Variants
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server subscription is available at no cost for development purposes. Developers need to register for the Red Hat Developer Program and agree to license terms forbidding production use. This free developer subscription was announced on March 31, 2016. There are also "Academic" editions of the Desktop and Server variants. They are offered to schools and students, are less expensive, and are provided with Red Hat technical support as an optional extra. Web support based on the number of customer contacts can be purchased separately. It is often assumed the branding ES, AS, and WS stand for "Entry-level Server", "Advanced Server" and "Work Station", respectively. The reason for this is that the ES product is indeed the company's baseRelationship with Fedora Linux
TheBoth Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are open source. Fedora is a free distribution and community project and upstream for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Fedora is a general purpose system that gives Red Hat and the rest of its contributor community the chance to innovate rapidly with new technologies. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a commercial enterprise operating system and has its own set of test phases including alpha and beta releases which are separate and distinct from Fedora development.Originally, Red Hat sold boxed versions of Red Hat Linux directly to consumers and business through phone support. The
Rebuilds
Originally, Red Hat's enterprise product, then known as ''Red Hat Linux'', was made freely available to anybody who wished to download it, while Red Hat made money from support. Red Hat then moved towards splitting its product line into ''Red Hat Enterprise Linux'' which was designed to be stable and with long-term support for enterprise users and Fedora as the community distribution and project sponsored by Red Hat. The use of trademarks prevents verbatim copying of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Since Red Hat Enterprise Linux is based completely on free and open source software, Red Hat makes available the complete source code to its enterprise distribution through its FTP site to anybody who wants it. Accordingly, several groups have taken this source code and compiled their own versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, typically with the only changes being the removal of any references to Red Hat's trademarks and pointing the update systems to non-Red Hat servers. Groups which have undertaken this includeRelated products and add-ons
A number of commercial vendors use Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a base for the operating system in their products. Two of the best known are the Console Operating System inVersion history and timeline
Naming convention
Each release is given a codename which is selected by a vote of the developers. The codenames don't have a specific pattern (unlike Ubuntu or Debian).RHEL 9
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 was announced at Red Hat Summit on May 10, 2022 and was officially released on . In this version of the system introduced a Linux Kernel 5.14.0 and Gnome 40. RHEL 9 was the first to be based on CentOS Stream, itself based on Fedora Linux, while historically RHEL was based directly on Fedora Linux. The first beta for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (''Plow''), based on Fedora Linux 34, was released on November 3, 2021. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (''Plow'') was released on May 18, 2022. The name ''Plow'' was the Appalachian Trail nickname for Tim Burke, one of the founders of RHEL and retired leader of RHEL engineering. * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0, , uses Linux kernel 5.14.0-70 ** 9.1, *** kernel 5.14.0-162RHEL 8
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (''Ootpa'') is based on Fedora 28, upstream Linux kernel 4.18, GCC 8.2, glibc 2.28, systemd 239, GNOME 3.28, and the switch to Wayland. The first beta was announced on November 14, 2018. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 was officially released on . With Release 8 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, IBM has completed transition of POWER8 and POWER9 servers to little-endian mode. The name ''Ootpa'' was a tribute to Larry Troan. His son, Eric Troan was Red Hat's first head engineer and his username was ''ewt'', so his father was given the name ''ewt's pa'', pronounced ''Ootpa''. * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0, , uses Linux kernel 4.18.0-80 ** 8.1, , uses Linux kernel 4.18.0-147 *** GNOME rebased to 3.32 ** 8.2, *** kernel 4.18.0-193 **8.3, *** kernel 4.18.0-240 **8.4, *** kernel 4.18.0-305 **8.5, *** kernel 4.18.0-348 **8.6, ***kernel 4.18.0-372 **8.7, ***kernel 4.18.0-425RHEL 7
