RHEL License for a Layman

jowizzle · 10-13-2005, 02:50 PM

My small company runs a RHEL 3 ES. I just bought a new computer, and I'd like to run the same on it without purchasing another license. After reading the standard contract, however, I'm not so sure I can. I believe (at the very least) I must remove the RHN components (up2date?). Can anybody simply explain the license? Furthermore, which components are covered under the Redhat license, and which are covered under the GPL?

Many thanks for your help...

XavierP · 10-13-2005, 03:09 PM

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux-Enterprise and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

trickykid · 10-13-2005, 05:59 PM

If your concerned about License issues and since you don't need support for this machine apparently, I'd suggest downloading and installing CentOS on it. It's basically RHEL without the License restrictions, just mainly stripped of any Redhat Trademark and Logos, etc.

syg00 · 10-15-2005, 03:36 PM

Agreed.
Just this week I installed (for the first time) Centos at work as we needed a "testbed" to evaluate some software that has a pre-requisite of RH-EL3/4.
The install worked fine, and the software in question runs as hoped.
Looks good - try it.

MensaWater · 10-15-2005, 04:24 PM

Careful on that "testbed". Remeber the non-comercial versions of Linux are more apt to update quickly than the commercial versions simply because support is not a consideration in getting out new releases. You could end up running your tests on something that is more advanced than what your RHEL runs. You could update your RPMs on RHEL but if you put one on that they don't support you've lost the benefit of buying the commercial version.

syg00 · 10-15-2005, 04:36 PM

Cheers - the intention was to ensure the software was as advertised, not to run it long-term.
A new server plus EL license will be ordered if/when we decide to proceed.