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Azure Virtual Desktop vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs. Windows Server

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Azure Virtual Desktop

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AAzure Virtual Desktops are a comprehensive desktop and app virtualization service running in the cloud.N/A

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ARed Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux distribution mainly used in commercial data centers.N/A

    Windows Server

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/AN/AN/A
    Pricing
    Azure Virtual DesktopRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)Windows Server
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Azure Virtual DesktopRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)Windows Server
    Free Trial
    YesNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Azure Virtual DesktopRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)Windows Server
    Considered Multiple Products
    Microsoft
    Chose Azure Virtual Desktop
    It is better manageability of the resources to reduce the cost. Easy to configure the virtual desktop and access anywhere at any time. Autoscale up the VM on high demands time and then reduce it automatically. Azure Virtual Desktop provides the best security to our application …
    Incentivized
    Chose Azure Virtual Desktop
    Azure Lab Services is excellent for small scale classes but once you reach a particular density or need to serve entire school or district level resources you need to move into WVD.
    Incentivized
    Red Hat
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Windows Server can take a long time to patch, waiting for the patch to install, then waiting to apply, after the OS is rebooted it can also take additional time to apply the update. Often times Windows Server patches can fail, leading to long troubleshooting times and …
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    While many enterprise applications offer Windows Server support, I never really seriously considered it for our application, as Windows simply Blue Screens too often for serving a business critical application. Instead, I took a look at Red Hat's upstream distro, CentOS. Had …
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Windows Server's are perfect competition for RHEL as many people use Windows Servers for deploying their applications. Windows provides good GUI but it lacks in many aspects in which RHEL is a win-win. As earlier mentioned, the performance of RHEL is unbeatable cannot be …
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    We used Windows Server. It has not been very painful but when I compare it with RHEL the patching process was lengthy. We also ran into occasional performance issues that were not very straight forward to diagnose.
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a trusted solution.
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    We chose RHEL over other Linux distributions because of its enterprise support, stability, and security features. Compared to alternatives like Ubuntu or CentOS, RHEL offers more extended lifecycle support.
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    We are in our infancy of exploring Ubuntu as an option. Red Hat is more robust but Ubuntu may offer cost savings,
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    RHEL is the most reliable and what our organization prefers
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    It’s flexible and lightweight with a solid security face
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux stands above Windows and Ubuntu, in my opinion, because of streamlined features, excellent support, and plethora of available documentation and user created tools.
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    RHEL is very different than Windows, but in terms of just a simple operating system, RHEL is much more lightweight than Windows and in many cases runs more efficiently than Windows. Given the choice between the two, some application are preferable on RHEL, like Apache or …
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Beats them all for reliability, security, ease of use and setup, as well as patching. It has fewer support problems and is easily serviced. Support is easy to find and quite helpful. Windows crashed all the time and Azure was at times spotty.
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    • Secure
    • Robust
    • Redundancy feature
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Each of the different flavors of Linux have their positives and negatives but ultimately for the projects that I chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux was due for the need of online and phone support just in case something came up and we could not solve it on our own. This happens …
    Incentivized
    Chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Linux has improved features and utilities over Unix. Scalability and ease of configuration management an improvement over Windows.
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    Chose Windows Server
    I find Microsoft Windows Server is a much easier OS to deploy and administer. It does require more resources to run, requires more security updates and overall has a larger footprint. Rebooting the Windows Server takes a much longer time than RHEL for example. An administration …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    Windows Server is more cost-effective and skills are easier to find to support the products. The deployment and management of the product can be automated with Microsoft SCCM. In my opinion, Linux seems to be more secured but takes more time and effort to learn than Windows …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    These are just very different products. They can all have the same functionality but the specific product knowledge with Linux is much higher. This slows down troubleshooting and can leave you with limited options for high end support. There are absolutely good use cases for …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    For our more experienced users and for simple web apps we will go the RHEL route but with Windows Server such an industry standard the the ease of use of the GUI it just makes more sense for most applications that use it. It also generally has a lot more interoperability …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    I have some basic experience using various builds of Linux and have always found myself coming back to Windows. Perhaps after years of working with Microsoft products they all have a similar feel and configuration options. Microsoft products are my typical first choice where …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    We have various servers or appliances that run on various flavors of Linux that do their jobs well, but we configure and manage them very lightly at the OS level. Most of the admin on these devices is sone inside the applications themselves. We don't shy away from new …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    For our purposes it came down to picking between Windows and Linux and at the end of the day we picked both. We use Windows for 80% of our server needs to run our Web, File, Print, DHCP, Internal DNS, Active Directory, SQL, Web and other windows based servers. We use linux …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    Windows runs some applications better and is easier for junior admins and non-technical users to administer and get started with. It obviously does not run everything better, so other operating systems are preferable in some situations. Compared to OSs like RHEL, they both have …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    Windows Server is the only one that has an upfront cost for licensing before hardware is considered. Windows Server is generally better suited for multi-faceted approaches; however, for just backups, TrueNAS and Synology are cheaper and just as good. For standalone services …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    Windows Server is the most Enterprise/Business server around, easy to deploy and configure and to co-exist with other servers. Most if not every other server technology is usually very good for a very specific purpose but fail in the coexistence and integration when compared …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    A lot more industry-standard application support. Ease of use. Security patched happen more often.