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (''Maipo'') is based on Fedora 19, upstream Linux kernel 3.10, systemd 208 (updated to 219 in RHEL 7.2), and GNOME 3.8 (rebased to GNOME 3.28 in RHEL 7.6) The first beta was announced on 11 December 2013, and a release candidate was made available on 15 April 2014. On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 was officially released. * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 (''Maipo''), , uses Linux kernel 3.10.0-123 ** 7.1, *** kernel 3.10.0-229 ** 7.2, *** kernel 3.10.0-327 *** systemd updated to 219 *** GNOME rebased to 3.14 ** 7.3, *** kernel 3.10.0-514 ** 7.4, *** kernel 3.10.0-693 *** GNOME rebased to 3.22 ** 7.5, *** kernel 3.10.0-862 *** GNOME rebased to 3.26 ** 7.6, *** kernel 3.10.0-957 *** GNOME rebased to 3.28 ** 7.7, *** kernel 3.10.0-1062 *** GNOME remains as 3.28 ** 7.8, *** kernel 3.10.0-1127 *** GNOME remains as 3.28 ** 7.9, *** kernel 3.10.0-1160 ** 7, ''Extended Life-cycle Support'' (ELS) Start Date *** aka added ELS entitlement until ELS end DateRHEL 6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 was forked from Fedora 12 and contains many backported features from Fedora 13 and 14. * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (''Santiago''), , uses Linux kernel 2.6.32-71 ** 6.1, (kernel 2.6.32-131) ** 6.2, (kernel 2.6.32-220) ** 6.3, (kernel 2.6.32-279) ** 6.4, (kernel 2.6.32-358) ** 6.5, (kernel 2.6.32-431) ** 6.6, (kernel 2.6.32-504) ** 6.7, (kernel 2.6.32-573) ** 6.8, (kernel 2.6.32-642) ** 6.9, (kernel 2.6.32-696) ** 6.10, (kernel 2.6.32-754) ** 6 ELS +, ''Extended Life-cycle Support'' (ELS) Start Date *** aka added ELS entitlement until ELS end DateRHEL 5
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (''Tikanga''), , uses Linux kernel 2.6.18-8 ** 5.1, (kernel 2.6.18-53) ** 5.2, (kernel 2.6.18-92) ** 5.3, (kernel 2.6.18-128) ** 5.4, (kernel 2.6.18-164) ** 5.5, (kernel 2.6.18-194) ** 5.6, (kernel 2.6.18-238) ** 5.7, (kernel 2.6.18-274) ** 5.8, (kernel 2.6.18-308) ** 5.9, (kernel 2.6.18-348) ** 5.10, (kernel 2.6.18-371) ** 5.11, (kernel 2.6.18-398) ** 5.11+, ''Extended Life-cycle Support'' (ELS) Start Date *** aka added ELS entitlement until ELS end DateRHEL 4
RHEL 4 introduced Linux kernel 2.6 versions and extended attributes on ext2 and ext3 file systems. * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (''Nahant''), , uses Linux kernel 2.6.9-5 ** Update 1, (kernel 2.6.9-11) ** Update 2, (kernel 2.6.9-22) ** Update 3, (kernel 2.6.9-34) ** Update 4, (kernel 2.6.9-42) ** Update 5, (kernel 2.6.9-55) ** Update 6, (kernel 2.6.9-67) ** Update 7, (kernel 2.6.9-78) ** Update 8, (kernel 2.6.9-89) ** Update 9, (kernel 2.6.9-100)RHEL 3
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (''Taroon''), , uses Linux kernel 2.4.21-4 ** Update 1, (kernel 2.4.21-9) ** Update 2, (kernel 2.4.21-15) ** Update 3, (kernel 2.4.21-20) ** Update 4, (kernel 2.4.21-27) ** Update 5, (kernel 2.4.21-32) ** Update 6, (kernel 2.4.21-37) ** Update 7, (kernel 2.4.21-40) ** Update 8, (kernel 2.4.21-47) ** Update 9, (kernel 2.4.21-50)RHEL 2.1
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 AS (''Pensacola''), , uses Linux kernel 2.4.9-e.3 ** Update 1, (kernel 2.4.9-e.12) ** Update 2, (kernel 2.4.9-e.24) ** Update 3, (kernel 2.4.9-e.34) ** Update 4, (kernel 2.4.9-e.40) ** Update 5, (kernel 2.4.9-e.49) ** Update 6, (kernel 2.4.9-e.57) ** Update 7, ** Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 ES (''Panama''), May 2003Product life cycle
The life cycle of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is at least seven years for versions 3 and 4, and spans at least 10 years for versions 5, 6, 7 and 8. The life cycle comprises several phases of varying length with different degrees of support. During the first phase ("Production 1"), Red Hat provides full support and updates software and hardware drivers. In later phases ("Production 2" and "Production 3"), only security and other important fixes are provided and support for new hardware is gradually reduced. In the last years of the support lifecycle (after seven years for version 4 and earlier, and after 10 years for version 5 and later), critical and security-related fixes are only provided to customers who pay an additional subscription ("Extended Lifecycle Support Add-On") that is available for versions 3, 4 and 5, and covers a limited number of packages. Red Hat only supports major version upgrades from version 6 to version 7 and from version 7 to version 8.Kernel backporting
To maintain a stable application binary interface (ABI), Red Hat does not update the kernel version, but instead backports new features to the same kernel version with which a particular version of RHEL has been released. New features are backported throughout the Production 1 phase of the RHEL lifecycle. Consequently, RHEL may use a Linux kernel with a dated version number, yet the kernel is up-to-date regarding not only security fixes, but also certain features. One specific example is theExtended Update Support (EUS) / Z Tree
The Extended Update Support (EUS) allows an organization / company to choose when they change to a new minor version. For the first 6 months of the EUS channel / yum repo, features may be added, but then the channel is locked down so that only bug and security fixes are patched. The organization / company then has 24 months to move to a new EUS branch. EUS allows the organization / company to stay on a minor version if required by a third party application which is only tested with a particular minor version of RHEL, such as Oracle Database, IBM Db2, IBM Cloud Orchestrator, Hortonworks. There may also be extra costs associated with using the EUS repos/channels depending on the agreement the organization / company has with Red Hat. For more information on what is Included/Excluded from the EUS see.Note
