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reviewer2708304 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Operations and Engineering at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
May 22, 2025
Enterprise support enables building a flexible ecosystem for business
Pros and Cons
  • "The customer service and technical support of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been wonderful so far."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved by providing more support for on-prem."
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved by providing more support for on-prem. As you go by industry by industry, the more regulation and control you need over your data, the more precious data sovereignty becomes, and being able to work in a hybrid environment with a push in that direction would be better."

What is our primary use case?

Our use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are diverse; it powers our servers, runs desktops for our development network, as well as some of our production hosts, and we'll see if it expands further.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat is giving that level of enterprise support helps us build a Linux ecosystem that makes sense for business.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps us solve pain points by providing tremendous support from our Red Hat representatives. 

The flexibility that we get through Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and the ability for people to build their own tools as they're working without having to deal with something like PowerShell or hack it through backwards ways in Windows is a real relief. 

Interactive Brokers is powered by our workforce, and we have really brilliant engineers, top to bottom, especially our developers. The flexibility that we get through Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and the ability for people to build their own tools as they're working without having to deal with something like PowerShell or hack it through backwards ways in Windows is a real relief and something that we couldn't operate without.

We deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in both cloud and on-premise environments in a hybrid environment. Currently, our management of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems when it comes to provisioning and patching has gone through many changes throughout the years. We are currently using KVM. We're exploring OpenShift and some other options, and I am satisfied with that management experience.

Security requirements were considered before choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We've been primarily with Red Hat for a very long time, and security concerns have kept us with RHEL throughout the years as we have not been comfortable with anything else.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) supports our hybrid cloud strategy effectively, and many of the options I've seen at the conference will make spreading out into the cloud without compromising our on-premise systems more convenient than it might be with another distro. I assess the knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as very strong; the customer relations management, support, and the fact that it's an open-source platform gives you huge clarity versus Microsoft or some other type of closed environment.

What needs improvement?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved by providing more support for on-prem. As you go by industry by industry, the more regulation and control you need over your data, the more precious data sovereignty becomes, and being able to work in a hybrid environment with a push in that direction would be better.

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for 11 years now, and our company has been using it for maybe close to 20 years at this point.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are very good. It's not throwing out mystery patches that break things constantly, as certain other server solutions do, so that stability has been strong because we can say we don't need that patch now, and review them on their own merits. We are looking forward to RHEL 10.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales to the growing needs of our company excellently, and the scalability is a big draw.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and technical support of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been wonderful so far. The community is a never-ending well of support, and my personal experiences with our customer relations manager have just been top notch.

I would rate the customer service for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as a solid ten out of ten. I have less experience needing their support for technical issues. Just as a partner, it has been very strong.

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

We have considered other solutions in our Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) journey. There have been arguments this way or that, however, they've never been enough to dislodge us. We do run Windows and other things. That said, our whole program base and everything we do back and front relies on having an enterprise Linux solution.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the appreciation of being a Linux shop with enterprise-level support, enabling us to keep it up. Trying to imagine running a worldwide company purely on free open-source software would be wholly unsustainable and require unfathomable levels of worker hours, so having the power and flexibility of a Linux ecosystem with that level of enterprise support makes it all work.

What other advice do I have?

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

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
Systems Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
May 13, 2026
Reliable platform has supported critical services and now needs stronger AI-driven management
Pros and Cons
  • "From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that we achieve our SLAs, which is really cool as there are no penalties with customers."
  • "We have experienced some downtime, crashes, or performance issues with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), especially now with AI and many vulnerabilities that appear."

What is our primary use case?

Our main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include managing systems for many customers whose systems are hosted on RHEL, as we have different kinds of verticals such as ports, hospitals, and critical services managed with RHEL.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) supports our hybrid cloud strategy through a huge partnership; we also have our own public cloud and still use RHEL servers.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps us solve pain points by providing a really strong engineer team. Sometimes we need to pass the first level quickly because we also have really deep knowledge and really strong engineering teams. These things could perhaps be enhanced or improved, but with each major problem, we trust them and maintain a really good partnership, so we go to the market together.

