RHEL 8 Overview: What’s Changed and What’s New – IT Exams Training

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 marks a significant evolution in enterprise-grade Linux operating systems. One of the most important areas of enhancement is the improvement in operational consistency. RHEL 8 is built with the aim of reducing administrative complexity, increasing reliability, and ensuring that system administrators and DevOps professionals can maintain standardized environments across physical, virtual, and cloud deployments. By improving the operational model, RHEL 8 empowers enterprises to scale efficiently while ensuring that systems remain predictable, secure, and easier to maintain.

Red Hat has focused on delivering a more stable and consistent experience by restructuring the OS’s internal design, simplifying how software is delivered and maintained, and offering tools that automate configuration and deployment tasks. These advancements help enterprises run mission-critical workloads with greater confidence and agility. Additionally, with ten years of guaranteed enterprise support, businesses can plan long-term deployments with a high degree of assurance.

The Application Stream Model

One of the most transformative features introduced in RHEL 8 is the concept of Application Streams, often referred to as AppStreams. This model separates user-space packages such as databases, programming languages, and development tools from the core operating system packages. Traditionally, such tools were tightly coupled with the OS version, which meant they could not be easily updated without upgrading the entire OS. This limitation is now removed with the AppStream model, providing more flexibility and a broader range of supported application versions.

AppStreams exist as separate, curated repositories, allowing system administrators to install and update individual packages as needed without disturbing the base OS. For example, an organization can run multiple versions of Python, PostgreSQL, or Node.js on the same RHEL system without risking conflicts or compatibility issues. This is particularly beneficial for organizations that rely on diverse development stacks or that need to support legacy and modern applications simultaneously. Developers gain more freedom in selecting tools, while IT teams maintain greater control over stability and consistency.

Tuned Profiles and Ansible System Roles

RHEL 8 also focuses on out-of-the-box configuration efficiency. One of the ways it does this is through the inclusion of tuned profiles, which are pre-configured settings optimized for specific workloads such as databases, virtual machines, or high-throughput computing. These profiles adjust system-level parameters like CPU governors, kernel scheduler policies, and disk I/O scheduling to align performance with workload characteristics. As a result, administrators can deploy a server for a specific purpose and immediately benefit from performance enhancements without extensive manual tuning.

In addition to tuned profiles, Red Hat has integrated Ansible system roles in RHEL 8. These roles provide a consistent, automated approach to configuring system services. For instance, tasks such as setting up network interfaces, configuring SELinux policies, or managing time synchronization can be automated using predefined roles that follow Red Hat best practices. Ansible roles ensure uniform configurations across development, testing, and production environments, reducing the potential for errors and inconsistencies.

The advantage of this system is twofold. First, it minimizes the time required to bring new systems online. Second, it promotes standardization across a fleet of servers, which is critical for maintaining operational consistency in large environments. The use of Ansible also supports infrastructure-as-code methodologies, enabling teams to document, share, and version-control their system configurations alongside application code.

DNF Package Management Enhancements

With RHEL 8, the traditional YUM package manager has undergone a major transformation. The new system, known as Dandified YUM or DNF, offers improved performance, better dependency resolution, and a cleaner API for integration with external tools. DNF is fully backward-compatible with YUM commands, making the transition easy for seasoned administrators. However, under the hood, DNF introduces advanced features that streamline package management at scale.

One of the most impactful changes is modular content support. DNF modules allow administrators to install a specific version of software and lock it in place, regardless of future upstream updates. This ensures long-term consistency for applications and avoids unexpected behavior caused by automatic updates. For instance, a system administrator can install a particular stream of PHP with defined dependencies and security policies, guaranteeing that all servers using that stream behave identically.

User feedback collected during RHEL 8 testing consistently noted that the new package manager is faster and more reliable. In large-scale deployments where hundreds or thousands of packages must be managed, even small improvements in speed and efficiency lead to significant time savings and reduced downtime.

DNF’s stable API also supports integration with third-party management tools and custom automation scripts. This feature allows for programmatic control over package installation, updates, and rollbacks, which is essential for DevOps pipelines and automated deployment workflows. In this way, DNF contributes to a more modern and flexible operational model while maintaining the robust stability that enterprise users expect from RHEL.

Red Hat Insights and Session Recording

Another substantial advancement in RHEL 8’s operational framework is the integration of Red Hat Insights. Insights is a predictive analytics and remediation platform that uses machine learning and automated rules to identify and resolve potential issues before they impact business operations. Available as a cloud-based tool, Insights analyzes configuration data, system performance, and usage patterns to detect security risks, performance bottlenecks, and compliance gaps.