* The EUS update mechanism for using older minor version branches is not available to CentOS, Oracle Linux and Scientific Linux, as Red Hat do not publish source packages for rebuilding. As such, projects clearly state to ensure users run on the latest available minor version within a supported major release.Updates
In general one can move from z streams to the next version of the z stream. * The 7.4.z EUS channel after the release of 7.4. * The 7.5.z EUS channel after the release of 7.5. Any 7.y.z EUS channel where y is greater than 1. The standard base channel for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, which is the most recent minor release aka rhel 7Y where y is the latest greatest. One can not go back in time, aka 7.5.z to 7.4.z and will NOT be supported.RHEL 6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 was forked from Fedora 12 and contains many backported features from Fedora 13 and 14. * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (''Santiago''), 10 November 2010, uses Linux kernel 2.6.32-71 ** 6.7, also termed Update 7, (kernel 2.6.32-573) *** 1st Day of EUS Window *** Last Day of EUS Window ** Note: There were no more EUS for Rhel6 after 6.7RHEL 7
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (''Maipo'') is based on Fedora 19, upstream Linux kernel 3.10, 10 June 2014, uses Linux kernel 3.10.0-123 * 7.1, also termed Update 1, (kernel 3.10.0-229) ** 1st Day of EUS Window ** Last Day of EUS Window * 7.2, also termed Update 2, (kernel 3.10.0-327) ** 1st Day of EUS Window ** Last Day of EUS Window * 7.3, also termed Update 3, (kernel 3.10.0-514) ** 1st Day of EUS Window ** Last Day of EUS Window ** Features may be updated * 7.4, also termed Update 4, (kernel 3.10.0-693) ** 1st Day of EUS Window ** Last Day of EUS Window * 7.5, also termed Update 5, (kernel 3.10.0-862) ** 1st Day of EUS Window ** Last Day of EUS Window * 7.6, also termed Update 6, (kernel 3.10.0-957) ** 1st Day of EUS Window ** Last Day of EUS Window * 7.7, also termed Update 7, (kernel 3.10.0-1062) ** 1st Day of EUS Window ** Last Day of EUS Window *7.8, also termed Update 8 **Released on *7.9, also termed Update 9 is the final RHEL 7 release **Released onRHEL 8
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (''Ootpa'') is based on Fedora 28, upstream Linux kernel 4.18, systemd 239, and GNOME 3.28. The first beta was announced on 14 November 2018. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 was officially released on . For RHEL 8, the update schedule is approximately: * 8.0 - 6 Month Minor Release (kernel 4.18.0-80) ** 1st Day of Support Window * 8.1 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP Solutions (kernel 4.18.0-147) ** 1st Day of Support Window * 8.2 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP Solutions (kernel 4.18.0-193) ** 1st Day of Support Window * 8.3 - 6 Month Minor Release (kernel 4.18.0-240) ** 1st Day of Support Window * 8.4 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP Solutions (kernel 4.18.0-305) ** 1st Day of Support Window * 8.5 - 6 Month Minor Release (kernel 4.18.0-348) ** 1st Day of Support Window * 8.6 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP Solutions (kernel 4.18.0-372.9.1) ** 1st Day of Support Window * 8.7 - 6 Month Minor Release (kernel 4.18.0-425.3.1) ** 1st Day of Support Window * 8.8 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP SolutionsRHEL 8 application streams
In addition to normal OS updates, RHEL 8 also maintains application streams to allow for certain applications to be supported and updated independent of the base OS and to match the maintenance stream of the application vendor. Each application stream will be supported from two to five years with new versions only available during the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Full Support Phase. These apps should be expected to be updated frequently with shorter lifecycles than the base OS packages. Packages currently offered as streams * authd 1.4.4 (through May 2021) * container-tools 1 (through May 2021) * dotnet 2.1 (through Aug 2021) * git 2.18 (through May 2021) * httpd 2.4 (through May 2024) * Identity Management DL1 (through May 2024) * mariadb 10.3 (through May 2023) * maven 3.5 (through May 2022) * mercurial 4.8 (through May 2022) * mysql 8 (through Apr 2023) * nginx 1.14 (through May 2021) * nodejs 10 (through Apr 2021) * openjdk 1.8.0 (through Jun 2023) * openjdk 11 (through Oct 2024) * perl 5.24 (through May 2021) * php 7.2 (through May 2021) * postgresql 10 (through May 2024) * postgresql 9.6 (through Nov 2021) * python 2.7 (through Jun 2024) * redis 5 (through May 2022) * ruby 2.5 (through Feb 2021) * scala 2.1 (through May 2022) * swig 3 (through May 2022) * varnish 6 (through May 2022)RHEL 9
See also
* Red Hat Virtualization * Stratis (configuration daemon)References
Further reading
* * * * * * * *External links
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