Fedora 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Bible

What's in RHEL4?

Red Hat, Inc. released RHEL4 in February, 2005, based on software that was included in Fedora Core 3. RHEL4 features include (but aren't limited to):

• Linux 2.6 Kernel - The 2.6 kernel is now part of both the latest Fedora Core and RHEL distributions. Features in the 2.6 kernel that make it particularly valuable in RHEL4 are its ability to handle more processors, larger memory pools, more devices, larger file systems, and higher-bandwidth networks, than could the previous (2.4) kernel.

• SELinux - While still considered experimental in Fedora Core 3, a solid set of SELinux policies were stabilized in RHEL4. As implemented, SELinux in RHEL4 can be configured to improve security of some of the most popular (and critical) server features, including Web service (httpd), name service (bind), network information service (ypbind), and DHCP (dhcpd). You can launch the Security Level Configuration window to see how SELinux is configured on your system.

• GNOME and KDE desktops - Like Fedora, RHEL4 offers both GNOME and KDE desktop software, with GNOME installed by default. Aside from logos and backgrounds being different, you can follow most of the descriptions of Fedora desktop features in Chapter 3 to learn about how the RHEL4 desktops work.

• Applications - Hundreds of desktop applications for creating documents, using the Internet, working with graphics, and playing with sound and video are included with RHEL4.

• Development tools - Tools for building and creating applications are available for a wide range of software environments. Besides the common C compilation system tools, a range of tools is available for developing applications specific to the kernel, X Window System, GNOME desktop, KDE desktop, and legacy C and C++ applications.

• System administration tools - Red Hat's own graphical system configuration tools are included with a full set of system administration commands and interfaces.

• Network servers - The same file, Web, mail, DNS, news, database, and other network servers available with Fedora are included with RHEL distributions.

Nearly every software feature included in the Fedora Core distribution that comes with this book and is described in these chapters will work as described here for RHEL systems as well. So this book can serve as a guide and learning tool, regardless of whether you are using Fedora Core or RHEL systems.

While many features overlap between Fedora and RHEL systems, there is a great difference between the two systems when it comes to service and support. For RHEL, Red Hat offers hardware certification, training, documentation, technical support, and application developer support programs. Red Hat will help a company migrate to RHEL, and then scale up the company's computing needs as high as they need to go. Red Hat also offers consulting service to help companies put a Linux infrastructure in place.