Chapter 1. Overview Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Red Hat Customer Portal (2024)

Red Hat Training

A Red Hat training course is available for RHEL 8

Based on Fedora 28 and the upstream kernel 4.18, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 provides users with a stable, secure, consistent foundation across hybrid cloud deployments with the tools needed to support traditional and emerging workloads. Highlights of the release include:

Distribution

  • Content is available through the BaseOS and Application Stream (AppStream) repositories.
  • The AppStream repository supports a new extension of the traditional RPM format - modules. This allows for multiple major versions of a component to be available for install.

See Chapter3, Distribution of content in RHEL 8 for more information.

Software Management

  • The YUM package manager is now based on the DNF technology and it provides support for modular content, increased performance, and a well-designed stable API for integration with tooling.

See Section5.1.4, “Software management” for more details.

Shells and command-line tools

See Section5.1.6, “Shells and command-line tools” for details.

Dynamic programming languages, web and database servers

  • Python 3.6 is the default Python implementation in RHEL 8; limited support for Python 2.7 is provided. No version of Python is installed by default.
  • Node.js is new in RHEL. Other dynamic programming languages have been updated since RHEL 7: PHP 7.2, Ruby 2.5, Perl 5.26, SWIG 3.0 are now available.
  • The following database servers are distributed with RHEL 8: MariaDB 10.3, MySQL 8.0, PostgreSQL 10, PostgreSQL 9.6, and Redis 5.
  • RHEL 8 provides the Apache HTTP Server 2.4 and introduces a new web server, nginx 1.14.
  • Squid has been updated to version 4.4, and a new proxy caching server is now included: Varnish Cache 6.0.

See Section5.1.7, “Dynamic programming languages, web and database servers” for more information.

Desktop

  • GNOME Shell has been rebased to version 3.28.
  • The GNOME session and the GNOME Display Manager use Wayland as their default display server. The X.Org server, which is the default display server in RHEL 7, is available as well.

See Section5.1.8, “Desktop” for more information.

Installer and image creation

  • The Anaconda installer can utilize LUKS2 disk encryption, and install the system on NVDIMM devices.
  • The Image Builder tool enables users to create customized system images in a variety of formats, including images prepared for deployment on clouds of various providers.
  • Installation from a DVD using Hardware Management Console (HMC) and Support Element (SE) on IBM Z are available in RHEL 8.

See Section5.1.2, “Installer and image creation” for further details.

Kernel

  • The extended Berkeley Packet Filtering (eBPF) feature enables the user space to attach custom programs onto a variety of points (sockets, trace points, packet reception) to receive and process data. This feature is available as a Technology Preview.
  • BPF Compiler Collection (BCC), a tool for creating efficient kernel tracing and manipulation programs, is available as a Technology Preview.

See Section5.3.1, “Kernel” for more information.

File systems and storage

  • The LUKS version 2 (LUKS2) format replaces the legacy LUKS (LUKS1) format. The dm-crypt subsystem and the cryptsetup tool now uses LUKS2 as the default format for encrypted volumes.

See Section5.1.12, “File systems and storage” for more information.

Security

  • System-wide cryptographic policies, which configures the core cryptographic subsystems, covering the TLS, IPsec, SSH, DNSSEC, and Kerberos protocols, are applied by default. With the new update-crypto-policies command, the administrator can easily switch between modes: default, legacy, future, and fips.
  • Support for smart cards and Hardware Security Modules (HSM) with PKCS #11 is now consistent across the system.

See Section5.1.15, “Security” for more information.

Networking

  • The nftables framework replaces iptables in the role of the default network packet filtering facility.
  • The firewalld daemon now uses nftables as its default backend.
  • Support for IPVLAN virtual network drivers that enable the network connectivity for multiple containers has been introduced.
  • The eXpress Data Path (XDP), XDP for Traffic Control (tc), and Address Family eXpress Data Path (AF_XDP), as parts of the extended Berkeley Packet Filtering (eBPF) feature, are available as Technology Previews. For more details, see Section5.3.7, “Networking” in Technology Previews.

