rhel 3 systems are up-to-date, then is there any need for rhel4

[Maaz]

Hi Dear Gurus
some of my clients have rhel3.0. the local techy personals are smart enough.. they keep the system update(installs all the patches) via up2date. Even they also upgrade the kernel to 2.6x.
I just want to know that if anyone keep the systems upgraded/up-to-date(even kernel also), then is there any need to purchase "rhel 4" or any new version.

Regards
Maaz

[Rick Garland · Accepted solution]

In the initial stages I do not believe this to be true. There will be some new "bells & whistles" and some necessary fixes but if you have no need for the new stuff or the fixes, I see no reason to worry.

What will be an issue down the road is that apps will not be developed for the older OS releases. In which case you may find yourself under the gun to try and get the new stuff working but you no longer have support.

Then again, nothing wrong with wanting to have and learn the new stuff either.

[renarios]

Hi Maaz,

No need to change your production to rhel4.0. Updating your system with up2date will keep it safe and stable.
It is tempting though, to get a test setup for yourselves.

Cheerio,

Renarios

[HGN]

Hi

I think you could stay on the current version but can stay updated on this, for this you can run up2date on your server which is safe (for this to work you should have a pin hole opened on the firewall to go and get the packages)this requires a reboot .

Rgds

HGN

[Maaz]

Thanks all.
then is it right to say that:
rhel3(up-to-date with all patches, and 2.6x kernel) = rhel 4

Regards
Maaz

[Steven E. Protter]

Let me jump in.

The 2.6 kernel was a major improvement. I moved my production systems to RH4 or Centos 4, a clone as quickly as testing would allow.

I ended up with a safer, more secure system that performed much better.

There are some applications that can not be upgraded as part of the 3 release.

I would add that Red Hat does not recommend the upgrade, they recommend cold install.

The first release has a cold install problem that won't let the system boot if the boot disk is mirrored.

SEP

[dirk dierickx]

you can not assume rh3 up-to-date and running a 2.6 kernel is the same as rh4. but, if you need rh4 just install that instead of messing around and wasting time on trying to make a release 4 out of rh3. ofcourse, if you don't need rh4, just stay with rh3 as it will probably be good enough for you now.
between rh releases, a lot of specific adjustments get in, like scripts and specific redhat tools. the biggest change in rh4 is the 2.6 kernel, which is not the same as a vanilla kernel, redhat adds a lot of patches, just like 2.4 in rh3 was a different beast. SE and gcc 3.4 (minor importance probably), ofcourse all included programs did get newer versions.
also, if you update (ie. compiling the latest releases) the programs/tools on rh3 yourself all the time, in theory you don't have a RH3 system anymore, and it is not even a RH4 system. normally you don't do this, unless you have a very specific need to 'break' your rh system.

[Maaz]

Thanks All.
Dear Dirk Dierickx, may i ask a silly question.. i.e what's the vanilla kernel ?

Regards
Maaz

[Stuart Browne]

A vanilla kernel is one provided by 'kernel.org', and not by 'redhat.com'.

It's a kernel without the RedHat modifications to it.

[Gopi Sekar]

RHEL 4 is a big improvement over rhel 3. some of them include LVM, SeLinux enforcing policy, GUI startup etc. Moving out to RHEL 4 depends on your requirement for these features.

Also the updates for RHEL 3 packages released only if there are any security vulunerabilities or major updates are available.

If you want to experience new features in RHEL 4 and from other applications then better to go for RHEL 4. But if your production system works fine on RHEL 3 with latest update and it is not connected to internet then stay with RHEL 3 .

Remember, sooner or later RH will announce End of Life for RHEL 3 after which no more updates will be released for RHEL 3.

vanilla kernel is the original kernel as found in www.kernel.org released by Linus. RH adds lot of code changes to bring certain functionalities in to this kernel. both the kernels are entirely different.

Regards,
Gopi