RHE Platforms

Red Hat Enterprise Linux supports multiple hardware architectures including:
• Intel x86compatible
(32bit)
• Intel Itanium2 (64bit)
• Advanced Micro Devices AMD64 (64bit)
and Intel EM64T
• IBM POWER series (eServer iSeries and eServer pSeries)
• IBM Mainframe (eServer zSeries and S/390)

Enterprise Linux Business Model

Enterprise version is sold in a per year subscription model of computing. Standard and premium subscriptions are all inclusive. They provide unlimited incident support and it doesnt matter how many clients are attached to a server. The service level varies by product two tiers within each . The standard edition comes with 12 X 5 support with 4 hour response time and the premium version comes with 24 X 7 support with one hour response time.

The subscription component comes via the Redhat network that provides updates and patches via the internet.

Whats different in Redhat Enterprise Linux ?

It was spun of from Linux 2.4 Kernel at about the time Redhat 7.2 shipped in 2001. Since that time the code's received significant enhancements to improve its scalability especially oracle database scalability.

Asynchronous I/O is another feature that attacks latency penalty. Applications can request an I/O operation and then continue processing without having to wait for its completion

Redhat has also improved the granularity of the locks it uses to co-ordinate access to critical I/O code in a multiprocessor system.

Outside the Kernel a significant addition is high availability clustering derived from Kimberlite technology.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.4 based on Linux 2.6 kernel infrastructure

Linux v.4 kernel offers numerous improvements over earlier kernels, including many enhanced algorithms and features:

Generic logical CPU scheduler: Handles multi-core and hyperthreaded CPUs.

Object-based Reverse Mapping VM: Improved performance in memory constrained systems.

Read Copy Update: SMP algorithm optimization for operating system data structures.

Multiple I/O schedulers: Selectable based on the application environment.

Enhanced SMP & NUMA support: Improved performance and scalability for large servers.

Network interrupt mitigation (NAPI): Improved performance for heavy network loads.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES for Small and Midrange businesses

Databases - Leading open source databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL
Development - Environments for C, C++, Java, Fortran with Perl, Python, CVS and Emacs
Engineering - Computational tools including blas, pvm, and lam
File servers - FTP, NFS, and Samba (CIFS)
Mail server - IMAP/POP servers with Cyrus, Sendmail, spamassassin
Networking - Complete suite of network servers and firewall
Printing - CUPS/lpr printing systems
Security - Extensive features including SSL, IpSec, MAC/DAC
Web server - Apache server with numerous mod/php plugins

Linux Setup and Sustainence Tips

Getting Started

The word Linux, though it in its strictest form refers specifically to the kernel, is also widely and correctly to refer to an entire operating system built around the Linux kernel. It is a multitasking,multiuser,multiplatform,multiprocessor and multithreading OS.

One of the great features of Linux is the abundant choices. Linux technically refers to the operating system kernel but it's usually understood that when you refer to Linux you're referring to the kernel as well as the applications and supporting software that surround it.
The packaging of the kernel and various supporting software and applications composes what is called a distribution. There are many different Linux distributions.

Please refer to http://distrocenter.linux.com/ for more details.