Red Hat Focuses on Containers with Enterprise Linux 7.2

It's been a week full of container news. Docker, which has driven the trend toward running application code in containers instead of widely used virtual machines, announced new tools that can help companies work with containers without getting rid of existing infrastructure. The Docker Universal Control Plane tool can run in data centers, and can also be useful in public cloud environments.

Also on the container front, Red Hat announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2, the latest release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Among other new features, it offers greatly expanded container support.

Red Hat is also focusing on analytics.  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 includes compatibility with the new Red Hat Insights, an add-on operational analytics offering "designed to increase IT efficiency and reduce downtime through the proactive identification of known risks and technical issues," according to the company.

The Enterprise Linux 7.2 offering also features many improvements to the underlying container support infrastructure. Updates are included for the Docker engine, Kubernetes, Cockpit and the Atomic command. In addition, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host 7.2, the latest version of Red Hat's container workload-optimized host platform, is available with most Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 subscriptions.

Also available is the beta of the Red Hat Container Development Kit 2, a collection of images, tools, and documentation to help application developers simplify the creation of container-based applications that are certified for deployment on Red Hat container hosts, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host 7.2 and OpenShift Enterprise 3.

Available for up to 10 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 systems at no additional cost, the new Red Hat Insights offering "is designed to help customers detect technical issues before they impact business operations by analyzing infrastructure assets and identifying key risks and vulnerabilities through continuous monitoring and analysis," according to Red Hat.

Jim Totton, vice president and general manager, Platforms Business Unit, Red Hat, said:

“With the launch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 in June 2014, Red Hat redefined the enterprise open source operating system. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 continues this effort, delivering new capabilities for containerized application deployments and significant networking enhancements while retaining our focus on delivering a stable, reliable and more secure platform for the most critical of business applications.”

  If you're interested in more on Red Hat's container features, there is a dedicated post on the Red Hat Container Development Kit 2 Beta.