Enterprise Virtualization is for specific customers. We are an integrator and we have some customers who want to have in their data center or in their office a virtualization solution. This solution is perfect for that type of client.
Co-founder & CEO at VEONE
Great virtualization, bug-free and pretty stable
Pros and Cons
- "There aren't any bugs on the solution."
- "We'd like it if it would be possible on Red Hat Virtualization to possibly connect two or three VMs to the same disk."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
To be clear, for us to use Red Hat, we need an OpenStack platform. Red Hat OpenStack is a Red Hat platform based on OpenStack to make a public cloud platform. Regarding the features we find valuable, we use all the stack on this platform including the network, storage, compute and controller management and they all work well.
There aren't any bugs on the solution.
What needs improvement?
The UI is based on a default. It's not bad, but it could be a bit better.
The solution could improve its pricing.
We'd like it if it would be possible on Red Hat Virtualization to possibly connect two or three VMs to the same disk.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution has been for about five or six years now.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It works well. It's reliable.
How are customer service and support?
We don't need the assistance of any outside technical support. Currently, we have our own engineers on that. We have about 35 engineers so we don't need to contact their support, but for some debugging or specific cases, we may sometimes need some help to run on the platform. In those instances, we can open tickets if we need to.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We'd like to move to OpenStack for clients that are looking for an internal cloud solution that's private.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
We have 10 support engineers that handle maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
As an integrator, we set up the solution for our clients.
What other advice do I have?
We're integrators. We have a partnership with Red Hat.
In our country, we have two business segments. We have cloud and integration segments. Regarding the integration, we help clients layout their requirements or the needs and propose what we can do for the requirement. If the customer wants to have a POC to see how the solution works, we can do POC for them and so on.
We specifically use the cloud version of the solution, because it's to provide cloud solutions to our end customers. We have built our cloud solution on Red Hat and our end clients like to change it can have a private tenant to manage their own virtual machine, their networks, and their routers, and so on. We have many, many end customers on the platform.
Some of our clients currently use Red Hat Virtualization and they are looking for a private cloud solution now. We probably need to migrate the existing Red Hat Virtualization to the Red Hat OpenStack platform for these clients.
It's a very good solution. It works very well. We haven't had any issues with any technical aspects and it works well.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
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

Project Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Extremely innovative, with key open source and non-proprietary features
Pros and Cons
- "What they provide is way beyond the essential requirements of customers."
- "Red Hat by itself is not scalable. But you can have third party add-ons like Ceph to make it massively scalable."
What is our primary use case?
We are a company who sells the solution to end users and we're a business partner with Red Hat. I'm an IT project consultant
What is most valuable?
The valuable features of this solution are that it's open source, non-proprietary, and we can do just about anything we want to with the codes. There are no legal issues stopping us and of course Red Hat is rock solid and very stable.
What needs improvement?
To be honest, I can't think of anything that needs improving, they work faster than I do and produce things so quickly and swiftly that I can't catch up with them. Before I can think of something new, they are already there and have done it. What they have right now is way beyond the essential requirements of our customers who would not require more than 20%-30% of what they offer.
There aren't any additional features I can think of that should be included. They're already offering hyper convergence which is way beyond the world for us and beyond what ordinary users could imagine having. Maybe one day they'll come up with a way of running their software without any hardware.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability depends on the applications. Red Hat by itself is not scalable. But you can have third party add-ons like Ceph to make it massively scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is very different from what most vendors are currently selling or providing to their customers. Because of the nature of the product, it's ongoing and subscription based. You don't pay for new versions, it doesn't exist in the open source world. As long as the customer pays their annual subscription, they receive all the updates automatically. Support is more towards the end users on the day-to-day things.
How was the initial setup?
If you're comparing it to larger solutions like VMware, the setup is slightly more complex because it requires a lot of technical knowledge. But the offset is that once you cross that hurdle, your system is super reliable. And it works and works. We have servers that have been running for the past eight years without having to be turned off.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Red Hat is easily three to five times cheaper than the nearest competitor. Our business model is slightly different. If you look at Gerome HCI, for example, the core product that we sell, it is not Red Hat based but certain components use Red Hat components, for example, sales and subscription. It would cost about $USD5,000 per year to keep that going. Instead, we charge slightly more initially, maybe $USD7,000-$8,000, and then reduce the annual support fee to maybe $USD1,000.