By automatically flagging issues such as unpatched vulnerabilities, misconfigured services, or failing hardware components, Insights helps administrators maintain a proactive stance on system health. It also offers remediation guidance and automation scripts that can be executed directly from within the platform or via Ansible playbooks. This level of integration not only reduces response times during incidents but also enhances long-term system reliability.

Complementing Insights is the new session recording feature in RHEL 8. This functionality enables the recording and playback of user terminal sessions, offering valuable tools for both security monitoring and training. For security teams, session recording provides an auditable trail of user activity, which can be reviewed in the event of a security breach or compliance audit. The feature supports multi-user environments where role-based access is critical and can help enforce policies by identifying unauthorized or risky behavior.

In educational and training settings, session recording can be used to demonstrate configuration steps, troubleshoot common issues, or onboard new team members. By capturing real-time interactions with the system, it serves as a powerful learning tool while ensuring that best practices are followed consistently across the organization.

Operational Benefits for Modern Enterprise Environments

Together, these improvements contribute to a highly consistent and manageable operating system that aligns with modern IT practices. From automated configuration with Ansible roles to intelligent diagnostics via Red Hat Insights, RHEL 8 reduces the operational burden on system administrators while increasing visibility and control. The system is designed to work seamlessly in hybrid environments, including physical hardware, virtual machines, private clouds, and public cloud platforms.

Another key benefit is the extensibility of RHEL 8’s design. Organizations can integrate third-party tools, develop custom workflows, and adapt their operational strategies without compromising the core stability of the system. Whether deploying a handful of servers or managing thousands across global data centers, RHEL 8 offers a consistent foundation that supports agile infrastructure strategies and continuous improvement.

As enterprises move toward automation, containerization, and cloud-native application models, the operational consistency of the underlying platform becomes a critical success factor. RHEL 8 meets this demand with features that enhance predictability, simplify management, and support long-term operational excellence.

Improvements in Security in RHEL 8

Security remains a top priority for any enterprise-grade operating system, and with RHEL 8, Red Hat introduces a wide range of enhancements designed to meet the evolving demands of modern IT environments. From protecting sensitive data to enforcing system-level access controls and ensuring regulatory compliance, RHEL 8 integrates advanced security technologies that strengthen system resilience without sacrificing performance or manageability.

With cybersecurity threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, enterprises need an OS that can proactively mitigate risks while maintaining flexibility and usability. RHEL 8 rises to the challenge by offering enhanced cryptographic capabilities, smarter system auditing, improved user access controls, and tools to automate and enforce security policies across complex infrastructure.

System-Wide Cryptographic Policies

A standout security feature in RHEL 8 is the introduction of system-wide cryptographic policies. This framework provides a centralized mechanism to manage cryptographic algorithms, protocols, and libraries used across various system components and applications.

Prior to RHEL 8, configuring cryptographic settings such as TLS versions or accepted ciphers required editing configuration files individually for each application (e.g., OpenSSH, OpenSSL, GnuTLS). This was error-prone and difficult to maintain at scale. With system-wide cryptographic policies, administrators can now define a single, unified policy that automatically applies to all supported components.

RHEL 8 ships with four predefined policy levels: LEGACY, DEFAULT, FUTURE, and FIPS. These levels correspond to increasing levels of security, allowing enterprises to align cryptographic standards with organizational or regulatory requirements. For instance:

LEGACY supports older protocols for backward compatibility.
DEFAULT balances security and compatibility and is recommended for most environments.
FUTURE removes support for legacy algorithms and enforces stricter cryptographic standards.
FIPS aligns with Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS 140-2), suitable for highly regulated environments like government or finance.

By allowing a single command to switch the entire system’s cryptographic behavior (update-crypto-policies), RHEL 8 reduces administrative overhead and ensures consistent enforcement of security policies.

Enhanced SELinux Capabilities

Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) has long been a core part of Red Hat’s security model, and RHEL 8 brings notable enhancements to make SELinux more usable and powerful.

One of the key improvements is better diagnostic and troubleshooting tools for SELinux. The tool and SELinux logs now provide more human-readable error messages and actionable suggestions. These improvements help administrators identify and resolve policy violations quickly, making SELinux less intimidating for those unfamiliar with its inner workings.

