Red Hat Unleashes Linux Enterprise Services at LinuxWorld

Red Hat

At the opening of LinuxWorld here on Tuesday, the Research Triangle Park, N.C., Linux software company unveiled a series of enterprise services designed to enable large corporations to securely and easily manage Red Hat Linux deployments over the Web.

The company, which currently operates a systems management service called Red Hat Network, launched at the show Red Hat Workgroup, Red Hat Network Proxy Server and Red Hat Network Satellite. These are the first in a series of new Red Hat enterprise services to be unveiled in the coming months, the company said. Red Hat Network, unveiled last year, now has 400,000 subscribers, according to the company.

Red Hat Workgroup adds a number of new features, including system grouping, which enables administrators to group workload-focused systems such as Web servers or database servers together and manage them by common configurations. It also allows administrators to gain rights to specific system groups in an effort to ease the burden of systems management in large enterprises.

Another new service, the Red Hat Network Proxy Server, caches software code for distribution across an intranet securely while maintaining a single, secure connection to Red Hat Network. Red Hat Network Satellite, meanwhile, is a custom-built system designed for maximum security. The satellite Web interface can be disconnected from the Internet and served from a local server, giving customers maximum control over their connection to Red Hat Network, executives said.

Red Hat's network services, like Caldera Systems' Volution management server, will enhance Linux's enterprise chances, one solution provider said. "This is great for large corporations implementing dozens of servers and trying to maintain them," said Rich Figer, vice president at S.B. Stone, a systems integrator in Cleveland that provides Linux solutions for Red Hat's competitor, Caldera. "Overall, it is good for the Linux market because what starts at the top trickles to the bottom."