The latest beta of Red Hat Enterprise Linux has new System Roles for logging and environmental metrics, along with improvements to help developers create more stable applications.
Red Hat delivered its biannual beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux that contains new System Roles for logging and environmental metrics.
Version 8.3 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, like other 8.X versions of RHEL, delivers updated developer tools through the product's Applications Streams. That feature delivers software components in parallel with those operating system features that provide overall stability. The added stability provides developers with more stable open source tools, allowing them to create modern applications more quickly.
"When we announced RHEL 8 last year, we talked about a new release mechanism for RHEL that separates the underlying operating system packages from new developer content in Application Streams," said Brian Gollaher, a manager with Red Hat's experience product management group. "Application Streams allow us to be flexible in delivering new software components such as developer tools, runtime languages, web servers and databases."
The purpose of the new System Roles for logging and environmental metrics is to simplify tasks associated with running production systems across large corporate environments, Gollaher said. The new version contains new support for the System Role for Network-Bound Encryption to help with consistency when configuring disk encryption.
The beta version, scheduled to be available as a finished product in the fourth quarter, also contains System Roles for 802.1x networking and certificate management, which can aid further standardization when it comes to configuring corporate networks and in the process of renewing security certificates.
The 8.3 beta version is currently not supported for production use, but by delivering newer versions of programming tools and languages, developers get a preview of new capabilities about to be introduced, Gollaher said.
Application Streams allow us to be flexible in delivering new software components such as developer tools, runtime languages, web servers and databases.
Brian GollaherManager, Red Hat's Experience Product Management group
"This allows a window of opportunity for developers to experiment with new features before committing to using the new tools once 8.3 becomes generally available," Gollaher explained.
Some of the new Application Streams in versions 8.3 include Git 2.26, Perl 5.30, PHP 7.4 and Ruby 2.7.
Preconfigured Ansible playbooks are bundled with RHEL 8.3 beta, the company said, making it easier for admins to implement automation and apply more consistent configuration of everyday tasks. Such tasks can include allocating storage resources to configure systems for logging and performance data.
Other capabilities added in versions 8.3 include support for the Center for Internet Security benchmark and HIPAA, which the company said offers more security best practices for IT admins so they can be better assured of meeting the many compliance requirements in the healthcare industry.