See Section5.1.14, “Networking” in New features for additional features.

Virtualization

  • A more modern PCI Express-based machine type (Q35) is now supported and automatically configured in virtual machines created in RHEL 8. This provides a variety of improvements in features and compatibility of virtual devices.
  • Virtual machines can now be created and managed using the RHEL 8 web console, also known as co*ckpit.
  • The QEMU emulator introduces the sandboxing feature, which provides configurable limitations to what systems calls QEMU can perform, and thus makes virtual machines more secure.

See Section5.1.16, “Virtualization” for more information.

Compilers and development tools

  • The GCC compiler based on version 8.2 brings support for more recent C++ language standard versions, better optimizations, new code hardening techniques, improved warnings, and new hardware features.
  • Various tools for code generation, manipulation, and debugging can now experimentally handle the DWARF5 debugging information format.
  • Kernel support for eBPF tracing is available for some tools, such as BCC, PCP, and SystemTap.
  • The glibc libraries based on version 2.28 add support for Unicode 11, newer Linux system calls, key improvements in the DNS stub resolver, additional security hardening, and improved performance.
  • RHEL 8 provides OpenJDK 11, OpenJDK 8, IcedTea-Web, and various Java tools, such as Ant, Maven, or Scala.

See Section5.1.11, “Compilers and development tools” for additional details.

High availability and clusters

  • The Pacemaker cluster resource manager has been upgraded to upstream version 2.0.0, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements.
  • In RHEL 8, the pcs configuration system fully supports Corosync 3, knet, and node names.

See Section5.1.13, “High availability and clusters” for more information.

Additional resources

  • Capabilities and limits of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 as compared to other versions of the system are available in the Knowledgebase article Red Hat Enterprise Linux technology capabilities and limits.
  • Information regarding the Red Hat Enterprise Linux life cycle is provided in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle document.
  • The Package manifest document provides a package listing for RHEL 8.
  • Major differences between RHEL 7 and RHEL 8 are documented in Considerations in adopting RHEL 8.
  • Instructions on how to perform an in-place upgrade from RHEL 7 to RHEL 8 are provided by the document Upgrading from RHEL 7 to RHEL 8.
  • Crrently supported upgrade paths are listed in Supported in-place upgrade paths for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
  • The Red Hat Insights service, which enables you to proactively identify, examine, and resolve known technical issues, is now available with all RHEL subscriptions. For instructions on how to install the Red Hat Insights client and register your system to the service, see the Red Hat Insights Get Started page.

Red Hat Customer Portal Labs

RedHat Customer Portal Labs is a set of tools in a section of the Customer Portal available at https://access.redhat.com/labs/. The applications in RedHat Customer Portal Labs can help you improve performance, quickly troubleshoot issues, identify security problems, and quickly deploy and configure complex applications. Some of the most popular applications are:

  • Registration Assistant
  • Kickstart Generator
  • Product Life Cycle Checker
  • RedHat Product Certificates
  • RedHat Satellite Upgrade Helper
  • Red Hat CVE Checker
  • JVM Options Configuration Tool
  • Load Balancer Configuration Tool
  • RedHat Code Browser
  • Yum Repository Configuration Helper
Chapter 1. Overview Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Red Hat Customer Portal (2024)

FAQs

What is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8? ›

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the world's leading enterprise Linux platform, now optimized for development. With new developer-centric features like container tools, advanced language support, and application streams, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (RHEL) is the most developer friendly Linux ever.

Is RHEL 8.6 still supported? ›

Current End of Extended Update Support for RHEL 8.6 is 31 May 2024. Current End of Maintenance Support for RHEL 8.7 is 31 May 2023. Current End of Extended Update Support for RHEL 8.8 is 31 May 2025.

What is Red Hat Enterprise Linux short note? ›

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is an enterprise Linux operating system (OS) developed by Red Hat for the business market. RHEL, formerly known as Red Hat Linux Advanced Server, is certified with thousands of vendors and across hundreds of clouds.

