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If you are really new, then any of the Linux Mint variants will be the easiest to pick up. Later as you get more comfortable you might (or might not) see other options as useful. Or if you are dead set on RHEL, you might look into some of the certification courses.
About the databases, MariaDB and Postgresql are the way to go if you are looking to migrate to a proper SQL database. SQLite is also very useful. They are available on all distros including the Linux Mint variants or RHEL. However, they are rarely run standalone, but usually as the back end for some other application(s). What database applications are you looking to pick up?
As far as the speed of the replies, they will be slow or fast depending on either the time or interest of us volunteers.
Mint is a good choice. So too would be Mageia or Ubuntu-Mate.
I would suggest picking a few to test, then burn Live CD's of them. Boot the Live CDs to sample their look and feel, then install the one that feels most comfortable.
If OP is interested in RHEL, CentOS is indeed the way to go.
Not really. There are some commonalities, but there are quite a few add-ons that differentiate RHEL from CentOS. So if the primary requirement that actual RHEL, and only RHEL, be used then there is no substitute. The OP must then pay for a RHEL subscription.
If the OP is indeed a beginner and looking to build a career in GNU/Linux and cloud computing (aka) hosted services as stated, then a working knowledge of APT as well as RPM is needed. So for that the consensus is Linux Mint. But I'll second the advice of trying out several live distros first before choosing one to install.
So maybe the answer is to have two machines, one with a RHEL subscription and the other with Linux Mint. Then one or the other or both could have the legacy OS (Vista10) running inside VirtualBox. When Vista10 fails, it will be easy to roll back to a working snapshot. Either way, experience is the only route to learning and that means using, especially on "bare metal", so Vista10 must sooner or later go into a virtual machine on a GNU/Linux host. Preferably sooner.
Red Hat now sponsor CentOS, as (1) they know that a lot of companies have bought RHEL after trying CentOS and (2) they get a lot of free bug fixes from computer companies and university departments that use CentOS. RHEL does include some extra (non-free) software, but the basics are all in CentOS.
If you were a complete beginner, I too would suggest Mint, but if can cope with SQL, you can certainly cope with CentOS. Dive in: you'll love it! https://wiki.centos.org/
You can use the RHEL documentation.
RHEL is obviously a small distro, as it only includes (1) things a big company would want and (2) things RH are prepared to offer support for. For extra software, we use extra repositories. This offers advice on what's available and how to avoid nasty accidents! https://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalRe...s/Repositories
As per my view try to use Fedora if you try to play with your OS.If need stable then use CentOS.for study and play must try
Fedora
Fedora is RHEL's free distro, it is as mentioned, newbie friendly. I'm not familiar with CentOS but it's also one of Red Hat's. Linux Mint probably best newbie distro, as for Fedora, I'm just not a fan of Gnome DE (at all), LM easier to navigate (without Gnome DE).
EDIT: If you are interested in RHEL administrator career, pay for RHEL and the school, as others already mentioned, there's no substitute. If you just want to learn linux, any distro will do depending on your learning capacity - my son put Arch (Xfce) on my pc in 2013 long before i was even close to that level of linux competency. I'm keeping it afloat and current the past 3yrs without his support, but still nowhere close to that level of linux competency - but i like Arch over the others i run in VBox (Ubuntu (Gnome), Fedora (Gnome), OpenSUSE(KDE)), Arch is my host and main pc.
Last edited by WFV; 11-06-2017 at 11:46 AM.
Reason: OP career interest
Distribution: Debian testing/sid; OpenSuSE; Fedora; Mint
Posts: 5,524
Rep:
I think the OP doesn't really know what's up, or he wouldn't want a career in IT. BUT, if you're resolved to do it anyway, practically any distro will do. Don't get hung up on the perfect distro, because there is none.
Debian and SuSE are the other major and unique pro distros use commercially. SuSE offers opensuse for free. Just pick one and learn it. Once you learn one the rest are easy. I learned SuSE first, then Debian, then Fedora (Red Hat experimental).
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