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    When using a Linux system such as CentOS in a server situation to get certain features like Windows Server, it can take a lot of jerry-rigging and configuration to get the same results that can be set up with Windows Server in a lower amount of time.
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    Windows Server has much broader support for the majority of business applications available today. Linux only has very specific application support. Windows Server is also much easier to get support for as it is not an open-source server platform and the developer provides …
    Incentivized
    Chose Windows Server
    Choosing a server technology actually means what platform will the software product that your company uses, require.
    Say that:
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    20 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    295 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    44 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    18 Answers
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    253 Answers
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    42 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    20 Answers
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    289 Answers
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    188 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    38 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    14 Answers
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    253 Answers
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    42 Answers
    Features
    Azure Virtual DesktopRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)Windows Server
    Operating System
    Comparison of Operating System features of Azure Virtual Desktop and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Windows Server
    Feature
    Azure Virtual Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    8.4
    78 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Windows Server
    7.8
    5 Ratings
    11% below category average
    File Management00 Ratings8.073 Ratings9.05 Ratings
    Software Application Management00 Ratings8.075 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    System Update Frequency00 Ratings8.276 Ratings6.65 Ratings
    Operating System Security00 Ratings9.378 Ratings7.65 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Azure Virtual DesktopRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)Windows Server
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    CentOS Linux
    Score8.9 out of 10
    CentOS Linux
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    IBM AIX
    Score9.4 out of 10
    IBM AIX
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Ubuntu
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Score9.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Azure Virtual DesktopRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)Windows Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.2
    (20 ratings)
    8.9
    (302 ratings)
    9.2
    (68 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    7.7
    (4 ratings)
    8.5
    (194 ratings)
    9.2
    (12 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (9 ratings)
    6.4
    (19 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Azure Virtual DesktopRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)Windows Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    1. Overall we had excellent cost reduction after migrating from Citrix. We no longer need per-user CALs, and can scale our environment down to match usage. 2. Since the hosts are in Azure, Multi-session Windows 11 is fantastic. 3. Ability to Scale up to meet usage has saved us during several critical outages.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    There's a lot of things that can and can't be discussed. But as I mentioned earlier, cloud computing and on-prem, and very much like in the cloud, having a standard image ISO, deploying that, the configurations with Ansible or packages installed via Ansible, instead of just a Kickstart script, you have a set of scripts that run in a pipeline that deploy Red Hat. So I'd say the environments, every time I've used Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a computing solution has been, like I mentioned, reusable, scalable, positive. And I don't think I've ever found any situations where I wish I were using something other than Red Hat Enterprise Linux, because the support is not there for anything else as much as it is for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Windows Server and Active Directory is very robust and stable, it has been a staple in every IT environment I have worked in during my career. Junior to Intermediate admins can learn Windows Server easily, the user interfaces make administration tasks very easy as well as the documentation available through a vast amount of resources. There are other Operating Systems available with no GUI which has a smaller attack surface, faster update installation and reboot time. Windows Server does have the ability to remove the desktop experience, however it is not something I have had experience with and I believe most administrators choose not to remove it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Microsoft
    • Better computing power
    • Configurable System and as per team needs configuration can be added or removed at ease
    • Internet Connectivity within the cloud system is way better than our home / office internet connections
    • No heating issues on personal machines, leaving all the worry on actual data center machines
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    • Virtualization, like the operating system level task. I see this product is very good and it blends very well with the middleware components like all the JBoss and other things. And other than that, either you install it or a virtual machine or physical servers, it works seamlessly anywhere. And if you want to go further, like Red Hat OpenShift or those things also work very nice with it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Backup of workstations & itself - reliably, consistently, with Bare-Metal Restore and deduplication
    • File management and Security on a per file/folder/user basis is simple and fully done through an easy GUI
    • DNS, DHCP server functions are easy to configure using the built-in GUI
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Microsoft
    • While it is PaaS it would be nice to have some monitoring insights into some parts of the offering
    • Migrating user sessions from one host to another (to be able to downscale) would be awesome
    • It would be nice to have a more seamless deployment of FSLogix in a AVD Enviroment
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) needs better built-in developer-centric tooling.
    • The desktop experience is too barebones, which makes it less attractive for developer workstations.
