Software Licensing · Red Hat
Red Hat subscription licensing for RHEL and OpenShift
Practical Red Hat licensing for companies in Canada, the UK, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan. We size your Red Hat subscription for physical servers, virtual machines and cloud, and help you move off end of life Linux safely.
ApexGenTech is an authorised Red Hat reseller supplying genuine licences, setup and support in Canada, the UK, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan.
Overview
How Red Hat licensing is different
Red Hat software is open source, so strictly speaking you do not buy a licence. You buy a Red Hat subscription. The subscription gives you certified updates, security fixes, access to Red Hat support and the legal assurance that comes with an enterprise product. Without it you can still read the code, but you cannot use Red Hat’s updates and support on your production servers.
Most people still call it Red Hat licensing, and the questions are the same as with any vendor. How many servers do we need to cover? Physical or virtual? Which support level? What happens when we move to the cloud?
We answer those questions with your server list in front of us, supply your Red Hat subscription as an authorised Red Hat reseller and keep the count right as your estate changes.
Red Hat products we supply:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux server subscriptions
- RHEL for virtual data centres
- Red Hat OpenShift container platform
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
- RHEL in public clouds, pay as you go or bring your own
- Moves from CentOS Linux and other end of life systems
What we supply
Red Hat licensing for servers, containers and automation
Each Red Hat product counts usage in its own way. These are the ones we work with most.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux server
A RHEL server subscription covers a physical server by sockets or a number of virtual machines, with your choice of support level. It is the foundation of most Red Hat licensing.
RHEL for virtual data centres
If you run many Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtual machines on the same hosts, a virtual data centre subscription covers unlimited RHEL guests on each licensed host.
Red Hat OpenShift
OpenShift is Red Hat’s platform for running containers and Kubernetes in production. It is counted by cores or virtual CPUs, so sizing depends on your clusters.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
Ansible Automation Platform from Red Hat automates server setup, patching and network changes. Its subscription is counted by the number of systems it manages.
RHEL in the cloud
In AWS, Azure and Google Cloud you can pay for RHEL by the hour through the cloud provider, or move an existing Red Hat subscription across. We check which costs less.
Red Hat subscription support levels
Self support, Standard and Premium differ in response times and hours. Production systems that matter usually need at least Standard; critical ones need Premium.
How it works
How Red Hat licensing works with ApexGenTech
Keep the count right, keep the support level right, review every year.
- 1ListEvery RHEL server, VM and cluster.
- 2SizeSockets, virtual machines and cores.
- 3SupportSelf support, Standard or Premium.
- 4QuoteOne Red Hat subscription quote.
- 5RegisterSystems attached in Red Hat portals.
- 6ReviewCounts checked before each renewal.
Buying options
Physical, virtual and cloud RHEL subscriptions compared
How you run Red Hat Enterprise Linux decides how it is counted.
| Option | What is covered | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL server, physical | A physical server, counted by socket pairs | Databases and heavy workloads on bare metal | Servers with more sockets need more subscriptions. |
| RHEL server, virtual | A set number of virtual machines | A handful of RHEL VMs on shared hosts | Counts rise quickly as VMs multiply. |
| RHEL for virtual data centres | Unlimited RHEL guests on each licensed host | Hosts running many RHEL VMs | Every host the VMs can run on must be covered. |
| Cloud pay as you go | RHEL billed hourly by the cloud provider | Short lived or growing cloud workloads | Can cost more than a subscription for steady servers. |
| Bring your own subscription | An existing Red Hat subscription used in the cloud | Steady cloud workloads | Systems must be registered properly. |
Red Hat sets its own subscription terms and changes them from time to time. We confirm the current rules in every quote.
Where we supply
Red Hat licensing in Canada, the UK, the Gulf and Pakistan
We provide Red Hat licensing and Linux support for companies in six countries.
Red Hat licensing in Canada
RHEL and OpenShift subscriptions for Canadian companies, with sizing for both on premises servers and Canadian cloud regions.
Red Hat licensing in the UK
Red Hat licensing for UK businesses, including help moving older CentOS servers to supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Red Hat licensing in the UAE
Red Hat subscription sizing for banks, telecoms and government suppliers in the Emirates running Linux in their own data centres.
Red Hat licensing in Saudi Arabia
RHEL, OpenShift and Ansible subscriptions for Saudi organisations building private clouds and modern applications.
