Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux at a glance

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is one of the two major commercial enterprise distributions, dominant in large organizations. Red Hat ships minor releases per major version plus continuous security errata; each major version carries a long, clearly defined support lifecycle.

For admins the lifecycle is the story: minor updates are routine (dnf; staged via Satellite), while major-version upgrades (leapp) are planned migrations. Live-patching reduces kernel reboots. Track the end-of-support dates and the phase (Full/Maintenance Support) per version. Errata should be applied promptly, prioritizing security advisories. A valid subscription is required for updates. Before major upgrades, check third-party software and driver compatibility and test critical applications. RHEL's long, predictable lifecycle is its core value for production.