What is the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating System?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a distribution of the Linux operating system. The Red Hat organization develops it for the business or the enterprise market. It is also commonly abbreviated as RHEL.

The kernel of the RHEL is optimized to run with the hardware mostly present in large data centers. It has the capability to support software for automation, cloud computing, containers, middleware, storage, application development, microservices, virtualization, management, and more. This makes RHEL a very suitable operating system to be used in the business market.

The power of RHEL is not limited to large-scale data centers or business markets. Editions of RHEL are available for servers, mainframe, SAP applications, and desktop computers.

Open source

RHEL is an open-source operating system, i.e., its code is freely available on the internet. Hence, people can download and edit the source code and make their own customized versions. However, even though the code is open-source, we’re not allowed to use RHEL in production. We need to purchase a license to use RHEL in production. Special editions of RHEL are also available for academic institutions.

Relationship with Fedora

Fedora is another distribution of the Linux operating system supported by Red Hat.

Red Hat decided to create two separate distributions: Fedora and RHEL.

Fedora is the distribution that often receives updates and so is more vulnerable to errors and bugs. Hence, it is more suited for Linux enthusiasts who want the latest updates and who like to tweak the operating system.

On the other hand, RHEL does not receive updates very often, and it offers a more stable and reliable environment. Hence, it is more suited for the commercial market.

Benefits of Red Hat

Red Hat, Inc. is a subsidiary of IBM. It provides open-source software products to enterprises.

Red Hat claims to be one of the largest contributors to the Linux kernel and is trusted by 90% of the Fortune 500. Users of Red hat Enterprise Linux gain economic benefits of up to 1 trillion US dollars each year.

With firm roots in IT, it also offers a training program for Linux that can enable us to use the maximum potential of our systems.