Red Hat licensing in Qatar
Red Hat licensing for Qatar based enterprises that need supported Linux for core banking, energy and public sector systems.
Red Hat licensing in Pakistan
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Pakistani banks, telecoms and software houses, with care over virtual machine counts.
End of life Linux
Moving from CentOS Linux to Red Hat Enterprise Linux
For years many companies ran CentOS Linux as a free alternative to RHEL. CentOS Linux 7 reached end of life in June 2024, and CentOS Linux 8 ended earlier than that. Servers still running it no longer receive security fixes, which is a serious risk for anything connected to the internet.
The options are to move to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, move to another community rebuild, or rebuild the application on a newer platform. For business critical systems, a supported RHEL subscription is usually the safest choice. Red Hat provides tools to convert many CentOS servers in place, and we plan and test the conversion with you.
Our plan for end of life Linux:
- List every CentOS and older Linux server
- Rank them by risk and importance
- Convert or rebuild on supported RHEL
- Test applications after each move
- Register systems so updates flow
Free options
Free Red Hat subscriptions for developers
Red Hat offers a no cost Developer Subscription for individuals, which covers a small number of systems for development and personal use, and a separate developer offer for teams. These are useful for building and testing, but they are not meant for production servers that run your business.
We help you use the free options where they fit and buy a proper Red Hat subscription where it is needed, so development stays cheap and production stays supported. Red Hat explains its options on the official Red Hat website.
Automation
Saving time with Ansible and OpenShift
Licensing is only part of the value. Ansible Automation Platform can patch hundreds of RHEL servers in one run and keep their settings consistent, which cuts both effort and risk. OpenShift gives development teams a standard way to run containers, so applications move from testing to production without surprises.
We help you decide whether these products are worth adding, and if so, how big the first Red Hat subscription for them should be. Starting small and growing with real use is almost always cheaper than buying for a future that may never arrive.
Why ApexGenTech
Why buy Red Hat licensing from us
We build and run software on Linux every day, so we understand the systems behind the subscriptions. We can help with what runs on your Red Hat servers through custom software development, keep them patched under a support plan, and test them through our penetration testing service.
Many Red Hat estates also run on VMware or in the public cloud. Our VMware licensing and AWS licensing pages explain the platform side of the same decisions.
Related licensing
Red Hat licensing alongside your platform software
Red Hat Enterprise Linux usually runs on, or next to, these vendors.
VMware licensingVMware Cloud Foundation, vSphere Foundation and vSphere Standard.
View VMware licensing
AWS licensingAWS accounts, Savings Plans, Marketplace software and licence included or BYOL options.
View AWS licensing
Oracle licensingOracle Database, Java SE, WebLogic and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
View Oracle licensing
Microsoft licensingMicrosoft 365, Copilot, Azure, Windows Server, SQL Server, Dynamics 365 and Power BI.
View Microsoft licensing
FAQ
Red Hat subscription FAQs
Can ApexGenTech supply Red Hat licensing?
Yes. We supply Red Hat subscriptions for RHEL, OpenShift and Ansible as an authorised Red Hat reseller and size them for your servers, virtual machines and cloud.
Is Red Hat Enterprise Linux free because it is open source?
The source code is open, but using Red Hat’s certified updates and support on production systems requires a Red Hat subscription. Free developer subscriptions exist for development use.
How is a RHEL server subscription counted?
A RHEL server subscription covers a physical server by socket pairs or a set number of virtual machines. Hosts running many RHEL virtual machines may be better served by a virtual data centre subscription.
Can we use our Red Hat subscription in AWS or Azure?
Often, yes. Many Red Hat subscriptions can be moved to major clouds if the systems are registered properly. Alternatively you can pay for RHEL hourly through the cloud provider. We compare both.
Should CentOS Linux servers move to RHEL?
CentOS Linux 7 reached end of life in June 2024 and no longer receives security fixes. Moving important systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux is usually the safest route, and many servers can be converted in place.
Do you provide Red Hat licensing in Saudi Arabia and Qatar?
Yes. We support Red Hat licensing for companies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as Canada, the UK, the UAE and Pakistan.
How does a Red Hat subscription work?
A Red Hat subscription gives you supported software, updates and security fixes for a fixed term, counted per server, per socket pair or per virtual node depending on the product. When a Red Hat subscription ends, the software keeps running but updates and support stop.
Get your Red Hat licensing sized correctly
Send us a list of your Linux servers and where they run. We will recommend the right Red Hat subscription and quote it clearly.