What I like the most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that it is a reliable system. Regarding the features, I cannot exactly point out something specific, but we have also used many products, including Red Hat Satellite; it is a reliable system.

The features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) benefit my company by being really important when we are working on critical services, as we are not alone when talking with customers; we collaborate with those who create the product, which gives us a lot of confidence and allows us to offer more professional services.

The features in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that we use to navigate our security risks include using Satellite. We leverage Satellite by allowing us to download all the official packages to keep our platform updated, and with Ansible, we manage all the patching setup.

What needs improvement?

In terms of how Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved, I think the next release should focus on enhancing AI capabilities, which will help us in managing systems and could lead to more autonomous systems.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have experienced some downtime, crashes, or performance issues with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), especially now with AI and many vulnerabilities that appear. We struggle with those issues, but whenever we raise a case to the maximum level, we immediately get a solution or they work on it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales really well with the growing needs of our company; when we need a Linux solution, it is really easy, and we do not face any significant difficulties.

How are customer service and support?

The knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is really huge; I think that AI will become available there really soon, making it much easier to get information. Even now, there is a kind of AI integration, but it is not mature; that is why we directly try to contact the engineer team, as the knowledge base is good for learning or investigating, but in critical situations we do not have time to search deeply in that knowledge base.

The capabilities that assist with this include engineer support; each time we have a bug or something similar, they provide us with a workaround or something comparable.

I think we have a really good pricing model for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as a cloud-certified service provider, so we should maintain this partnership and relation with the pricing model.

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

Before adopting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), we had different flavors of Linux; our whole farm is not only Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). However, if we can suggest to customers, we definitely go with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), but we also have other Linux flavors, even a Unix one too.

How was the initial setup?

The experience of deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is straightforward; we deploy it as a base image and then customize it with Ansible. We get the image from your store and install it, depending on which use case we have for that server.

What about the implementation team?

Regarding major version upgrades with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Ansible Automation Platform, we generally do minor upgrades, and then start from scratch with the new Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) release because we feel much more confident in that way; we also try to do live patching, but it is not suitable for all use cases, especially for some applications.

What was our ROI?

From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that we achieve our SLAs, which is really cool as there are no penalties with customers.

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

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped to mitigate downtime and lower risk for my company.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Pros and cons of those other Linux distributions compared to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include support; you have really good engineer support when reaching that engineer team. I think you should maintain that; with customers, it is essential to connect directly with those who have a certain level of technology knowledge to avoid unnecessary back and forth.

The business value of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) compares quite similarly to the other Linux distributions we use; so for me, there is not a huge difference in that regard.

What other advice do I have?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a really enterprise solution and an enterprise operating system. If you also see in the summit how many customers trust this operating system and how many in the industry, including critical services such as health and flights, you will understand its value; so why not use it? I give Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a rating of seven out of ten.

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 has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partners
Last updated: May 13, 2026
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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.
Purushoththaman Subburaman - PeerSpot reviewer
SecDevOps Lead at Scotiabank
Real User
Top 5
Nov 11, 2025
Has improved deployment speed and weekly patching has strengthened system security
Pros and Cons
  • "As SecDevOps Lead, I drove the adoption of Red Hat’s Ansible Automation Platform, which transformed our deployment process—previously, manual scripts led to inconsistencies and delays; now, we achieve consistent, error-free deployments in under 10 minutes."
  • "A key area for improvement is the ability to apply patches without requiring a full server reboot."

What is our primary use case?

My main use cases include running our application in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) since all our applications are based on a Red Hat server. Everything we use is Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

What is most valuable?

As SecDevOps Lead, I drove the adoption of Red Hat’s Ansible Automation Platform, which transformed our deployment process. Previously, manual scripts led to inconsistencies and delays; now, we achieve consistent, error-free deployments in under 10 minutes. Weekly RHEL patching, integrated into our CI/CD pipeline, has strengthened our security posture—critical for meeting regulatory requirements. These improvements have directly supported our business goals of agility and reliability.

What needs improvement?