In addition, RHEL 8 updates the underlying SELinux policy set to better support containers, cloud-native services, and modern workloads. With support for containerized SELinux policies, security contexts can now be applied and enforced consistently in both host and container environments, improving isolation without compromising flexibility.

For example, container runtimes such as Podman and Buildah—native to RHEL 8—work seamlessly with SELinux policies, allowing unprivileged users to run containers securely. This tight integration reduces the risk of privilege escalation and lateral movement between containers, a growing concern in cloud deployments.

These improvements reflect Red Hat’s commitment to making SELinux a practical, scalable solution for mandatory access control (MAC) in diverse IT ecosystems.

OpenSSL 1.1.1 and TLS 1.3 Support

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 introduces OpenSSL 1.1.1, which brings native support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3—the most current and secure version of the TLS protocol. TLS 1.3 offers a simplified handshake process, faster connections, and improved privacy by encrypting more of the communication process. It also removes outdated and vulnerable cryptographic features such as SHA-1 and RSA key exchange.

This update is critical for organizations aiming to future-proof their systems or adhere to evolving compliance mandates, such as PCI DSS or HIPAA, which increasingly demand stronger encryption standards.

In addition to OpenSSL, libraries such as GnuTLS and NSS in RHEL 8 also support TLS 1.3, ensuring that web servers, mail services, and custom applications can all take advantage of modern cryptography. With TLS 1.3 enabled by default, administrators benefit from improved out-of-the-box security without needing to make extensive configuration changes.

Furthermore, the unified cryptographic policy system ensures that these libraries adhere to the defined standards, maintaining compliance and reducing the risk of misconfiguration.

Secure Boot and Kernel Lockdown

With UEFI systems becoming the standard in enterprise environments, RHEL 8 takes full advantage of Secure Boot and adds support for kernel lockdown mode. These features work together to protect the integrity of the system from the boot process onward.

Secure Boot ensures that only digitally signed and trusted components are loaded at startup, preventing rootkits or malicious bootloaders from hijacking the system. RHEL 8 works with UEFI firmware to validate signatures on bootloaders, the kernel, and critical drivers. Enterprises that use signed custom kernels or modules can integrate them into this trusted chain.

In addition, the new kernel lockdown mode restricts certain kernel-level functionality when Secure Boot is enabled. For instance, even the root user is denied access to low-level hardware interfaces that could be exploited to compromise kernel memory. This is especially useful in environments with high security requirements, such as financial data centers or public cloud deployments, where host-level security must be strictly enforced.

Kernel lockdown complements SELinux and other access control measures, forming a multilayered defense against sophisticated threats targeting the kernel space.

Smart Card and Multi-Factor Authentication

RHEL 8 introduces improved support for smart cards and multifactor authentication (MFA) to help enterprises implement stronger identity verification for users accessing critical systems. This includes updated tooling and easier configuration for using smart cards like CAC (Common Access Card) or PIV (Personal Identity Verification), which are often used in government and defense environments.

The Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) framework in RHEL 8 supports integrating smart cards with other authentication factors such as passwords or one-time codes. Combined with system-wide policies, this ensures consistent enforcement across services like SSH, console logins, and graphical sessions.

Multi-factor authentication is becoming an essential part of zero-trust security models. RHEL 8’s ability to natively integrate with MFA solutions such as Red Hat Identity Management (IdM), FreeIPA, or third-party tools like Duo Security allows organizations to meet strict access control policies while improving auditability.

Automated Compliance Scanning with OpenSCAP

RHEL 8 simplifies compliance management through enhanced integration with OpenSCAP, an open-source tool for auditing and verifying system configurations against industry standards like CIS Benchmarks, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and DISA STIG.

Red Hat includes pre-configured security profiles that can be automatically applied and validated against supported regulations. For example, an organization subject to PCI-DSS can run an OpenSCAP scan that checks file permissions, package versions, and access controls against the PCI template and generates a remediation report.

These reports can be exported in formats required by auditors, and administrators can apply recommended fixes using Ansible playbooks. The ability to schedule scans and export results through tools like SCAP Workbench and Red Hat Satellite simplifies enterprise compliance workflows and helps avoid costly security violations.

Automated compliance scanning ensures systems are continuously monitored for deviations from approved baselines, greatly reducing the operational burden of manual checks.

Improvements in Application Development and Deployment in RHEL 8

As application lifecycles accelerate and cloud-native architectures become the norm, operating systems must adapt to support modern development workflows and deployment strategies. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 introduces a suite of enhancements aimed at streamlining the developer experience, accelerating application delivery, and supporting a wide range of programming environments and runtime stacks.

