Red Hat introduces latest versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat, Inc., an open source solutions provider, released Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1, the latest version of the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform. These minor versions, along with the recently announced Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.7, add and refine capabilities for a wide range of enterprise IT needs, from helping to streamline complex infrastructure environments to improving the security stance of containerized applications.

According to Forrester Research’s Predictions 2023: Cloud Computing, “40% of firms will take a cloud-native-first strategy,” adding that “rather than plow resources into VMs, organizations will accelerate investment in Kubernetes as a distributed compute backbone for current applications as well as new workloads that can run more efficiently in K8s environments in a range of technology domains…” 1 This anticipated investment, according to Red Hat, necessitates a common foundation that spans these technology domains, which Red Hat Enterprise Linux has continued to provide.

Open innovation without sacrificing IT infrastructure security

Regardless of the environment, nearly every organization is concerned about IT system security. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 and 8.7 prioritize these requirements by providing operating system images that are pre-configured to meet organization-specific system security requirements. IT teams can specify an OpenSCAP security profile when extending Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployments with image builder by enabling security compliance profiles in image builder blueprint files, delivering operating system images that meet IT security and compliance requirements from installation.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s most recent releases add multi-level security (MLS) support for agencies and other sensitive operations, allowing them to better document and control classification requirements. Administrators can also use new attestation technology to ensure that their operating system boots with validated, unmodified components, thereby limiting potential threat vectors.

Red Hat Insights now includes a malware detection capability that can scan Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems for known vulnerabilities or malicious code. Additionally, as a technical preview, Sigstore technology is now integrated into Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s native container tools. This allows users to sign and verify code signatures using local keys, which improves software security in hybrid environments.

Flexibility from datacenter to clouds to edge

Hybrid cloud strategies demand that IT organizations be able to run workloads wherever and however needed, especially as business needs evolve. Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides the flexibility to innovate across workloads and footprints, with versions 9.1 and 8.7 making it easier to manage innovation at hybrid cloud scale, with features such as:

• Updated Red Hat Enterprise Linux system roles to make it easier to automate and standardize manual tasks for Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployments across the hybrid cloud. New enhancements include automation support via Ansible and Redfish to better manage underlying hardware as well as multiple quality of life tweaks across nearly all other roles.
• PHP 8.1 (available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1), a significant update of the PHP language, as a certified, validated and supported Application Stream. This enables enterprise developers to deliver critical applications with the latest tools without risking platform stability.

Hybrid cloud innovation paired with greater reliability and stability

As enterprise IT environments encompass an ever-evolving set of services, hardware and processes, enforcing the reliability and stability of these environments is paramount for CIOs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux delivers tools and capabilities to help drive the reliability and stability that IT organizations need for hybrid cloud computing, with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 and 8.7 adding:

• Support for Extended Update Support (EUS) releases via Convert2RHEL and Leapp in-place upgrades, making it easier for operations teams to plan for and ultimately migrate in a repeatable, consistent and standardized way to the latest versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, anywhere across the hybrid cloud. 
• Containerized application performance diagnostics via the Red Hat Enterprise Linux web console to help users understand where hardware bottlenecks exist and what processes or applications are consuming the most resources, even if those processes exist in a container.
• Support for embedding containers, including UBI, into image builder blueprints which enables IT teams to create operating system images that embed a container image pulled from the associated container registry. This allows for containerized applications or processes to be used immediately upon booting up the image.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s most recent versions continue to provide access to Red Hat Insights, a predictive analytics service based on Red Hat’s extensive domain expertise in enterprise Linux. Proactive recommendations for edge computing devices, auto-registration for public cloud instances, enhanced subscription tracking, and other new Insights capabilities are now available to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 and 8.7 users.