A key area for improvement is the ability to apply patches without requiring a full server reboot. This would minimize downtime for mission-critical applications. I’m actively evaluating Red Hat’s live kernel patching solutions and advocating for their adoption to further enhance our uptime and operational efficiency.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for almost seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I assess the stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as good since I didn't see much downtime with the servers or any random problems coming up with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). I would say it's good in terms of stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales well with the growing needs of my organization because whatever solutions we are trying, we are able to do in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It's coming along well.

How are customer service and support?

I evaluate customer service and technical support as something I'm not sure about because I didn't directly work with them.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I didn't consider any other solutions before Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and I haven't used any other solution to address similar needs.

How was the initial setup?

My experience with deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is nice, but I didn't deploy anything from a Linux perspective. Overall, I think it's a nice experience that I have with Red Hat.

What about the implementation team?

When it comes to managing my Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems for provisioning and patching, it has come up well over the years. Before, I think it took a lot of time to provision a server and patch it, including securing and hardening the server. Nowadays, it's very easy. I didn't work directly, but I have provisioned.

What was our ROI?

I feel that we've seen ROI since I'm not involved in purchasing, but I can feel that it's a good ROI.

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

My experience with pricing, including cost and licensing, is that I'm not sure.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I haven't expanded any usage of it, apart from using Ansible and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

What other advice do I have?

My assessment of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)'s built-in security features when it comes to simplifying risk reduction and maintaining compliance is that it's pretty good from what I've heard when I talk with the team, even though I'm not directly working on that.As for my upgrade and migration plans to stay current, we recently upgraded to Red Hat 8. If we want to do another Red Hat 10, it's good.Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped to mitigate downtime and lower risk as it allows provisioning servers very easily. In case the servers go down, it comes up very fast as well.I assess the knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as very good. Recently, I had a walkthrough of a trial, and it's pretty much simplified and whatever we need is there.My advice to other organizations considering Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is to just use it. It's easy. I gave this review a rating of 10.

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.
Last updated: Nov 11, 2025
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Roman Fandrich - PeerSpot reviewer
Admin DevOps and Cloud Engineer at Tivit
MSP
Top 20
Sep 2, 2025
Reliable security features ensure smooth cloud deployment
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is really stable; I have not experienced any downtime related to workloads or operating system issues so far."
  • "Regarding scalability, it has been rational, though I do not have extensive experience with particular use cases."

What is our primary use case?

Related to stability, security, and reliability, the absolute bedrock of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is that it uses rigorously tested, mature software versions. While not always the latest, this ensures zero unexpected changes, which is critical for systems that must run for years without failure. The security hardening includes tools such as SELinux, FirewallD, and SCAP.

I previously used Ubuntu workloads because they were a good option for another company. When talking about Linux or Unix environments, there are many open source options such as CentOS or Ubuntu that differ from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

In most cases, the workloads are running in AWS. We are natively performing and invoking the instances by auto-scaling group primarily on EC2 instances, some of Fargate, ECS, or Fargate workloads, and that is where I experiment with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

What is most valuable?

I am working mostly in cloud environments, but also on-premise. My work includes various DevOps and operation tasks such as provisioning, automating with Terraform and Ansible, performing patching tasks, troubleshooting web services, and other infrastructure tasks per day.

We are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in all our production workload environments, particularly in cloud adoption for AWS. We have very useful features from the marketplace for AWS that help us optimize our current workloads.

Regarding core Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and infrastructure optimizations, we utilize performance profile tuning and IDM profiles for database heavy marketplace back-end. We use throughput performance or latency performance for mixed workloads, deploying specific tune profiles with pre-configured kernel parameters. The system includes kernel parameters tuning, file systems to optimize virtual memory settings, and XFS by default for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Security enhancements include SELinux enforcement with custom policies. For architectural and application optimizations, we use containerization with Podman for Kubernetes workloads and orchestration with OpenShift with Kubernetes.

What needs improvement?

The workloads primarily run in AWS. We are natively performing and invoking the instances by auto-scaling group on EC2 instances, some of Fargate, ECS, or Fargate workloads, and that is where I experiment with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is really stable. I have not experienced any downtime related to workloads or operating system issues so far. Regarding scalability, it has been rational, though I do not have extensive experience with particular use cases. The experience has been smooth overall.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support is excellent. I reached out to them once about a monitoring matter, and the attention was really good. My rating would be nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The setup was very easy. While I am not in the finance department or performing license management, I believe it is really easy to use. I am not currently in charge of budget strategy, so I cannot provide detailed information about that matter.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for production workloads in AWS or any cloud environment. In my case, it is AWS, and I have practical experience with critical workloads in on-premises solutions. The experience has been good, and I would recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to other customers or partners.

