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RHEL - still one of the best!!
March 02, 2018

RHEL - still one of the best!!

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

RHEL provides the flexibility and stability required for the implementation of a company-wide application used in the processing of data retrieved from several databases hosted in Oracle. By using RHEL we were able to implement a custom solution, built upon PostgreSQL and RedHat's Jboss, which allowed the automated conversion of the Oracle data into one usable by other applications. RHEL allowed us to implement:
1. An extremely stable system which can best be described as "power on and leave alone"
2. Custom scripts for monitoring both the OS and application
  • Very well thought out package manager, that not only installs the software you want but also the prerequisites when necessary.
  • Excellent support through the RHEL site and the overall community
  • Straightforward installation with easy to follow menus and guides
  • Licensing is thoroughly explained and with full instructions on how to apply for new and renewed licenses
  • While the command line installation runs well, the desktop GUI tends to be resource intensive at times
  • The GUI based install menu does not scale well at times resulting in some menu options spilling offscreen
  • By default a menu based network manager should be included, from my experience particularly with the minimal install, this was not the case resulting in me editing the configuration file directly. Additionally, network tools should also be installed by default.
  • Reduced TCO when compared to a similar deployment of Windows servers.
  • Compatibility with existing hardware and virtual environments remove the need for specialized hardware
  • Unfortunately the inherent learning curve, particularly when using the command line turns some users away.
While the other flavors of Linux listed above can be used to achieve similar goals, RHEL was chosen due to:
1. Excellent support, both professional and through the community
2. Tried and tested security
3. Its Binary compatibility with Cent OS is a major plus as it allows a test environment to be built without additional licensing
As an OS, RHEL can be implemented as a user OS and Server OS. the features and customization make its uses almost limitless. two areas in which the OS shine would be:
1. Automated systems in which a minimal OS is required and user intervention is limited
2. Hosting of sensitive information either as a file or web server. The extensive security features and customization allow admins to tweak the OS as needed, allowing unprecedented control.