Introduction
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a popular Linux-based operating system used by many businesses and organizations. Recently, Red Hat announced that RHEL is now free for small production workloads. This is great news for businesses and organizations that need a reliable and secure operating system for their production workloads but don’t have the budget to purchase a license. With RHEL now free for small production workloads, businesses and organizations can save money while still getting the same level of security and reliability that RHEL provides. This article will discuss the benefits of RHEL becoming free for small production workloads and how businesses and organizations can take advantage of this new offering.
RHEL Becomes Free for Small Production Workloads
Yes, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is now free for small production workloads. This is part of Red Hat’s commitment to making enterprise-grade open source software more accessible to developers and businesses of all sizes. The new offering, called Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Subscription, provides access to the latest version of RHEL for development and testing purposes. It also includes access to the Red Hat Customer Portal, which provides access to technical support, product documentation, and other resources. The subscription is available for free for up to 16 systems.
Introduction
News that RHEL was rebuilding its release cycle and sending CentOS 8 into early retirement was not taken lightly. Only one year after its release, Red Hat decided to cut short the CentOS 8 lifecycle by 8 years. CentOS Stream, an upstream version of Red Hat, was assigned to take its place.
As discontent among CentOS users grew, RHEL decided to address the issue and present a solution for CentOS users.
In this article, you will learn more about RHEL’s free and low-cost programs.
Introduction of No-Cost RHEL
The no-cost RHEL program (previously known as the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Subscription) has been available for some time now. However, the subscription was limited to single-machine developers. The key difference between no-cost RHEL and the subscription used by enterprises in production is that the second option is entitled to systems.
RHEL decided to modify the terms, allowing users with the Individual Developer subscription to use it for up to 16 systems. This lets you use self-supported RHEL for small production workloads for free. To do so, you need to sign in with a Red Hat account and download RHEL.
Don’t worry about hidden fees. The company emphasizes that this move is not a sales program – it is free, without any caveats.
Another issue that had to be addressed was that the RH Developer program was limited to an individual developer. Therefore, Red Hat decided to give development teams access to the program as well. You can add development teams to your existing individual subscription for free.
The new program should be available from February 1, 2021, and will also be able to run on major public clouds.
Note: The newly introduced option is a good solution for many CentOS users who weren’t ready to switch to a different operating system. However, the early CentOS 8 EOL has already led many to install Ubuntu 20.04 or Debian 10.
The Replacement for CentOS 8?
Red Hat is still in the process of figuring out how to ease the transition from CentOS’s original release cycle to the new one. Still, many issues need to be dealt with if they want to keep their customers from switching to another OS.
Currently, the company is confident that terminating CentOS 8 and moving towards CentOS Stream is the right decision. On the other hand, the no-cost RHEL changes show a need to find a better replacement for CentOS 8.
The newly established release cycle will consist of: Fedora –> CentOS Stream –> RHEL.
Conclusion
The fact that RHEL recognizes and is trying to solve some of the problems of completely moving to CentOS Stream brings hope to the large CentOS community.
Introducing no-cost RHEL and including development teams could be a step in the right direction for a smoother transition.
We will be looking closely for more changes as the company announces it is not done “delivering more ways to get RHEL easily”.
RHEL Becomes Free for Small Production Workloads
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is now available for free for small production workloads. This move is part of Red Hat’s commitment to making enterprise-grade Linux available to everyone.
RHEL is a popular choice for enterprise-level workloads, and now it is available for free for small production workloads. This means that businesses of all sizes can now benefit from the stability and reliability of RHEL without having to pay for a subscription.
The free version of RHEL is limited to 16 virtual CPUs and 2 TB of storage. It also includes access to the Red Hat Customer Portal, which provides access to the latest updates and security patches.
This move is part of Red Hat’s commitment to making enterprise-grade Linux available to everyone. It is also part of their effort to make Linux more accessible to developers and businesses of all sizes.
With RHEL now available for free for small production workloads, businesses of all sizes can now benefit from the stability and reliability of RHEL without having to pay for a subscription. This is great news for businesses that are looking to save money while still getting the most out of their Linux environment.
