Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Announced as the Next-Gen Backbone of Enterprise IT

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is undoubtedly a significant player in the open-source enterprise ecosystem.

If you didn’t know, IBM acquired it for $34 Billion in 2019. So, it is safe to say that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 was the last major release before the acquisition.

There have been several updates to RHEL 8 over the years. 

Finally, Red Hat announced the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 as the next-gen upgrade to power up enterprise IT infrastructure. 

Here, let me highlight the key additions to the release.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: What’s New?

Note that the platform will be generally available in the coming weeks. But, now that it is officially announced, it should not take long.

If you are a Linux desktop user and aren’t concerned about cloud innovation, you will find numerous technical jargon. You will need to refer to Red Hat’s official documentation to know more about them.

If you’re already using CentOS Stream, you might have an idea about the RHEL 9 upgrade.

Yes, RHEL 9 is the first production release built from CentOS Stream.

As per the press release, the new version focuses on two different capabilities:

• Comprehensive edge management, delivered as a service, to oversee and scale remote deployments with greater control and security functionality, encompassing zero-touch provisioning, system health visibility, and more responsive vulnerability mitigations all from a single interface.
• Automatic container roll-back with Podman, Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s integrated container management technology, which can automatically detect if a newly-updated container fails to start and then roll the container back to the previous working version.

Other key highlights include:

• A new image builder service.
• Integration with AWS Graviton processors.
• Improvements to address hardware-level security vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown.
• Introducing a new integrity measurement architecture.
• WireGuard VPN technology is available as an unsupported technology preview.
• Improved automation.
• Python 3.9
• Node.js 16
• Linux Kernel 5.14

You can refer to RHEL 9 beta release notes to know more about the release.

Wrapping Up

While the release may not feature the latest and greatest technologies, updated features and capabilities should help provide enhanced support for newer IT requirements.

The latest version should be available in the coming weeks via the Red Hat Customer portal and cloud provider marketplaces. You can check the pricing for Linux platforms on the official site if you’re new.

Of course, you can also get free access to it for some systems to test through the Red Hat Developer programs.