RHEL 8 not only improves traditional RPM-based workflows but also embraces emerging paradigms like containers, microservices, and DevOps automation. With developer-friendly tools, curated software streams, and native integration with Red Hat’s broader ecosystem, RHEL 8 provides a flexible and powerful platform for building, testing, and deploying applications across hybrid environments.

Application Streams for Language Runtimes and Developer Tools

One of the cornerstone features of RHEL 8 that directly benefits application developers is the Application Streams (AppStreams) model. Introduced to decouple user-space applications and language runtimes from the base operating system, AppStreams allow developers to choose from multiple versions of programming languages, databases, and developer tools without disrupting system stability.

For example, developers can access different versions of:

Python (2.7, 3.6, 3.8)
Node.js (10, 12, 14)
Ruby, PHP, Perl
MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB
Redis, MongoDB
GCC toolsets, LLVM/Clang

These versions are delivered via modules, each of which includes the main package, its dependencies, and update policies. Administrators or developers can enable a module stream, install a specific version, and lock it for consistency. This approach simplifies environment standardization and allows for application-specific versioning.

With AppStreams, RHEL 8 eliminates the long-standing challenge of “version lock-in” often associated with enterprise Linux. Developers get the flexibility to use up-to-date tools, while operations teams maintain tight control over package integrity and compatibility.

Native Container Tools and Podman

Containerization is a dominant force in modern application deployment, and RHEL 8 natively supports this shift with a robust set of container tools. Instead of relying on Docker, RHEL 8 introduces Podman, a next-generation container engine developed by Red Hat. Podman offers full Docker CLI compatibility but with critical improvements that align better with enterprise needs.

Key features of Podman include:

Daemonless architecture: Unlike Docker, Podman does not require a background service. Each container runs as a child process of the calling user, enhancing security and simplifying resource management.
Rootless containers: Users can create and manage containers without root privileges, minimizing the attack surface and enabling safer multitenancy on shared systems.
Systemd integration: Podman can generate systemd unit files for containers, allowing administrators to treat containers like traditional services with lifecycle management.
OCI compliance: Podman adheres to Open Container Initiative (OCI) standards, ensuring compatibility with other container runtimes and registries.

RHEL 8 also includes companion tools like:

Buildah – For building OCI-compliant images without a container daemon.
Skopeo – For inspecting and transferring container images across registries.
CRI-O – For Kubernetes-native container runtime support.

These tools collectively empower developers to build, test, and run containerized applications using lightweight, secure, and modular components directly on RHEL 8.

Compiler Toolsets and Performance Libraries

To support application performance and code optimization, RHEL 8 ships with multiple compiler toolsets. These include:

GCC 8 (default)
Additional versions available via Software Collections (SCL) and AppStreams
LLVM/Clang toolchains
GDB (GNU Debugger), Valgrind, and system profiling tools

These compilers are regularly updated and supported in parallel with the OS lifecycle, enabling developers to use newer standards (like C++17) and target modern CPU architectures without waiting for base system upgrades.

Additionally, RHEL 8 includes optimized math and performance libraries such as:

OpenBLAS
FFTW (Fast Fourier Transform library)
GSL (GNU Scientific Library)
NUMA and memory affinity tools

These libraries are critical for high-performance computing (HPC), scientific simulations, and AI/ML workloads that demand low-latency, multi-threaded operations. With these resources built-in, developers can focus on application logic rather than system-level optimization.

Universal Base Image (UBI)

Another significant innovation in RHEL 8 is the introduction of the Universal Base Image (UBI). UBI is a freely redistributable container base image derived from RHEL content. It allows developers to build and distribute containerized applications based on RHEL without requiring a subscription for end users.

Key benefits of UBI include:

Compatibility with RHEL-certified content: Developers can build applications on UBI that are guaranteed to run on RHEL and OpenShift platforms.
Freely available: UBI images are accessible from public container registries and can be used by anyone, lowering barriers to entry.
Stable and secure: Regularly updated with the same security patches and compliance standards as commercial RHEL images.

UBI supports multiple variants such as minimal, standard, and init-based images, giving developers the flexibility to choose the right footprint for their application. It also ensures consistency across dev, test, and production environments, particularly in hybrid cloud or CI/CD pipelines.

