Top 10 Red Hat blogs from 2021

We’re all still navigating this hybrid work thing, but one thing that’s for sure is that it’s prompting us to wear more hats than we’ve ever had to. We’ve got people in system administrator and architect roles also juggling their conference call “mute monitor” hats and parenting hats—and doing it well. 

The Red Hat Blog is proud to have been a trusted hat rack for many households this year. We provided troubleshooting and security guides when you needed them and also had the opportunity to celebrate big milestones with you. Our readers wanted to know more about a wide range of topics—and we’re proud to have been your resource for everything from hybrid work to hybrid cloud. 

In this post, we invite you to take a look back at some of the most visited pages on the Red Hat Blog in 2021 (listed in no particular order).

No matter what hat you’re wearing today, rest assured that Red Hat is still Red Hat. And we’re going to continue bringing you the open source goodness you love while helping you navigate where we go from here—whether that’s from home, office or your local coffee shop. 

1. New Year, new Red Hat Enterprise Linux programs: Easier ways to access RHEL

OK, we said “in no particular order,” but what indubitably drove the most visitors to our site was our announcement on ways to access Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). If you missed it, we covered No-cost RHEL for small production workloads, No-cost RHEL for customer development teams and more. 

We also can’t forget these honorable mentions. Let’s just dub the No. 1 spot the land of Really RHELavent News.

• Extending no-cost Red Hat Enterprise Linux to open source organizations: Learn more about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for Open Source Infrastructure, a no-cost program tailored for the needs and requirements of projects, communities, standards bodies and other not-for-profit software groups. 

• What's new in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Beta

• What's new in RHEL 8.5

2. Download the original Red Hat Linux 0.9 "Halloween" release

Calling all OG Linux users! If the shiny, new stuff wasn’t your cup of tea: we do have some questions, but, we’ve also got the perfect thing for your nostalgia. As a special Halloween treat this year, we provided a download to Red Hat Linux 0.9 (beta). That 0.9 isn't a typo—that's the first publicly distributed release that got the entire Red Hat ball rolling. The ISO has all you would ever want to run Linux...if it was 1994. Join the thousands of readers who helped this post secure a seat a the Top 10 table and see it for yourself. 

3. Learn Kubernetes by Example

Kubernetes was at the top of mind for many of our readers based on the interest in our Kube by Example announcement. Kube By Example is a free online resource that provides a broad range of Kubernetes-focused tutorials, news and community interaction—all designed around a hands-on, "learn by doing" approach that allows learners to practice skills as they are taught. Get started today.

4. Red Hat closes acquisition of StackRox

Kubernetes enthusiasm might also be behind the high volume of visitors who headed to the blog to read about Red Hat’s February acquisition of StackRox, a leader and innovator in container and Kubernetes-native security. StackRox helps to simplify DevSecOps, and by integrating this technology into Red Hat OpenShift, we hope to enable users enhance cloud-native application security across every IT footprint. 

Later on in the year, many of you also read our announcement welcoming Phlyt’s team of cloud-native development experts to Red Hat. We’re excited to have the StackRox and Phlyt teams on board! 

5. STIG Security Profile in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Speaking of security, many readers found this post, in which we shared how Red Hat contributes to the creation of new SCAP content and automation, intriguing. See how you can consume the latest updates for the RHEL 7 STIG Profile to more effectively apply security hardening policies.

6. Monitoring Apache Airflow using Prometheus

Apache Airflow can send metrics using the statsd protocol. How can the statsd metrics be sent to Prometheus? It turns out that the Prometheus project comes with a statsd_exporter that functions as a bridge between statsd and Prometheus. Spurred by his search for a way to monitor Apache Airflow, Senior Architect Ales Nosek’s proof of concept might be the starting point you’ve been looking for.

7. Open RAN and O-RAN in Brief

Telco had a moment (or two) in our 2021. If you’re trying to make sense of the many names and acronyms related to the evolution of Radio Access Networks (RAN), like vRAN, open RAN, O-RAN, etc., we’ve got the article for you. Timo Jokiaho, Chief Technologist for the Global Telco Ecosystem at Red Hat, provides a thorough breakdown of the many RAN organizations, what’s being done about open RAN in the industry and how can your company participate.

8. The transition to 5G

OK, maybe we should call this the Top 10ish list. With the 5G transitioning showing up strong this year in our rankings, we have to call out these two articles:

• Building an adaptable 5G Core on an open source container platform

• Red Hat and Nokia collaborate to accelerate 5G RAN technology innovation

5G is changing how we define the infrastructure for networks—higher bandwidth, lower latency, denser connectivity or more devices potentially connected. Check out these posts to see what Red Hat and open source technology are bringing to the next evolution of telecommunications.  

9. Introducing Red Hat OpenShift Data Science

One of our big announcements coming out of Red Hat Summit this year was the introduction of Red Hat OpenShift Data Science, which provides a sandbox environment for data scientists to develop, train and test machine learning models and deploy them for use in intelligent applications. 

It wouldn’t be a Red Hat Summit without product announcements like this (and really cool guest speakers and product demos). If you missed any of it, including the also-popular introduction to Red Hat OpenShift Streams for Apache Kafka, head to the Red Hat Summit 2021 Newsroom to see how our portfolio continues to deliver on the open hybrid cloud promise.

10. Red Hat named to Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list for third year in a row

A Top 10 list just wouldn’t be as much fun without a mention of a Top 100 list. Our more than 16,000 associates based in more than 40 offices globally helped cinch Red Hat’s spot on Fortune's 2021 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For and its list of the Best Workplaces in Technology. From Red Hat Summit to our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, we couldn't be prouder of what we've all accomplished in the last year and are looking forward to all we’ll build together in the year ahead!

See you in (checks calendar) 2022

Whether you’re an avid fan of the Red Hat Blog (PS, have you met Red Hat Weekly News?) or occasionally drop in for some how-tos, we hope you can continue finding useful, insightful and maybe even mind-blowing technology information here. 

We’re recharging our batteries right now to be able to bring you even more in the new year. We hope that you’re also finding some time to relax and enjoy the last few moments of this year, but also know there are some people who recharge with some personal development. 

If catching up on this list of Top 10 posts isn’t enough to hold you over, check out some of these resources. We’re excited to continue learning and sharing with you soon!

• What is AI/ML and why does it matter to your business?

• High performance computing 101

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles series

• Preparing for a Red Hat exam: tips from our certification experts

• How does Red Hat support Day 2 operations?