Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Release Candidate Now Available

In December 2013, we announced the beta availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, describing it as our most ambitious release to date and a platform that we believe represents the future of IT. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 builds upon our reputation for delivering the foundation of next-generation IT infrastructure, as no other Linux operating system combines the flexibility and stability needed to handle critical workloads across all environments with as extensive an ecosystem of solutions and support. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 is designed to provide the underpinning for future application architectures while providing the flexibility, scalability, and performance needed to deploy across bare metal systems, virtual machines, and cloud infrastructure.

The beta release has been an amazing success. Since we began last December, we've had thousands of customers using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 beta, and tens of thousands of beta downloads. In addition to the public beta program, we undertook a high-touch beta program, where select customers were asked to test specific capabilities. We've taken their feedback and improved a few things even further, as is always the goal of a beta program. More importantly, the beta release validated that we are on the cusp of bringing an exciting new release to the market—one that we expect will redefine the enterprise operating system.

Today, we are pleased to announce another milestone, with the availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Release Candidate (RC). A pre-release build of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RC offers a near-final look at the only operating system crafted for the open hybrid cloud, building upon the feedback collected during the beta program for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RC retains the key capabilities that have made Red Hat Enterprise Linux synonymous with security and stability in the open enterprise world, like SELinux, while also providing the flexibility and agility required in an operating system to tackle the challenges of modern infrastructure and next-generation computing.

Key features in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RC include:

• Expanded Windows interoperability capabilities, including integration with Microsoft Active Directory domains;
• Significant file system enhancements, including XFS as the default, scaling to support file systems up to 500 TB;
• Improved subsystem management through OpenLMI;
• Virtual machine (VM) migration from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 hosts to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 hosts without downtime or VM modification;
• With an expansion of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 High-Touch Beta program, participants will have access to Docker container support with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RC.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RC is available immediately to our strategic partners, including OEM and ISV partners, to help facilitate full certification of their applications and systems with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. In an unprecedented step, we are not limiting the availability of the RC to partners; during the week of April 21, 2014, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RC will be made available to the public as well, allowing interested users at all levels to try out a release that incorporates the improvements made over the course of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 beta program.