My company is a Red Hat partner. I was offered a gift card for providing this interview.

I use other tech products such as Scalr for FinOps in cloud environments, Splunk for monitoring, and AWS Backup for native cloud backup solutions.

The overall rating for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 9 out of 10.

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?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Devsecops Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
MSP
Top 20
May 22, 2025
Reliable support simplifies processes and improves integration across platforms
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is valuable for us since it's stable and reliable."
  • "The SE policy is not very clear on how it's supposed to be implemented, which they can improve upon, or perhaps I don't know where to look for that information."
  • "The response and quality of their responses could be better in some cases."

What is our primary use case?

I used Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for my past job where it was used for VMware. It was always on VMware, JBoss, or WebLogic for web-based apps and similar applications. In my current job, we use it as a base OS for AAP or for VSOS, for a Docker host, a pod host, or various applications.

What is most valuable?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is valuable for us since it's stable and reliable. 

Some of the new features they're adding to it, such as RHEL 10 and the AI, sound really helpful. The federal security features are also beneficial. Especially the AI feature sounds useful.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps simplify processes and having support is super helpful. When I have an issue and try to track it down without success, I can submit a ticket and get support. They're usually able to troubleshoot the issue, so having support is beneficial for me.

Our upgrade or migration plans to stay current involve using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 for much of our infrastructure, while also deploying RHEL 9 for the past six months. Once RHEL 8 is deprecated, we'll probably start looking to migrate to RHEL 10 and building net new servers.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) definitely helps to mitigate downtime and lower risks through access to AAP. I've also heard you can do an in-place update for the kernel, which is something I'm curious to try but haven't had the chance yet.

What needs improvement?

Improving Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) requires good documentation and having a way to onboard people for new technology they're introducing. The AI will be helpful for that since they have that now. The SE policy is not very clear on how it's supposed to be implemented, which they can improve upon, or perhaps I don't know where to look for that information.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in my job for probably ten years or more.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been pretty reliable from my experiences so far, with no major issues.

How are customer service and support?

Customer service and technical support from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been pretty good overall. It has been fairly responsive, although I have had times when it was somewhat slow to respond to tickets and requests. I've had coworkers who have experienced that as well, so that could be improved. The response and quality of their responses could be better in some cases. In other cases, it's adequate for what we need.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

My experience of deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in general has been pretty good so far. I use Image Builder, which is developed by Red Hat. I use that to create the image, and then satellite servers actually deploy it. For the most part, it's seamless and reliable.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), from my point of view, is having the integration between all of the various platforms, whether it's AAP, or satellite, and IDM. We use satellite, AAP, and IDM, and the integration between all of these has been super helpful.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We haven't had a need for other solutions while using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) currently, but if something came up, we would probably consider it.

What other advice do I have?

I have been involved with upgrading from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 to RHEL 9, and from RHEL 7 to RHEL 8 because RHEL 7 has been sunsetted. In these cases, we build net new rather than doing in-place upgrades.

For upgrades, we use satellite to deploy, and AAP for our host provisioning and whatever we need to layer on top of the infrastructure. For managing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems regarding provisioning and patching, we use AAP. We have a written playbook that reaches out to the host and takes a snapshot of the host in VMware. Then it runs the patching and reports back if it succeeded or failed.

I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) an eight 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 does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Network Security Team at Dow
Real User
Top 10
May 12, 2026
Platform has provided secure patching and supports broad hybrid deployments for compliance
Pros and Cons
  • "Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me solve pain points at my company by making it easier to install across a broader range of platforms, whether on-premises or in the cloud, and its customizability is a key advantage, allowing us to tailor it for many different scenarios."
  • "From an end-user point of view, I have two recommendations for how Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved: adding more user-friendliness, particularly for desktop or laptop environments, and incorporating features from Fedora that enable mapping services such as OneDrive."

