Red Hat Enterprise Linux introduces image mode
Here in this blog, we will learn about Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s introduction of image mode
Red Hat is an interdisciplinary company that functions at the intersection of partners, customers, and communities. We feel that when we collaborate to discover fresh approaches, we produce our best work. So we thought, what if we could build and ship those images like a container, and what if we could update an operating system via image-based transactions? What if we could bridge the gaps between pipeline and production by utilizing the same techniques, knowledge, and tools as modern containerized applications? As a result, there is a new way of thinking about Red Hat Enterprise Linux development, deployment, and management.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux image mode is a new deployment technique that delivers the operating system as a boot container image using a container-native methodology. By leveraging the achievements of open-source projects like Boots, which controls host installation and updates across the hybrid cloud, image mode develops a deployment model that integrates easily into workflows that use containers. This method tackles issues associated with large-scale Linux management, such as connecting operations teams and the application development cycle and distributing patches to various locations.
For you, what does any of that mean? Therefore, we think that employing image mode for RHEL has the following advantages:
- A comprehensive list of standard environments and images with version control and history
- Monitoring of OS image changes across all boot images that have been deployed
- Simple rollbacks and updates that just require a reboot
- A method to test new capabilities and dependencies more quickly without repeating the effort
- An opportunity to investigate containerized CD/CI and additional tools to enhance workflows and add new features
Easy, reliable, and portable.
We usually don’t discuss much about the software we make available in Technology Previews. However, we do think that the best way to progress is to serve as a catalyst between communities and customers. We are aware that our creations are put to use in a variety of unexpected ways. What will happen then if YOU pair an open-source operating system intended for image-based deployments with container tools? Come explore with us, please.
Like many of you, we’ve been investigating workloads related to AI. AI application development raises the challenges of intricate software stacks and specialized hardware support. Additionally, AI workloads are being developed for every conceivable cloud, edge, and on-premises configuration. Because of its flexibility and close integration with Podman Desktop and Podman AI Lab, image mode for RHEL provides a way to bring all of these worlds together for tight dependency management across the applications and the underlying hardware when developing, testing, and deploying AI applications.
With Podman AI Lab on their laptop, developers can easily create intelligent applications thanks to a user-friendly AI Lab recipe catalog and AI playground environment. Then, using the boots extension for Podman Desktop, they can create native disk images for clouds, virtual machines, or even bare metal installers, all of which are built on the solid Red Hat Enterprise Linux foundation.
Additionally, upon adding an image mode host to the inventory, Red Hat Insights will now provide the following management features:
- Comprehensive host details in a view identical to that of any other RHEL host
- Actions to start updates when a new image version is found
- Looking for operational and security recommendations
Moreover, automatically registering an image mode host during provisioning is made simple by baking activation keys into the image via the Container file.