Red Hat Software Collections (SCL) and Developer Toolset (DTS)

RHEL 8 continues to support Red Hat Software Collections (SCL) and Developer Toolsets (DTS) for use cases that require even more flexibility. These collections provide newer versions of compilers, debuggers, and development libraries without affecting system-wide defaults.

With DTS, developers can:

Use newer C/C++ toolchains (e.g., GCC 9+) in parallel with the system’s default version.
Compile and debug code with cutting-edge features.
Maintain compatibility with upstream open-source projects that expect newer development stacks.

SCL and DTS are particularly useful for environments where maintaining multiple build environments or supporting legacy codebases alongside new applications is required.

Enhanced IDE and Dev Environments

To make RHEL 8 even more developer-friendly, Red Hat offers a streamlined developer experience through:

Red Hat CodeReady Studio – An Eclipse-based IDE optimized for enterprise Java and full-stack development.
Visual Studio Code integration – Through the CodeReady Containers and remote extensions, developers can code, build, and debug RHEL applications from familiar environments.
RHEL for Developers subscription – A free, self-supported license for individuals building applications to run on RHEL. It includes access to full RHEL 8 packages, container tools, and documentation.

Combined with extensive language support, documentation, and Red Hat’s open source community, these tools provide a smooth and productive environment for both novice and experienced developers.

Improvements in Performance and Scalability in RHEL 8

As enterprise workloads continue to grow in complexity and volume, performance and scalability are essential for maintaining efficiency and meeting business demands. RHEL 8 introduces a wide array of improvements that help organizations maximize system throughput, reduce latency, and scale their infrastructure across bare metal, virtualized, and cloud environments.

With optimized kernel tuning, advanced resource management, and support for emerging hardware architectures, RHEL 8 is designed to meet the performance expectations of modern data centers. Whether it’s powering large-scale database clusters, high-performance computing (HPC) environments, or container orchestration platforms like OpenShift, RHEL 8 ensures that workloads are fast, responsive, and resource-efficient.

Kernel Enhancements and Performance Tuning

At the heart of RHEL 8’s performance improvements is an upgraded Linux kernel, based on version 4.18. This kernel includes significant enhancements in memory management, I/O scheduling, and CPU scalability. It supports a larger number of CPU cores and threads per system, which is crucial for workloads that demand high concurrency, such as analytics platforms, web servers, and virtualization hosts.

RHEL 8 also introduces an improved Tuned framework, which provides pre-configured and customizable performance profiles. These profiles automatically adjust kernel parameters, CPU governor settings, disk schedulers, and network tuning based on workload type. Examples include profiles for:

Throughput-performance: Optimized for data-intensive applications.
Virtual-host: Designed for KVM and hypervisor performance.
Latency-performance: Suitable for real-time or low-latency requirements.
SAP and HPC-specific profiles for enterprise applications and scientific computing.

Administrators can easily switch between profiles using the tool, or even assign different profiles to different systems programmatically, enabling consistent optimization across fleets of machines.

NUMA and Memory Affinity Improvements

In modern multi-socket servers, Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architectures dominate. RHEL 8 brings improvements in how the OS handles memory locality in NUMA environments, helping ensure that memory allocations stay close to the CPU cores executing the associated processes. This reduces memory latency and improves performance for applications sensitive to memory access times.

Systemd, which handles service startup and management in RHEL 8, now integrates better with NUMA-aware configurations. It can bind services to specific NUMA nodes or CPUs, ensuring high-performance services stay within optimal resource zones. Combined with improved kernel scheduling and the numactl toolkit, RHEL 8 makes it easier to align applications with the physical topology of the underlying hardware.

This is particularly beneficial in use cases like in-memory databases (e.g., SAP HANA), real-time analytics, or scientific simulations, where memory placement can dramatically affect throughput.

Networking Performance Enhancements

Network performance is another key area of advancement in RHEL 8. The new kernel and updated network stack provide better handling of large-scale concurrent connections and increased throughput.

Key enhancements include:

TCP BBR congestion control algorithm: BBR (Bottleneck Bandwidth and RTT) offers better throughput and lower latency compared to traditional TCP congestion control methods like CUBIC or Reno. It is especially useful in high-bandwidth or variable-latency networks such as cloud platforms.
Improved XDP (eXpress Data Path) support: XDP allows high-performance packet processing directly in the kernel, reducing the overhead of traditional network processing. It’s ideal for use cases such as DDoS protection, load balancing, and custom firewalls.
Updated nftables framework: RHEL 8 replaces iptables with nftables as the default firewall backend. Nftables offers better performance, scalability, and manageability when defining complex network rules and filtering policies.
SR-IOV and DPDK support: For systems running in performance-critical environments like NFV (Network Functions Virtualization), RHEL 8 includes full support for Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) and the Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK), which allows applications to bypass the kernel stack entirely for ultra-low-latency packet processing.

