Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the dominant distribution used by commercial organizations today. But did you know that there's a functionally-compatible alternative that offers options when it comes to licensing, support, and cost effectiveness? Whether you're thinking about moving away from RHEL or have already made the decision, this webinar gives you the background, proof points, and data to justify why moving to CentOS makes sense. At the end of this presentation, you will have all the data you need to consider for an enterprise Linux migration activity and reasons why CentOS is a viable, cost-effective solution.

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Enterprise Linux: Justify
your migration from Red
Hat to CentOS
David Gewirtz
TechRepublic
Rod Cope
Rogue Wave Software

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Presenters
Rod Cope
CTO, Rogue Wave Software
rod.cope@roguewave.com
Twitter: @rodcope
David Gewirtz
TechRepublic
Twitter: @DavidGewirtz

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Agenda
• The state of enterprise Linux
• Challenges with RHEL
• CentOS as a viable alternative
• Comparing CentOS & RHEL
• A roadmap for migration
• Q & A

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The state of enterprise Linux

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Watch the webinar

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What is enterprise Linux?
A distribution of Linux that’s designed for the enterprise
• Used in mission-critical enterprise apps in the data center
• Proven track record
o Reliability
o Manageability
o Availability of support to meet enterprise SLAs
• Expensive, ever-rising costs
• Several options
All marks are the property of their respective owners

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Selecting an enterprise Linux
• Compatibility with major enterprise apps
• Ability to get support, training, certification
• Cost: License, support, maintenance

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Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®
The de-facto standard for enterprise deployments

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Challenges with RHEL

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Cost
• Cost is a noticeable burden, often $1m+
• As usage volume increases, pricing escalates​
• Over charging in dynamic environments​
– Elastic​
– VM​
– Container

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Deployment options
• Subscription required for every instance adds
unnecessary cost and is an out dated practice
• Multi-year commitments for entire Linux infrastructure
reinforce lock-in
• May have to purchase same level of support (e.g.,
production) for every instance

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Business practices
• Using other Linux distributions with RHEL leads to audit
threats
• Renewals:
– May inundate users with 100’s of SKU’s of varying
configurations at various price points
– May oversimplify quotes, omitting list price or even
line items

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CentOS as a viable alternative

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What is CentOS?
Red Hat
releases
(commercial paid)
Community repackaging
• Remove branding
• Remove links to Red Hat Network
• Recompile binaries
CentOS
source code
(free)
B i n a r y c o m p a t i b l e
Main project
(free)
Community Enterprise Operating System

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Why is RHEL the incumbent?
• First to market
• Recognizable brand
• Commercial-level support
• Long track record

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Comparing CentOS & RHEL

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Binary equivalent
Functionally the same
Red Hat
releases Community repackaging
CentOS
source code
B i n a r y c o m p a t i b l e

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Support
• Direct access to Tier 3/4 enterprise architects
– No escalation path required
• Guaranteed SLAs
• Expertise across all critical packages
• Patches & hotfixes hosted on dedicated repository

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Cost comparison
• Large enterprise mobile communications company
– RHEL costs = license + support
– CentOS costs = support only
– 78%+ savings in total cost
– $23.5M saved annually
RHEL support compared to Rogue Wave CentOS Support
Over 50% savings common across customers

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A roadmap for migration

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Why migrate to CentOS?
• Cost savings
• Improved flexibility
• Equivalent quality
Functionally equivalent, more cost-effective

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Common migration concerns
• Where can I get support? Enterprise SLA? As good as Red Hat?
• How will I keep RHEL & CentOS deployments in sync?
• Will the migration affect our Red Hat relationship?
• How do I get started? With less risky instances:
– Remote and isolated with static configurations
– Dev/test/pilot: not revenue generating
– Public cloud management
• How do I plan the change? How long does it take? What do I do?

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Next steps towards migration
Learn how to:
• Plan the best migration path
• Identify and mitigate migration risks before they happen
• Determine the cost and risk savings by switching to CentOS
Webinar series:
How to migrate from Red Hat to CentOS successfully
roguewave.com/CentOSeventsRegister now:

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Watch the webinar

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Q&A

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Join us for more
Nov. 1: Plan a successful enterprise Linux Migration
Calculate the costs of migration and create a migration roadmap with the steps, risks, and plans
discussed in this webinar.
Nov. 15: Walk through an enterprise Linux migration
Gain valuable migration training experience with this side-by-side, step-by-step walkthrough moving
from RHEL and CentOS.
Webinar series:
How to migrate from Red Hat to CentOS successfully
roguewave.com/CentOSeventsRegister now:

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