What is our primary use case?

My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include everything from file servers to system endpoints, user endpoint devices, system machines, development boxes, and automation with Ansible. The range of applications is quite broad. My primary use case is patching for identified CVEs or risks that need to be mitigated.

How has it helped my organization?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps me solve pain points at my company by making it easier to install across a broader range of platforms, whether on-premises or in the cloud. Its customizability is a key advantage, allowing us to tailor it for many different scenarios, making those probably the two main benefits.

What is most valuable?

The features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I appreciate most include its customizability and how easy it is to harden from my point of view. It is easier to harden and secure from a customization perspective, and I also find that support is good.

To navigate my security risks, most of it relies on Satellite support for installing packages. I am here to look at some of the other options and security options available.

Satellite helps my company by enabling us to keep updated with patches, allowing us to push updates from various locations in a timely manner to mitigate any CVEs that come out.

What needs improvement?

From an end-user point of view, I have two recommendations for how Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved: adding more user-friendliness, particularly for desktop or laptop environments, and incorporating features from Fedora that enable mapping services such as OneDrive. Additionally, from a server-side perspective, having more security tools similar to Hummingbird would be useful to aid in hardening and meeting security requirements.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) since 1999.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Regarding the stability and reliability of the platform, I have not experienced any major downtime, crashes, or performance issues, though occasionally issues occur, usually related to hard drive failure or improper kernel modules. That is one of the key reasons we have always remained with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), as its stability is vital.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped mitigate downtime and lower risks through its uptime, which has been very good from my experience, especially in system engineering roles I have held previously, where we relied on it for mail servers and web servers due to its rock-solid uptime.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have no complaints regarding scalability, as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales very well. It works great for lightweight distributions or when scaling across many servers, whether on physical systems, in a box, or in the cloud.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and technical support of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has always been good, with a solid relationship with Red Hat, including on-site employees who provide support.

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

Prior to adopting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) at my company, we were not using another solution to address similar needs, as we have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for a very long time.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment process of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is straightforward. While I am not too involved in that process these days, in the past you would boot up a kickstart file, put it on a USB drive, and install it or spin up a virtual machine in the cloud, making it easy.

What about the implementation team?

As a Satellite user, I would say it has also helped mitigate downtime and risks by allowing us to quickly patch and configure systems and make changes rapidly.

What was our ROI?

From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is performance, as you can run it with low resource consumption, which means low impact on hardware and easier specification to hardware requirements. This ultimately saves on resource usage and helps in the long run, as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is adaptable to various installation scales.

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

I honestly have no knowledge about the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), as someone else handles that for me. I have not heard complaints, so it must not be too bad.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have not really considered switching to another solution, as we have a diverse environment with Microsoft systems and other Unix systems, but I do not see any appetite for switching away from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

What other advice do I have?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) plays a big role in my company's implementation of the zero-trust model, as zero trust is a significant part of our security hardening strategy. There is a big executive order from a couple of years ago about it, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) helps us meet those STIG and hardening requirements and track identity management for what services have access.

I do use Satellite to help manage and maintain my hybrid cloud environment.

The infrastructure team might use Red Hat Lightspeed, but if we do, I am not currently aware of it.

I have not personally done any AI workloads with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), but I know other teams that have.

I have not tried either Red Hat Enterprise Linux Image Builder or system roles, but that was another thing I wanted to look at, especially since Image Builder is new to me.

I have not personally done a major version upgrade with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Ansible Automation Platform, but I know our infrastructure team has done many, especially going from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, and pushing out major patches and software upgrades. I have heard no complaints about it.

Managing regulatory compliance is part of my process, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) plays a key role in our compliance and auditing workflows, as it meets compliance requirements for the Risk Management Framework and NIST guidelines. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has to meet those standards during hardening, patching, and monitoring, making it a big part of our processes for ATOs.

I find the knowledge base offered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to be very good, as I can usually find whatever I am looking for if I have a question.

There is not much else I want to add about my experience using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), but I appreciate the long-term support feature, as it allows me to maintain systems that cannot be upgraded for a long time, ensuring they can be patched and maintained, which is a significant advantage.