What other advice do I have?
There are other platforms like Proxmox that are very stable and good because they run on KVM just like we do. But if you have hands-on experience with Proxmox, for example, you know that the entire thing is full of buttons and switches and I believe most clients don't like that. Red Hat, and Gerome HCI keep that to a minimum and give the customers what they need to do to get their work done.
I would suggest people take a serious look at Red Hat and open source, and what KVM offerings can provide to end users. KVM and Red Hat, the open source community, are different to what they were 10 years ago. They are so advanced today and so mature in what they do that they could easily give any top-notch industry leaders a run for their money. They are definitely the market leader in terms of open source. No one can beat them at the moment.
I would rate this product a 10 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
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RHEV
May 2025

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Associate Principal at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
The versatility and compatability of this virtualization solution are marred by the lack of availability of local support
Pros and Cons
- "It is easy to deal with when comes to application migration and its compatibility with the multiple component applications."
- "The availability of technical expertise with the solution may be limited in some areas."
What is our primary use case?
In my company, I am working in a strategic department. My primary task in the company at the present time is looking into an overall roadmap for our organization to adopt a virtualization solution. We are doing this mostly for cost optimization.
So I am exploring the potential benefits of different solutions and what the potential options are for us to minimize and optimize the costs and our overall tax expenditures by bringing in these VMware solutions.
Our goal is hosting multiple applications within one single host. The purpose is to reduce the number of physical servers and then to move from a physical to a virtual environment. This is the reason that we introduced the VMware solution.
So VMware is basically purely on the virtual environment that we have adopted because we are moving out from a physical environment to a virtual environment where we have deployed some VMware licenses to manage our various systems applications on one single host.
Of course, VMware is not an OS by itself. When it comes to the operating system, we are leveraging on the Red Hat virtual environment to be able to run and support the integration of multiple systems. So the VMware is being used to host the virtual environment. We have actually a combination of both Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization and VMware virtualization solutions to create the needed environment to meet these goals.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise has provided the flexible platform on which we can build the solution we envisioned of hosting multiple applications in a single host.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature in this product is that it is easy for us to deal with when comes to application migration and its compatibility with the multiple component applications that are available. For example, we have Drupal, Magento, Node.js, and other applications to host. So when we are looking for a base system solution that is able to support all of these components, I look to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization. It provides a lot of flexibility in terms of compute scaling, resource allocation, and also the stability of the platform.
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization is giving us more benefits in these situations because it is stable. This makes it easy to do this migration and easy to manage as well.
What needs improvement?
There are two things that I would like to see improvement in when it comes to Red Hat. First is the pricing and second is the support. Of those two, I think support should be the main focus.
We are facing some challenges within Malaysia because we do not really have system integrators for Red Hat available who can provide on-site support. This would be useful in critical situations such as outages. At those times, it would be optimal to have an expert technician who has significant experience with the product on the company site to help us more quickly resolve these critical issues.
The closest that we have come to this within Malaysia was an instance where we had to join an online conference call. It was complicated and inefficient. We had to bridge the connection with the principals, login, and then to check and to dump the data for the troubleshooting purposes.
If Red Hat can expand their services to include physical support within Malaysia then it would be great for us. We need to have access to immediate support of this type when it comes to critical issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Red Hat Virtualization for between 10 and 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Virtualization is a stable and versatile solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have close to 20 users now and I do not see a problem with the potential for scaling that and the use of the product to further build out our environment.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have some issues with getting on-site support in Malasia. This is an issue for critical situations.
What other advice do I have?
On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I can rate Red Hat Virtualization as a seven-out-of-ten.
It is a seven and not higher because of the various issues like lack of availability of on-site support.
