What’s Happening at Red Hat – January 2023

By | January 5, 2023
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Hello Red Hat users. We’re off to a big start for 2023 and have some product updates and workshops to share that I think are very important to your 2023 planning. Cheers to the coming year and I look forward to another fun year working with you all.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 is available
Next Gen RHEL with New Features

The new 9.1 update brings customers a number of new features and capabilities, including enhancements to SQL, Red Hat Smart Management with Red Hat Satellite, Red Hat Insights and Workstations.

  • Advanced automation and management features to automate manual tasks
  • Simplified system security and compliance
  • Leapp support for in-place upgrades
  • Added flexibility to Convert2RHEL
  • Install, configure and tune both single-node and always-on availability groups
  • Red Hat Insights enhancements including push-button remediation to apply recommendations

Check out the full blog announcement HERE and download the 9 Reasons to Explore RHEL 9 E-Book HERE.

Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 is available
Event-Driven Ansible that has scalable, responsive automation capability – CRAZY!

AAP 2.3 release comes with a bunch of feature enhancements. Check out the release blog HERE, but in the meantime here are a few highlights. A recorded webinar can be viewed HERE.

  • Added project signature verification in automation controller
  • Sign and validate Ansible content via a WebUI
  • Added profile support in Ansible Lint
  • Introducing Ansible validated content
  • Direct Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) support with role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Platform installer enhancements
  • Simplified addition and removal of execution node capacity
  • Enhancements for job utilization on multiple execution nodes
  • Support for external execution nodes
  • New certified content – Terraform, Avantra, Cohesity, Confluent, Delinea, Infinidat, Kong, Inc., Scale Computing and Virsec Systems
  • Additional Collections – Arista, DynaTrace, F5 Networks, Fortinet, Pure Storage and SAP
  • Ansible validated content
  • AND A preview of Event-Driven Ansible capabilities – scalable, responsive automation capability that can process events containing discrete, actionable intelligence

Red Hat Satellite 6.12 is now available
Plan your upgrade using Red Hat Satellite Upgrade Helper

This release includes many new and updated features, including an improved user interface/user experience and new features to simplify operation and administration.

  • Updated UI – Redesigned host view including:
    • Red Hat Insights view with infrastructureless remediation
    • Package installation
    • Errata Application
    • Repository Management
    • Collections
    • Content Views
    • Traces
    • KVM Integration
  • Performance Optimization using new Apache mpm_event_module resulting in reduced resource utilization and increased performance.
  • Remote Execution Pull Mode
  • Active Directory support for WebUI and hammer-cli
  • Technology Preview: Alternate Content Sources – reduce network bandwidth usage in hybrid cloud environments

For more details, see the release notes.
Red Hat Satellite Upgrade Helper

Insights for RHEL Malware Service
Know when systems in your RHEL infrastructure are exposed to malware risks

The Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux malware-detection service is a monitoring and assessment tool that scans RHEL systems for the presence of malware. The malware-detection service incorporates YARA pattern-matching software and malware-detection signatures. Signatures are provided in partnership with the IBM X-Force threat intelligence team working closely with the Red Hat threat intelligence team.

In the malware-detection service UI, User Access-authorized administrators and viewers can

  • See the list of signatures against which their RHEL systems are scanned.
  • See aggregate results for all RHEL systems with malware-detection enabled in the Insights client.
  • See results for individual systems.
  • Know when a system shows evidence of the presence of malware.

These features give security threat assessors and IT incident-response teams valuable information to prepare a response.

Get started setting up malware-detection in Insights HERE.

Upcoming Virtual Workshops (FREE)

January 24, 2023High Availability Postgres for Ansible Automation Platform: A Kyndryl & Crunchy Data Case Study
January 25, 2023Sunnyvale Red Hat User Group
January 25, 2023End-to-end orchestrated patching for CISA compliance

Red Hat Training (FREE)

LINK to classes by Red Hat
LINK to classes by edX

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions you might have on the content or anything else that might help you with your Red Hat solutions.

  • Scott Belz