Hat Insights the way they are meant to be used. We are planning to do so at some point in the future. Currently, we only use it as a tool to make sure that it keeps track of all of our servers, whether we delete or add servers. Red Hat Insights keeps track of that and lets us know what version it is and things like that, but we do not utilize Red Hat Insights the way they are meant to be. Red Hat Insights provides vulnerability alerts and targeted guidance, but we use Nexpose for vulnerability scanning.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has not yet enabled us to centralize development. That is because of the way the company is structured. Everything is fragmented. We have a separate networking team. We have a separate Linux team and we have a separate software team. Getting something done and centralized is pretty much impossible at this point. Any small tweaks are like pulling teeth at this point. I do not know if that is going to change. Hopefully, it will. We are planning on moving to OpenShift. I am hoping that it will make everything more centralized and it will bring the company to a less fragmented spot.
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Research Cloud Tech Lead for HPC at a university with 10,001+ employees
Consistent, scalable, and geared toward security
Pros and Cons
- "It is consistent. It is geared toward security."
- "I do not have anything to improve for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but CentOS could be open-source again."
What is our primary use case?
We have extensive contracts with Red Hat. We have it for the operating system. I manage the cloud deployment for GCP, and we have got Red Hat Satellite running in GCP. All of our VMs run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux in the cloud. On-prem, we are running Red Hat Enterprise Linux on our OpenShift cluster, and we have a supercomputer that has got 753 nodes with 50,000 cores running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We use a lot of the other products too.
How has it helped my organization?
There is consistency across the deployment. Generally, when you are looking to hire people, if you hire people who know Red Hat Enterprise Linux, they have a certain level of understanding that goes along with using the operating system.
It is easy to secure. It has a lot of built-in security features, and it is very stable, which is a big deal.
It makes it easier to have one team that deals with both on-prem and cloud because there is a uniform operating system and tooling. You do not have to have a set of admins where one knows one thing and the other one knows another.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has enabled us to centralize development. We are using the same platform everywhere. It is the same tooling, and everyone is working in the same system.
We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for containerization projects. We are building out OpenShift on-prem right now on bare metal. We are running the hub cluster from GCP to spin up the bare metal cluster on-prem. We will hopefully be moving more and more things towards containerized workflows. We are running OpenShift, so it all runs on top of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
For security, SELinux is built in. It is out of the box. It is built towards building a secure system. We are in the process of working on compliance and getting this 800-171 certified. That is in process. They have regular security updates and lots of tools for rolling out updates. In that sense, there is a continuous upgrade path that is well-worn and fairly easy to maintain.
In terms of portability of applications and containers built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux for keeping our organization agile, when it is in a container, it does not matter if you are running a UBI container or some other sort of container. If you have an environment that will run a container, you can throw a container in it, and it will run, so the portability does not belong to the OS at that point. It belongs to the containerization system.
What is most valuable?
It is consistent. It is geared toward security. I am used to it. I know only Red Hat Enterprise Linux. I do not know Ubuntu or any of the other flavors of Linux.
What needs improvement?
It is good. I do not have anything to improve for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but CentOS could be open-source again.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux since 2014. I have been using Red Hat since 1.2. It was probably 1998.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have a cluster with 50,000 cores. It is pretty scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Their customer service is good. We have a TAM. Our TAM is great. Without a TAM, it is hard to get new tickets through.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used many solutions. I have used many that predate Linux. For Linux, I have run Slackware, but that is just for fun. Professionally, it has all been Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
How was the initial setup?
Our deployment experience is good. For the things in the cloud, I use Satellite. I build images and deploy from images to the cloud. It is a mutable deployment chain rather than a standard upgrade path.
What about the implementation team?
We deploy it in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The vendor management takes care of that.
We have an enterprise agreement. From our department's standpoint, everything gets rolled into the enterprise agreement, which is great because we never see it.
What other advice do I have?
To a colleague who is looking at open-source, cloud-based operating systems for Linux instead of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, I would say, "Why would you look at something other than that?" I have built things on Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. I was out of the industry for a while, and I came back, and I focused on Red Hat Enterprise Linux because it pays better. There are more standardized jobs in the area if you know Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The certification that you get from Red Hat means something quite specific.
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Updated: October 2026
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) — Updated Review
Red Hat Enterprise Linux continues to be a strong enterprise operating system, offering a reliable, secure, and scalable foundation for mission-critical workloads across on-premises, virtualised, and hybrid-cloud environments.
One of the most significant developments is the introduction of AI-assisted administration through Red Hat Lightspeed, including the RHEL command-line assistant. These capabilities can help administrators troubleshoot issues, interpret system information, and access relevant guidance more efficiently, potentially reducing the time required to resolve operational problems.
Image mode for RHEL is another important advancement. By using container-based operating system images, organisations can standardise deployments, improve consistency across environments, and reduce configuration drift. Combined with Image Builder, Ansible automation, and Red Hat Satellite, these capabilities strengthen the platform's approach to repeatable deployments, patch management, and infrastructure lifecycle management.
Security remains a major strength. RHEL continues to build on its established security controls, compliance capabilities, and lifecycle management, while newer releases introduce further preparation for post-quantum cryptography. These developments are particularly relevant to organisations managing sensitive workloads and long-term infrastructure investments.
The continued evolution of developer tools, cloud-optimised images, and upgrade automation also makes RHEL a compelling platform for modern enterprise applications and hybrid-cloud strategies.
There are still considerations for prospective users. Subscription costs, the learning curve for administrators, compatibility requirements, and the planning required for major-version upgrades should be assessed carefully. AI-assisted capabilities and image-based workflows also require appropriate testing, governance, and integration with existing operational processes.
Overall, RHEL remains a strong choice for organisations that prioritise reliability, security, standardisation, and enterprise support. Its newer capabilities extend its value beyond traditional server management, supporting more automated, consistent, and forward-looking IT operations. Organisations should evaluate the features available in their specific RHEL version and subscription before planning adoption.