What is the difference between Red Hat Linux and Linux? ›

How is RedHat Enterprise Linux different from Linux? RHEL is an operating system that uses (the) Linux (kernel) as one component, the kernel. But it contains other stuff too, like the actual userspace programs that are necessary to use the kernel in any meaningful way. Plus it packages applications programs.

What is Red Hat Linux good for? ›

Today, Red Hat Enterprise Linux supports and powers software and technologies for automation, cloud, containers, middleware, storage, application development, microservices, virtualization, management, and more. Linux plays a major role as the core of many of Red Hat's offerings.

Who uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux? ›

Companies Currently Using Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
Company NameWebsiteSub Level Industry
UPSups.comFreight & Logistics Services
Magellan Aerospacemagellan.aeroAirlines, Airports & Air Services
Harris Corporationl3harris.comAerospace & Defense
Saint-Gobainsaint-gobain.comGlass & Clay
2 more rows

Is Red Hat 8 end of life support? ›

Full Support will end for RHEL 8 on the 31st of May 2024. The product will enter its Maintenance Support stage meaning it will still receive updates for security advisories and high-priority bug fixes, but no new functionality or hardware enablement will be provided.

What replaced Yum in RHEL 8? ›

Dnf was first developed and tested on Fedora, which replaced yum way back in 2015 with Fedora 22. Only five years later, in 2019, did RHEL, and by extension CentOS, migrate away from yum to dnf. With RHEL 8 and CentOS 8, both operating systems replaced yum.

When was Red Hat Linux discontinued? ›

In 2003, Red Hat discontinued the Red Hat Linux line in favor of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for enterprise environments. Fedora Linux, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat, is a free-of-cost alternative intended for home use.

Is Red Hat Enterprise Linux a server? ›

Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® Server is the most popular variant of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server is the operating system: incredibly simple to control, easy to administer, and can be deployed on physical hardware systems, on virtual machines, or in the cloud—wherever it's needed.

What is the bootloader used with Red Hat Enterprise Linux? ›

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 boot loader is GRUB 2 . You can change several parts of GRUB 2 's appearance.

Which Linux distro is closest to Red Hat? ›

CentOS is a free, community-driven Linux distribution that is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It provides users with a stable and predictable platform, and it's widely used in web hosting environments.

Does Red Hat Linux require a license? ›

As long as there is an active subscription of RHEL, all servers running RHEL require an active subscription (also known as the “all or nothing rule”). Each server may require one or multiple subscription SKUs depending on the number of sockets the physical host has.

Which is better, Red Hat or Ubuntu? ›

Moreover, Ubuntu provides free support for desktop users but offers commercial support for server and enterprise deployments. On the other side, Red Hat Linux follows a more traditional release cycle, with major releases every 6-8 months.

What is the difference between Oracle enterprise Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux? ›

Oracle Linux is licensed under the GNU GPL and several other licenses. On the other hand, RHEL offers a variety of free software licenses and proprietary binary blobs. Oracle Linux is mostly utilized for enterprise and cloud computing.

What is the current version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux? ›

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 is our latest release, but with access to all supported versions and a 10 year life cycle, you can upgrade on your schedule and adopt new features when needed.

What are the benefits of RHEL 8? ›

Intelligent operating system

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 offers built-in manageability and integration with Red Hat management and automation products. Every active Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription includes access to Red Hat Insights.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Msgr. Benton Quitzon

Last Updated:

Views: 6202

Rating: 4.2 / 5 (63 voted)

Reviews: 94% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Msgr. Benton Quitzon

Birthday: 2001-08-13

Address: 96487 Kris Cliff, Teresiafurt, WI 95201

Phone: +9418513585781

Job: Senior Designer

Hobby: Calligraphy, Rowing, Vacation, Geocaching, Web surfing, Electronics, Electronics

Introduction: My name is Msgr. Benton Quitzon, I am a comfortable, charming, thankful, happy, adventurous, handsome, precious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.