To other companies considering Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), I would advise evaluating it and giving it a shot, as there is a reason Red Hat became the first billion-dollar open source company. It works well and typically meets your needs. My overall rating for this product is 9 out of 10.

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.
Last updated: May 12, 2026
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PeerSpot user
Juan Barandiaran - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at BCloud Services SAC
Reseller
Top 5
Dec 5, 2025
Enterprise platform has supported secure consulting services and complex data center operations
Pros and Cons
  • "Other good things about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include the focus on system patching, upgrades, and security."
  • "I see a medium ROI with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) because it has a high price."

What is our primary use case?

My principal focus in using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) currently is as an integrator in Linux, where I have many services in consulting, deployment, installation, and troubleshooting in Linux. I have a recovery system, deployment clusters, databases, and work in any environment in data centers. At this moment, I am a senior consultant in the data center in open source.

What is most valuable?

The best features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) depend on the client because the client can decide to use RHEL, not me. The principal thing is the support for the clients because many clients are corporate and have a need for enterprise support. It's the principal focus and is different from using Ubuntu or Debian or any other Linux.

Other good things about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) include the focus on system patching, upgrades, and security. The security advisories and authorization are very strong in Red Hat, and that is the principal focus—security.

I manage Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) by provisioning patching, new deployments, automation, and anything else needed.

I am satisfied with the management experience of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and find it satisfactory for this purpose.

What needs improvement?

I would rate customer service or tech support with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a seven, no more.

I give it a seven because of the time it takes for responding to problems; it takes too long.

For management, it is medium; it is not easy, it is a medium level.

I see a medium ROI with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) because it has a high price. OpenShift may provide better ROI, but OpenShift is very high.

The initial setup of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is complex.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate it a five—medium complex.

A very expensive time is needed for deploying clouds with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

It takes a lot of time.

In many cases, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) does not help me save time because the principal problem is that in AWS, Red Hat Linux is not the natural Linux for deployment; the default deployment in Amazon is Amazon Linux, not Red Hat Linux.

In many cases, it does not depend on direct Red Hat support for saving time.

My thoughts on the knowledge base with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are that it is good but it does not have it all because I have the medium and plus; it needs more knowledge base.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this for 20 years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has high scalability; it is high for horizontal scalability in any environment, and there are many solutions for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate customer service or tech support with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a seven, no more.

I give it a seven because of the time it takes for responding to problems; it takes too long.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is complex.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate it a five—medium complex.

What was our ROI?

I see a medium ROI with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) because it has a high price. OpenShift may provide better ROI, but OpenShift is very high.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is less expensive than OpenShift, which is very expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I am a reseller and a partner with Red Hat.

I am involved with Red Hat.

I use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for my labs, so I am a reseller, partner, and user. I would rate this review overall as an eight.

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 has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Last updated: Dec 5, 2025
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Principle Architect at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
May 22, 2025
Strong security features enable risk reduction and compliance maintenance
Pros and Cons
  • "We have a very good relationship with Red Hat for support and customer service."
  • "The stability and reliability of the platform are excellent."
  • "To make Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a ten out of ten, addressing the enterprise management tools, such as SELinux policy management and firewalls, would bring it much more in line, especially regarding security features and overall operations management."
  • "I would describe the experience of RHEL migrations as challenging since it's not an easy task to migrate thousands of machines in one major release window."

What is our primary use case?

We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) at the enterprise level to host various applications. RHEL is our enterprise strategy for the Linux operating system, and it helps us host most of our mission-critical applications.

What is most valuable?

The feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I appreciate the most is the security features. The security features of RHEL protect our environment. By having strong security hygiene with RHEL, we are able to provide business value back to our stakeholders.

I have been involved in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) migrations and upgrades. I would describe the experience of RHEL migrations as challenging since it's not an easy task to migrate thousands of machines in one major release window. RHEL has helped to mitigate downtime and lower risks, as we keep RHEL current with patching.

The image model that is currently being deployed with RHEL 10 is going to be a way of improving RHEL. I'm using CICD pipelines to manage the OS, just as we do applications. We don't have specific metrics on how much less risk has been lowered or how much downtime has been mitigated, howrever, we do keep our systems patched within 30 days of CVE being released, so our risk exposure is quite low.

