Red Hat, Inc., provider of open source solutions, has announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host, an operating system optimized for running the next generation of applications with Linux containers. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host provides all of the components necessary to easily package and run applications written for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 as containers.
As monolithic stacks give way to applications comprised of microservices, a container-based architecture can help enterprises to more fully realize the benefits of this more nimble, composable approach. Based on the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host enables enterprises to embrace a container-based architecture, reaping the benefits of development and deployment flexibility and simplified maintenance, without sacrificing performance, stability, security, or the value of Red Hat’s vast certified ecosystem.
An application architecture based on Linux containers requires not only the tools to build and run containers, but also an underlying foundation that is secure, reliable, and enterprise-grade, with an established lifecycle designed to meet the ongoing requirements of the enterprise over the long term. These requirements include mitigation of security concerns, ongoing product enhancements, proactive diagnostics, and access to support. Red Hat is committed to offering enterprises a complete and integrated container-based infrastructure solution, combining container-based application packaging with robust, optimized infrastructure that will enable easy movement of Red Hat Enterprise Linux-certified applications across bare metal systems, virtual machines and private and public clouds – all of this with the product and security lifecycle that enterprise customers require. The release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host delivers on Red Hat’s intent to make Linux containers a stable and reliable component of enterprise IT across the open hybrid cloud.
The Enterprise-Ready Container Host
Specifically designed to run Linux containers, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host delivers only the operating system components required to run a containerized application, reducing overhead and simplifying maintenance. Because Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host is built from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, it inherits Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7’s stability and maturity, as well as its vast ecosystem of certified hardware partners.
Security is always a top enterprise priority, but the security properties of containers – including the ability to maintain security across a container’s lifecycle – have raised additional questions. To address container security and lifecycle concerns, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host offers automated security updates on-demand, bringing enterprise customers the support and lifecycle benefits that come with Red Hat Enterprise Linux in a reduced image size. From Heartbleed and Shellshock to Ghost and beyond, Red Hat customers receive security notifications and product updates as they are available and also have access to security tools that address container reliability and security. This is a benefit Red Hat uniquely brings to container deployments for enterprise customers.
For building and maintaining container infrastructure, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host provides many benefits, including: