What is RHEL (Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux)?

RHEL is a com­mer­cial Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion from Red Hat, specif­i­cal­ly tailored to meet the needs of busi­ness­es. It excels with features like technical support, LSB cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, and flexible sub­scrip­tions. Typical use cases range from high-avail­abil­i­ty database and file servers to DevOps pipelines and edge computing.

What is RHEL?

RHEL is a Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion developed by the company Red Hat and designed for use in busi­ness­es. Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux is con­sid­ered the leading en­ter­prise Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion and is ex­ten­sive­ly supported by a variety of in­de­pen­dent software vendors. The Red Hat En­tre­prise Linux OS is based on proven open-source core com­po­nents, but is sup­ple­ment­ed by strict quality assurance, cer­ti­fi­ca­tions and pro­fes­sion­al support. This means RHEL offers a stable and validated platform for pro­duc­tive en­vi­ron­ments, serving as a foun­da­tion for various IT struc­tures.

What product variants of RHEL are available?

RHEL is available in different product variants, each tailored to specific workloads and use cases. The product range includes the following editions:

• Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux Server: This edition rep­re­sents the most commonly used RHEL variant. It offers straight­for­ward control and ad­min­is­tra­tion and can be deployed on both physical hardware systems, virtual machines, and in the cloud. Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux Server serves as a foun­da­tion for IT in­fra­struc­ture and stan­dard­izes de­vel­op­ment as well as de­ploy­ment.
• Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux AI: RHEL AI is optimized for AI workloads and machine learning. Specif­i­cal­ly, this edition provides a platform for foun­da­tion­al models, enabling companies to develop, test, and run their ap­pli­ca­tions using large language models (LLMs).
• Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux for Work­sta­tions: The work­sta­tion variant is par­tic­u­lar­ly suitable for high-per­for­mance and graph­i­cal­ly intensive workloads such as animation, visual effects (VFX), and sci­en­tif­ic research.
• Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux in the Cloud: RHEL for the cloud offers cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for hundreds of public clouds and ensures flex­i­bil­i­ty through stan­dard­iza­tion.

What features make RHEL stand out?

RHEL has a range of char­ac­ter­is­tics that make it ideal for busi­ness­es. These include:

• Long lifecycle: In­di­vid­ual RHEL versions receive support for ten years. Red Hat has oc­ca­sion­al­ly extended the lifecycle by an ad­di­tion­al three years. However, during the Extended Life Phase (ELP), only limited support is provided.
• Com­pre­hen­sive security mech­a­nisms: The Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux OS features various in­te­grat­ed security functions like SELinux (access control) and Mandatory Access Controls (pre­vent­ing unau­tho­rized access and enforcing policies). RHEL is also certified according to Common Criteria and FIPS 140-2.
• Software man­age­ment: The in­stal­la­tion of Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux is done through a graphical installer called Anaconda, which is user-friendly even for in­ex­pe­ri­enced users. For package man­age­ment, RHEL uses two pro­pri­etary tools, RPM and YUM.
• Open-source insurance: Red Hat offers insurance for its RHEL dis­tri­b­u­tion against in­tel­lec­tu­al property lawsuits directed at the software. This option allows users to legally protect them­selves against claims made against them.
• LSB cer­ti­fi­ca­tion: All RHEL versions are certified by the Linux Foun­da­tion according to the Linux Standard Base (LSB) spec­i­fi­ca­tions. This cer­ti­fi­ca­tion proves that Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux is binary com­pat­i­ble with other Linux dis­tri­b­u­tions.

What are the ad­van­tages and dis­ad­van­tages of RHEL?

A sub­scrip­tion for Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux offers busi­ness­es numerous benefits that go beyond basic operating system func­tion­al­i­ty. The following overview sum­ma­rizes the main ad­van­tages:

• Pro­fes­sion­al support: Busi­ness­es can access dedicated phone and online support, com­pre­hen­sive doc­u­men­ta­tion as well as a detailed knowledge base for resolving issues.
• Stable and secure: To ensure maximum security and stability, ap­pli­ca­tions and updates are thor­ough­ly tested by Red Hat.
• Com­pat­i­bil­i­ty: RHEL is licensed by thousands of software, cloud, and hardware products, ensuring seamless in­te­gra­tion.
• Supported life­cy­cles: An RHEL sub­scrip­tion allows you to freely choose between supported versions and perform upgrades in­di­vid­u­al­ly.
• Product roadmaps: Users can view product roadmaps and influence the direction of RHEL through feedback.
• In­te­grat­ed analytics services: The Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion comes with Red Hat Insights and as­so­ci­at­ed an­a­lyt­i­cal services, which allow for rapid iden­ti­fi­ca­tion and res­o­lu­tion of security, com­pli­ance and con­fig­u­ra­tion risks.
• High usability: RHEL boasts a user-friendly, often intuitive interface that allows users, even those without spe­cial­ized knowledge, to work with the Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion.

The only downside to mention is the paid sub­scrip­tion for Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux OS. This makes Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux less at­trac­tive for in­di­vid­u­als and small busi­ness­es, such as startups.

What is RHEL best suited for?

Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux primarily targets companies and or­ga­ni­za­tions that rely on maximum stability, security, and long-term planning of their IT in­fra­struc­ture. Target audiences include IT de­part­ments of large en­ter­pris­es, de­vel­op­ment teams, and data analysts. Typical ap­pli­ca­tion areas include:

• Business-critical workloads: Databases, ERP/CRM systems, or email clusters
• Security-critical ap­pli­ca­tions: Financial services, health­care, or gov­ern­ment agencies
• High per­for­mance computing (HPC): Sci­en­tif­ic research, risk analyses in the financial sector, or animation and special effects
• Edge computing: IoT ap­pli­ca­tions (IoT = Internet of Things), au­tonomous driving, or Industry 4.0
• App de­vel­op­ment: CI/CD pipelines, testing and deploying ap­pli­ca­tions, container workflows
• SAP workloads: Operating and hosting SAP NetWeaver, S/4HANA, and other SAP solutions

What RHEL license models are available?

Which license model applies depends on whether RHEL is used phys­i­cal­ly or virtually. If physical hardware is used, the number of socket pairs in the systems used is crucial. One sub­scrip­tion covers two sockets, but they cannot be split. In virtual en­vi­ron­ments, the number of virtual nodes de­ter­mines how many sub­scrip­tions are needed. Here, one sub­scrip­tion covers two virtual nodes.

Sub­scrip­tions can be booked for one year or three years—either without support (Self-Support) or combined with a Service Level Agreement (Standard or Premium). After the sub­scrip­tion expires, the software can still be used, but this doesn’t apply to ap­pli­ca­tions based on Red Hat services.

What are the main al­ter­na­tives to RHEL?

Among the numerous Linux dis­tri­b­u­tions, several qualify as al­ter­na­tives to RHEL. For a long time, one of the most popular al­ter­na­tives was CentOS, mainly because it’s a clone of RHEL. However, as of June 2024, no new updates or security patches will be released for CentOS. CentOS Stream is its successor project.

Other popular al­ter­na­tives include:

• Ubuntu is a promising al­ter­na­tive, featuring high user-friend­li­ness, easy con­fig­u­ra­tion, and reliable stability. New versions of Ubuntu typically receive five years of support.
• AlmaLinux is an open-source dis­tri­b­u­tion with high stability and extensive security features, based on RHEL.
• Rocky Linux is also based on RHEL and places great im­por­tance on stability, forward-looking roadmaps, and trans­paren­cy in de­vel­op­ment processes.