What needs improvement?

To make Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a ten out of ten, addressing the enterprise management tools, such as SELinux policy management and firewalls, would bring it much more in line, especially regarding security features and overall operations management.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for approximately 14 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability and reliability of the platform are excellent.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have scaled both in the data center as well as in the edge with over 15,000 devices.

How are customer service and support?

We have a very good relationship with Red Hat for support and customer service. We have a TAM service, so from a support perspective, our cases are handled very efficiently.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I considered other solutions while choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and we have a combination of RHEL and open-source free versions of RHEL. The biggest difference between RHEL and those open-source versions is support; at the end of the day, it's the partnership for support from Red Hat versus the binaries where it's self-managed and self-maintained.

How was the initial setup?

Currently, we deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on-premises and we use open-source technologies to provision and deploy both bare metal and virtual.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment when using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the whole ecosystem and partnership with Red Hat.

What other advice do I have?

We have enterprise contracts with Red Hat, and regarding pricing, we have a good deal. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) an eight.

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
Team Lead Riti Research Systems Engineering at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
May 22, 2025
Streamlined use leads to significant time savings and reliability over years
Pros and Cons
  • "The deployment experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been very easy."
  • "I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) overall at least a solid ten out of ten."
  • "To improve Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the biggest thing is the availability of some tools that unfortunately have to be paid for."

What is our primary use case?

My main use cases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are everything from research computing to hosting websites. We've run a gamut of different things with RHEL

I used to use it a lot for a healthcare company and healthcare software. Now predominantly, it's research that is very statistically intensive. So anything where we have to do data computations, data rates, we need to synthesize data, aggregating it from instruments all over the world or within the lab itself. We take all of that, and we also use it to produce applications for people, whether it's just interacting with it via a website or an actual homegrown application where they can go through, search, look at the data, and do their own data manipulation.

What is most valuable?

My favorite feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the ease of use; it is streamlined, making it very intuitive to do things. 

The ease of use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) reduces time for my company. It reduces the time to do things, allowing us to do very complex tasks in a very short period, since it is very straightforward and makes it easier to get things done. 

It has been around for so long, and it's such a standardized platform that the knowledge base from the employee perspective is usually pretty high compared to other enterprise Linux distributions. Therefore, the overall time savings with RHEL is huge.

Our upgrade or migration plans to stay current with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) involve adhering to a rule: once a version reaches end-of-life, we do not enter the extended life cycle. We plan that out ahead, ensuring that all of our systems get migrated and updated about a year before the end of life of any version. Some systems get migrated to the latest version while others remain and just get updated to whatever is current. It depends on the application and its external dependencies, but it's just a solid plan we follow.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has helped us mitigate downtime and lower risks, as we've utilized virtual machines and process load balancing to minimize issues. While we've had downtime with any systems, there tends to be a lot less with RHEL. We have had some systems running just for fun for three years without any downtime, which reflects their stability. I would say that RHEL has reduced risks by at least 80% compared to open-source distributions based on experiences in recent years.

What needs improvement?

To improve Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the biggest thing is the availability of some tools that unfortunately have to be paid for. While I understand that you have to pay for resources, it would be nice to have a centralized location where you can easily find those tools.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Regarding the stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), we have systems that we've kept running for years without any downtime, so I have never had a problem with stability or reliability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has scaled right along with our growing company needs; the only exceptions to that are with supercomputers, but that's a whole different animal.

How are customer service and support?

My experience with customer service and support from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been good so far. I haven't needed to use it often, which goes back to its reliability. Whenever I've had issues reaching out, they've responded quickly with appropriate information.

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

We have looked at other solutions while using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), such as Debian, Ubuntu (a Debian spinoff), FreeBSD, and some others, however, we keep going back to RHEL due to its reliability and available resources.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been very easy; we've been doing it for years. The automation that they've built over the years to do the deployments just makes it easier and easier every year, transitioning from kickstarts to using things OpenShift. I'm excited to see how this Image Builder works with that, too, so it has continuously improved.

What was our ROI?