Even with these issues, I would definitely recommend Red Hat virtualization to other customers who are actually looking into moving from a physical environment to a virtualized environment. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization can help to optimize their space utilization and optimize their costs.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Associate Principal at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good compatibility and migration capabilities but lacks decent on-site support services in Malaysia
Pros and Cons
- "The solution makes migration easy."
- "The support is tricky in a few places. We're facing some challenges within Malaysia where we don't really have the system integrators available who can provide extended support. When we need personnel on-site, we can't get them."
What is most valuable?
The solution is easy for us to deal with when comes to application migration and has good compatibility with multiple components. For example, we have Drupal, Magento and then Node.js. When we are looking at which particular solution to run or maybe the base system to support these components, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization is the perfect choice.
The solution offers flexibility in terms of computation scaling and resource allocation.
The platform is very stable.
The solution makes migration easy.
The management of the solution is very simple.
What needs improvement?
The pricing could be improved.
The support is tricky in a few places. We're facing some challenges within Malaysia where we don't really have the system integrators available who can provide extended support. When we need personnel on-site, we can't get them.
Instead, we have to join in an online conference call and then bridge the connection with the principals, log in and then check and dump the data for troubleshooting purposes, etc.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been dealing with the solution for about 15 years now.
How are customer service and technical support?
We can't really get on-site support here in Malaysia. It's a problem for us. When we need help, we need to do a conference call, but it's difficult for us and it's not an ideal situation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is a bit expensive.
What other advice do I have?
We still have Red Hat version five running on our environment.
We don't have Red Hat in Malaysia. We don't have direct contact with Red Hat. We have to go through either distributors or system integrators in order to get the product.
I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.
I would recommend Red Hat virtualization to other customers who are actually looking into moving from a physical environment to virtualization environment. It will optimize their space utilization and their cost optimization.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Unix Linux System Administrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Relatively inexpensive and offers average technical support but needs a better user interface
Pros and Cons
- "The price is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's much cheaper than, for example, VMware."
- "In comparison to VMware, this solution isn't as stable. We're testing it right now, and we're not trusting the stability of the product."
What is most valuable?
The price is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's much cheaper than, for example, VMware.
What needs improvement?
The interface is a bit complex, in my opinion. They should work to simplify it if possible.
Currently, we cannot get a direct local resource mount.
When I want to customize the solution, I would like to have a similar operating system resource included, similar to what VMware offers. We'd like to have the same hosting features VMware has.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about two years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In comparison to VMware, this solution isn't as stable. We're testing it right now, and we're not trusting the stability of the product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We only two people working on the solution currently, as we test it. We haven't scaled it at all.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support offered by Red Hat is average. It's not exceptional, but it's not bad either.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't set up the solution at our organization. I don't know if it is complex or straightforward in terms of implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is quite inexpensive.
What other advice do I have?
I wouldn't recommend the solution currently. We don't trust the product, so to use it as a mission-critical solution wouldn't be advised. However, overall, it's okay.
I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. Red Hat solution is not the best, in my opinion. It's not as stable, but it is much cheaper than VMware, so companies can save money using it if they need to.
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.
Business Support Officer at a legal firm with 51-200 employees
Provides speed and stability; could integrate better into two in ones
Pros and Cons
- "Stability and speed are the most valuable aspects."
- "It lags behind in that you need to go to something like Fedora to get all the extra bells and whistles."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case was running an entire government payroll system.
What is most valuable?
Basically stability and speed are the most valuable aspects.
What needs improvement?
Realistically, I found Red Hat to be fairly usable. It was an easy transition from Unix to using Linux and I can't think of any real improvements necessary. If anything, I actually like check config better than system CTL.
For improvements or additional features, it would be nice for it to integrate better into two in ones. If you wanted to go to the desktop computer side of things, it lags behind in that you need to go to something like Fedora to get all the extra bells and whistles.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used the product for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product scaled very well. The only issues that we have ever really had was in relation to the Oracle database that we're running.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used VMware and then Citrix. We made the switch predominantly because we wanted to consolidate licensing. We were using Citrix for our VDI environment and it made sense to shift from VMware to Citrix Zen because the licensing for the actual ZenServer was embedded within our DDI license. It made no sense actually licensing a product that we could actually utilize within our existing license. When you look at the budgetary figures and everything like that, VM ware is not exactly light on the back pocket.
