Migrate to Red Hat Enterprise Linux from CentOS Linux

October 14, 2021•
Resource type: Datasheet
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Choosing the best operating system for your organization is key to your success

It may be tempting to go with an unpaid, unsupported option under the guise of saving money. But Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® has a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) over time—and it streamlines the conversion, maintenance, and overall management for your IT team. Convert to Red Hat Enterprise Linux and also enjoy life-cycle support, a large partner ecosystem, and built-in security features whether you’re running on premise or in the cloud.

Table 1. 10 considerations for migrating to a new operating system

Consideration Red Hat Enterprise Linux benefit
1. Streamlined migration time

The Red Hat migration tool, Convert2RHEL, removes challenges facing IT teams during conversion so you can migrate with minimal disruption to your organization. It automatically determines the conversion path based on architecture, replaces original packages with Red Hat versions, and converts the existing operating system (OS) to the latest Red Hat Enterprise Linux minor version.

  • Convert2RHEL is fully supported so it:
  • Helps avoid costly redeployment projects. 
  • Maintains existing customizations, configurations, and preferences. 
  • Takes advantage of the entire Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription.

These benefits are not available with no-cost distributions.
2. In-place upgrade tools A Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription offers in-place upgrade tools to reduce risk and ensure successful upgrades when needed. The Leapp command-line interface (CLI) tool provides a preupgrade analysis that offers application compatibility and remediation guidance, streamlining the process. When ready, Leapp can perform the upgrade in minutes while maintaining your customizations, configurations, and preferences.
3. Management tools and expertise Red Hat Insights, included in your Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription, delivers analytics, automation, and other management tools to increase efficiencies and performance. It can help you keep your systems up to date and configured properly. Red Hat Insights gathers configuration and usage data sent from your deployment, and it uses rule-based analytical models to provide insights into your data. These analytical models are often directly sourced from Red Hat engineering and support cases.
4. Extensive partner ecosystem Use your preferred hardware, software, and cloud vendors. Red Hat partners with 5,000+ certified third-party hardware vendors, 4,500+ certified third-party software vendors, and 140+ certified cloud providers to meet the needs of your business. All are Red Hat Enterprise Linux compatible.
5. Cost savings According to IDC, organizations that purchase Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions versus using a free, unsupported OS realize a 573% three-year return on investment (ROI).1
6. Life-cycle options and predictable updates A Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription includes up to 10 years of updates and support—including access to advanced security features, patches, and guidance—for major releases. It also provides patches and support for minor releases for up to 24 months and binary compatibility between releases, so you can plan for long-term success.
7. Security and compliance Certified to stringent security standards, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is built to protect your organization from malicious attacks. Its security certifications include Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2, Common Criteria (CC), and Secure Technical Implementation Guidelines (STIG).
8. Reduced downtime A Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription reduces unplanned downtime by providing access to live kernel patches to remediate security vulnerabilities without the need to reboot. Because Red Hat Insights is included with the subscription, you are notified about configuration issues that could affect reliability and performance before they cause unplanned downtime.
9. Product roadmap Access to product roadmaps gives you an advantage in planning your environment, resources, and future IT investments. You can even influence development through feature requests. Some of Red Hat’s best ideas come from customers who requested and collaborated on certain features.
10. Full support

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a fully supported production grade OS built on a security-focused foundation. Our support team delivers enterprisegrade support resources and tools to keep your business running. Our offerings include:

  • Specialty-based routing.
  • Personalized guidance.
  • Multivendor, online, and global follow-the-sun support.

Red Hat offers value, collaboration, and confidence

Red Hat’s extensive Knowledgebase has been built over many years by our experienced customer support team and includes access to reference architectures, documentation, videos, and collaborative discussions with Red Hat experts. Access to this documented knowledge gives Red Hat Enterprise Linux customers a vast array of reliable resources. Equip your organization to function at its best with the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform and an experienced support team you can trust.

For information on new programs and subscriptions designed to make Red Hat Enterprise Linux more accessible, view the CentOS migrations page.

  1. IDC White Paper, sponsored by Red Hat. “The Business Value of Red Hat Solutions Compared to Unpaid Alternatives.” #US47607721, April 2021.

Key benefits

  • Simplified conversion and minimal disruption during migration
  • Stability and a solid IT foundation for business resilience
  • Production-grade operating system for stability, support, and security
  • Support and expertise to back up your IT team
  • Large partner ecosystem to support your vendor choices
  • Life-cycle support and version flexibility to extend Red Hat Enterprise Linux value over time
  • Product roadmaps you can count on
  • Proactive analytics to reduce risk across your enterprise