Red Hat has introduced new capabilities and enhancements to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Generally available in the coming weeks, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 refines the platform’s role as a lightweight, production grade operating system for edge deployments, adding new Linux container, deployment and management capabilities scaled for the needs of edge computing.

According to the company, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the established foundation for the Red Hat Edge initiative, which aims to extend the capabilities of Red Hat’s open hybrid cloud portfolio to the edge, from telecommunications and transportation to smart automobiles and enterprise devices.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 helps maintain standardization and control across these images, starting with updates to Podman, Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s open standards-based container engine.

Also, the latest version adds new functionality to Image Builder, a tool that creates customized, deployable operating system images for a variety of uses. For edge computing workloads, Image Builder now supports the creation of installation media tailored for bare metal, which helps IT teams maintain a common foundation even across disconnected edge environments.

The Red Hat Universal Base Image (UBI), Red Hat Enterprise Linux userspace content that can be run inside containers, has also received enhancements in the latest release.

Moreover, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 benefits from new, powerful additions to Red Hat Insights, Red Hat’s proactive management offering, to help bolster IT security, system analysis and management of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. Red Hat Insights is available by default with all active Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform subscriptions.
Availability

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 is scheduled to be generally available in the coming weeks via the Red Hat customer portal.