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) needs to be integrated and available in GItHub Actions as a supported platform so code developed on GitHub can be tested and qualified there.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Microsoft needs to minimize the update frequency by making the product more secure. It can become very exhausting trying to keep updated if you don't have a dedicated support team. It can become challenging where the business is unable to allow downtime for reboots as part of the update process.
    • Prone to security and audit vulnerabilities.
    • The operating system needs more CPU and memory resources compared to other options such as Linux.
    • Understanding the licensing model can be abit confusing.
    • Comes with a standard firewall, but not the most secured one available. Would suggest using a more secured firewall as part of your antivirus software.
    • Due to the number of vulnerabilities and the operating system being a target for hackers, anti-virus software is a must.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    We find RHEL to be a superior OS with stable operations and long life. It is also easier to use and fix then most other OS's.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    I've carefully reviewed the servers and services currently running on Windows Server 2012, and given the opportunity would renew them as is going forward. There are two systems I currently have in place, one is a very large Linux implementation for a large ecommerce site, and one is a very large backup solution front ended by FTP servers running Linux. Neither are well suited for Windows, but the overall network infrastructure is and will be Windows Server for the foreseeable future.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Microsoft
    Stability and latency complaints are common, but not experienced by all users. A drop in overall productivity can be seen in contributors who rely on a lot of copy-pasting for editing, so some such commands are not instantaneous. Set up is intuitive and the tool is simple enough. It was quick to adopt and stick to.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    It's pretty intuitive and easy to use. Everything is adjustable; everything is customizable through a set of yaml's and everything can be undone and re-done. Doing items such a modification and restarting the single app doesnt take down the whole operating system like one of the more popular GUI based operating systems. We can work on live production systems without breaking into a sweat.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Anyone new to IT could easily use the familiar Desktop Experience (GUI) version because we all know how to use Windows, whether a client or server version. Once an IT user is more comfortable with the operating system, they can move on to the Core version, which is the way to go in almost all situations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    Product support and regular patches.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    some times server hungs and user sessions were busy to connect
    Read full review
    Performance
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    As with any OS enhanced testing will need to be done prior to application integration.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    need to improve the performance more
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    Red Hat support has really come a long way in the last 10 years, The general support is great, and the specialized product support teams are extremely knowledgeable about their specific products. Response time is good and you never need to escalate.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft's support is hugely wide-ranging from articles online to having to contact them directly for the more serious issues. In recent years when I have contacted them directly, I have found the support o be excellent as I have found myself connected to very knowledgeable people in the field in which I needed the support. The online support available is vast and I tend to find most of the time that there is always someone out there who has had the same issue as me in the past and knows something about how to resolve it! This is the advantage of using industry standard and long-established systems such as Windows Server.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    it was my senior who trained Windows Server features and i was satisfied
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    it was recorded session and useful
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    Don't be afraid of it, its easy to install and configure for the tasks needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Make sure that you have detailed processes in place for every server instance you plan to install/upgrade, if possible get the base OS loaded and Windows Updates applied ahead of time, and if using a VM take a snapshot prior to installing each role, as well as along the way.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    They are all part of my company's environment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    Windows Server can take a long time to patch, waiting for the patch to install, then waiting to apply, after the OS is rebooted it can also take additional time to apply the update. Often times Windows Server patches can fail, leading to long troubleshooting times and application outages. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Patching is extremely quick, I've honestly not seen a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) update fail to install in many years of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) patching.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    They are different experiences, and while the other solutions offer enterprise-grade stability and, in some cases, address Windows server shortcomings (such as patching), they all do the trick, but the other solutions require a deeper technical background/configuration of items at the command line, which some people are not fully comfortable with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    need to reduce a lot
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    Operational ease of use backed by support
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    yes i completely agree multi deployment
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Red Hat
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    i like the professional service but need to improve
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • Generally, Positive so far. From business objectives, we covered security, scalability and efficiency but implementing AVD.
    • User are able to work securely from anywhere and support hybrid model as well.
    • however, ongoing attention require to make sure you are not over sizing the host pools and cost remain in expected budget.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Red Hat
    • It has done wonders for my career because I come from a Linux background, HPUX, Solaris and AIX. So made this transition to Linux 20 years ago. So it has really put my career at the forefront of what we do in the company. We're still primarily a window shop, but with Red Hat and what they're doing with the Kubernetes integration with OpenShift, with the East Satellite Management, the Ansible stuff, all based on Red Hat. It's taken off at my company and we're very happy about it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Ability to keep all files in one place and give access to users makes file management easy to control.
    • VPN Access to off-site users is a plus.
    • Secure access to on-site SQL data from our accounting and estimating data is a plus.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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