The biggest return on investment for me from using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is just overall time saved. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have looked at other solutions while using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), such as Debian, Ubuntu (a Debian spinoff), FreeBSD, and some others. We keep going back to RHEL due to its reliability and available resources.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) overall at least a solid 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
Dinesh Perera - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at ANTlabs
Real User
Top 20
Mar 3, 2026
Long-term platform has strengthened secure data engineering and streamlined cloud operations
Pros and Cons
  • "Next year, I will recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) because they have a lot of features and functions, especially for the enhancements."
  • "Sometimes we are lagging in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) part because we have to deploy in non-straightforward environments."

What is our primary use case?

I am currently working on dialing up telecom services that are due to telecommunication needs in Sri Lanka. We are using this for mother data center activities, not only as a solution but for multiple purposes. I am currently handling the data engineering team.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), we are testing. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) ten point one is also there in beta. In that manner, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) does a couple of things. We are the partner of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in our dialogue at the digital lab.

At the moment, we are using ten. Because we use it most of the time for the test bed, which is the development bed, ten is at the moment our version.

What is most valuable?

The main thing as a cloud-based solution is valuable. Beyond that, it is an on-premises solution. We are also using a stable established version called nine point two from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We are supposed to move to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as well.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is paid. When it comes to the total Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) management, they are using project insight for part of the services. We will take that Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Insight.

That is really helpful. It is a kind of dashboard, not only a dashboard. We can get decision-making capabilities going forward when it comes to security.

OpenShift gives a good solution for us on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) end. The session, not only the station, has the CI/CD pipeline and operators connecting. That is a really good improvement on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) side.

What needs improvement?

Sometimes we are lagging in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) part because we have to deploy in non-straightforward environments. Some environments have third party deployments where party enhancement happened.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is lagging in these scenarios. The main problem we are facing is the cost factor. Because it comes to long and short terms, stakeholders do not want to move to a good business solution because of the cost factor. That is still where we are lagging.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for more than industrial use, more than fifteen years, almost twenty.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I think that now, as of just now, there is no downside. It is not crashing, basically. The application is rebooting every time because of some kind of bug.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

You have to master the tips and then come to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The knowledge base is actually lagging because most of the people do not want to work with the backend coding and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We are commanded to use it to upgrade anything.

Because of that knowledge gap and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in Manam, but people are not using much more. Even administrators are not using proper principles and guidelines to do so.

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

When I was in the consumer space, I realized console R is also more toward Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) kernel. Exadata and now Oracle are all moving to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) because of the kernel quality.

How was the initial setup?

It will help a lot. When it comes to big data development, we have twenty servers to deploy with all kinds of packages and modules. Then it will easily deploy using the Ansible playbook to write the code and everything. So it is easier to deploy, actually.

What about the implementation team?

It is an integrator, basically. It is cloud and cloud enablement because I had experiences when we were going to do that Cloudera migration.

What was our ROI?

That is really helpful now when it comes to the integration point of view. That is Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) too, I believe.

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

Then we are going to do some implementation. They are aligned with the Dell partners. Those kinds of matters come up because of the cost. This comparison comes to the picture.

What other advice do I have?

When it comes to the backup solution, we are using tune the profile to utilize the backup solution. When we are using performance stack, we have tuned the performance stack to do a couple of testing in production as well. That is the main thing we are basically using most of the time.

Our engineers are supposed to do that base. Now they are implementing that base. I carry it forward to the next level, which is the business solution. When we are seeing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Insight, we can take the next action as much as the next action method allows. For instance, when we say we want to patch the environment, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) we are testing. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) ten point one is also there in beta. In that manner, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) does a couple of things. We are the partner of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in our dialogue at the digital lab.

Next year, I will recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) because they have a lot of features and functions, especially for the enhancements. When it comes to security, now they have a lot of features. For instance, saving us is a really good enhancement way to achieve the environment. When it comes to the use of solution, that is really interesting.

I am using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for almost fifteen years now. I really understand what Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) did then and what kind of solutions they provide. Accordingly, I am aligned and most of the time when I say I am going to do some kind of upgrade, I definitely use that release and knowledge, principle, and guidelines. Otherwise, we cannot do it. I have given this review a rating of 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?

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Mar 3, 2026
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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.