Differences

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--- moving_from_rhel_to_centos_or_oracle_linux [2020/05/22 17:27] – [Deciding on a Migration Target] sgriggs
+++ moving_from_rhel_to_centos_or_oracle_linux [2020/05/22 17:41] – sgriggs
@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 So, consider these scenarios:
-  - You are tired of every system needing a subscription even to have basic package functionality. Solution: Just update to any other Linux distro (or BSD) from Red Hat except for SuSE Enterprise (which has some of the same problems).
+  - You are tired of every system needing a subscription even to have basic package functionality. **Solution:** Just update to any other Linux distro (or BSD) from Red Hat except for SuSE Enterprise (which has some of the same problems).
-  - You want a way to escape from Redhat without doing a huge dump-and-load migration on every box. Solution: Upgrade to Oracle Enterprise Linux. They have a tool that will convert Red Hat machines into OEL machines [[https://linux.oracle.com/switch.html|without having to completely wipe out the OS and start over]]. It's quite slick and it infuriates Red Hat.
+  - You want a way to escape from Redhat without doing a huge dump-and-load migration on every box. **Solution:** Upgrade to Oracle Enterprise Linux. They have a tool that will convert Red Hat machines into OEL machines [[https://linux.oracle.com/switch.html|without having to completely wipe out the OS and start over]]. It's quite slick and it infuriates Red Hat.
+  - You want better choices for advanced filesystems. Solution: Move to Debian, Devuan, Ubuntu Server, or FreeBSD and use either ZFS-on-Linux (or native ZFS in FreeBSD) or migrate to BTRFS when it stabilizes. Also, see if you might be able to get a specific feature by combining [[https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/LVM#Features|LVM2 features]] with other filesystems. For example, Reiser4 has compression support and LVM2 has thin provisioning and advanced caching.
+  - You want to move to a distro with a stable upgrade path. **Solution:** Switch to FreeBSD if possible or use a less buggy distro like Oracle Enterprise Linux (though it still has some nasty landmines during upgrades we've seen, it's better than RHEL's terrible "backup everything and hope real hard." upgrade procedure).
+===== Benefits of Migration =====
+At this point, it's very difficult to recommend Red Hat's products. There are a few exceptions where they have little or no competition, but mostly those are layered application products. So, customers who migrate will get five big benefits.
+  - Smaller costs and lower cost growth for non-production environments.
+  - More stability and some insulation from Red Hat's historically poor decisions.
+  - Direct and permanent open Internet access to your basic package repos without hassle-servers (Uh, I mean caching servers ala Satellite & Spacewalk).
+  - More stable upgrade paths between major versions
+  - Access to advanced storage technology Red Hat doesn't yet support.
+Personally, I'd also include "the satisfaction of telling your ultra-rude & aggressive salesperson that you no longer even run Redhat and please stop calling and threatening to audit or otherwise hassle you." In my personal case, I had around 600 RHEL machines convert to Oracle Enterprise Linux and Red Hat's only response was to threaten to do a forced software audit. Since we'd completely migrated every machine, it would have been a very short audit (as in "Would you like a cup of coffee before you go?", but they never actually did it (probably because they knew they had no leg to stand on).