How was the initial setup?
For me, the initial setup was fairly straightforward and because I've been using it for so long I was able to do it myself. In terms of initial deployment, I was able to run up five DMs running Red Hat with Oracle database within a week.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Several options were evaluated. I need to keep up to date on all technical offerings on the market, so it was really about doing a product comparison.
What other advice do I have?
I've always used separate hypervisors so it's difficult for me to give advice. I'm more familiar with the other products so I would rate this product a six out of 10.
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.
Engineer Developer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
A responsive technical support portal is available for quickly solving problems
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of this solution is the support portal."
- "Configuring the network interfaces is much better in Ubuntu and should be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We have been using RHEV in both on-premises and cloud deployments for testing.
In my team, we don't have access to a paid version of Red Hat. Instead, we mostly use CentOS and Ubuntu.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of this solution is the support portal.
What needs improvement?
Configuring the network interfaces is much better in Ubuntu and should be improved. I find this to be the biggest problem. In Ubunto they have the idea of the Netplan, which is much better than the facility in Red Hat.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using RHEV for about five months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have seen some bugs that I fixed on my own.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not had to scale this solution because it is not for everyday use. Rather, we use it for testing purposes.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support for RHEV is very fast and good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use different versions of Linux including CentOS and Ubuntu. CentOS is very comparable to Red Hat because it is almost the same, internally.
How was the initial setup?
In the beginning, the initial setup was quite complex. However, once you get used to it, I would say that the setup is of normal difficulty and not a problem.
What about the implementation team?
I implemented this solution with the assistance of my colleague.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are using the free version of Red Hat.
What other advice do I have?
RHEV is a good solution and I would rate it a nine out of ten.
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: Partner
IT Infrastructure and Systems Lead with 201-500 employees
Good stability and support but is difficult to manage
Pros and Cons
- "Technically, the main reason why I'm using Red Hat is because of its stability."
- "I heard that there are big differences between Red Hat eight and seven, but it's still quite difficult for me to judge it. I found it a bit more difficult to manage than version seven, which was much easier. In term of features, though, it is still not yet clear which is better. I have no clear idea of which features need to be changed at the moment."
What is most valuable?
Technically, the main reason why I'm using Red Hat is because of its stability.
What needs improvement?
I heard that there are big differences between Red Hat 8 and 7, but it's still quite difficult for me to judge it. I found it a bit more difficult to manage than version seven, which was much easier. In terms of features, though, it is still not yet clear which is better. I have no clear idea of which features need to be changed at the moment.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using this solution for five years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is also available. At our company, we have three people managing Red Hat, but about 600 users that use service and hosting of Red Hat.
How are customer service and technical support?
We are in touch with technical support and whenever we have an issue we get good support from the Red Hat team. I am satisfied with their technical support. I am an Open Source fan so this is one of my favorites.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use Windows, of course, and we also use Ubuntu for some other applications. For our core applications, however, we use Red Hat.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would say the price is acceptable.
What other advice do I have?
If someone asked me, I would strongly recommend using Red Hat. I have spoken to many other Red Hat users. The main issue is the lack of knowledge with most engineers and system admins. They don't know how to use Red Hat. They found that Windows, for example, is easier to manage. I would recommend Red Hat, though, and I would like to do something to raise the awareness of how to use Red Hat. I would strongly recommend they work hard to introduce people to Red Hat and how to manage Red Hat. I know there are courses, workshops, and seminars. Red Hat is doing all of that. The main issue which I think Red Hat has to focus on, however, is that colleges, universities, and most institutions focus on Windows-based solutions. Red Hat has to be there in the education sector, so engineer or system admin graduates will at least have a small knowledge of what Red Hat is.
I would rate Red Hat as seven out of ten. I think it's really hard to get a ten because this is technology and technology is always improving. We'll never stop. Ten means perfect, no improvement required. So I would never rate any tech solution as ten or even nine of ten. I can say, however, that this solution is fine for me.
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.

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