These improvements mean that RHEL 8 can handle high-volume networking workloads more efficiently, making it suitable for modern microservices platforms, edge computing, and telecommunications environments.

Storage Scalability and File System Advancements

RHEL 8 introduces updated file systems and storage tools that contribute to both scalability and performance. Notable enhancements include:

XFS improvements: XFS remains the default file system in RHEL 8 and now includes support for larger file and volume sizes, better metadata handling, and faster parallel I/O operations. It is particularly well-suited for large-scale storage systems, such as those used for media processing or data warehousing.
Stratis Storage: RHEL 8 includes support for Stratis, a new local storage management solution that abstracts LVM and XFS to create a user-friendly interface for managing storage pools. Stratis allows for thin provisioning, snapshots, and dynamic expansion without complex manual configuration.
VDO (Virtual Data Optimizer): VDO provides data deduplication and compression at the block level, helping reduce physical storage needs. Especially in virtualized or container-heavy environments, VDO helps increase efficiency without sacrificing performance.
Improved NVMe and SSD performance: The kernel now includes more robust support for Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) devices, including NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF). This ensures that RHEL 8 systems can take full advantage of next-generation SSDs and ultra-fast storage backends.

Collectively, these features ensure that RHEL 8 can scale alongside growing data volumes and high-speed storage hardware while minimizing latency and maximizing throughput.

Scalability for Virtualization and Cloud

Virtualization remains a key use case for enterprise Linux, and RHEL 8 continues to build on its reputation as a robust hypervisor and guest OS. RHEL 8 includes:

Updated KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) with support for large guest memory (up to 4 TB) and more vCPUs per VM.
Support for VFIO (Virtual Function I/O) and SR-IOV passthrough for improved performance of virtualized network and storage devices.
Enhanced virtio drivers, improving disk and network performance in guest VMs.
Integration with Cockpit, a web-based management interface, which allows administrators to create, manage, and monitor virtual machines through an intuitive GUI.

These updates ensure that RHEL 8 scales effectively in both small virtual labs and large, multi-host clusters—whether deployed on-premises, in private clouds, or as part of a hybrid infrastructure.

Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) and Resource Monitoring

For organizations that require real-time visibility into system performance, RHEL 8 includes Performance Co-Pilot (PCP). PCP is a powerful framework for monitoring and analyzing performance metrics across multiple systems and over long periods.

Key features include:

Metrics collection: PCP can gather thousands of metrics from the kernel, user-space applications, containers, and services.
Archive and replay: Performance data can be stored for historical analysis or replayed to simulate past system behavior.
Grafana integration: PCP can be integrated with Grafana dashboards for rich visualization, enabling DevOps and SRE teams to quickly identify trends, anomalies, or regressions.
pmproxy and pmcd daemons: These components allow remote and distributed monitoring, making PCP suitable for use across entire data centers.

With these tools, administrators and developers gain a deeper understanding of system behavior under load, enabling more informed decisions around scaling, capacity planning, and performance tuning.

Conclusion

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 represents a major leap forward in enterprise operating systems, striking a balance between cutting-edge innovation and the rock-solid stability that Red Hat is known for. Designed with the realities of modern IT in mind—cloud-native applications, hybrid infrastructure, containerization, DevOps practices, and heightened security threats—RHEL 8 equips organizations with the tools they need to build, deploy, and manage complex workloads with confidence.

Through features like Application Streams, Podman and rootless containers, system-wide cryptographic policies, enhanced SELinux integration, and performance-tuned profiles, RHEL 8 not only modernizes the Linux experience but also preserves backward compatibility and long-term support that enterprises depend on.

Its adaptability across environments—bare metal, virtual machines, containers, private and public cloud—makes it a versatile choice for businesses undergoing digital transformation. And with intelligent management capabilities like Red Hat Insights, Ansible automation, and Performance Co-Pilot, it empowers IT teams to proactively optimize performance, security, and compliance.

In short, RHEL 8 is not just an upgrade—it’s a strategic platform built for the future of enterprise computing. Whether you’re managing legacy applications, building cloud-native microservices, or scaling infrastructure globally, RHEL 8 offers the reliability, performance, and innovation necessary to meet those challenges head-on.