Why RLC+?

The next step on your Enterprise Linux journey

When considering the process of designing and creating infrastructure, Rocky Linux is where the journey often begins. A free, stable, community-governed Enterprise Linux platform that costs nothing and asks nothing in return is exactly what many teams need.

But at some point, the infrastructure demands more from the operating system than what a baseline OS can deliver. GPU workloads don't configure themselves. AI and machine learning pipelines need more than CPU mode to run efficiently. And when something breaks at 2am, "post a question in the forum" is not a satisfying answer.

That is the gap RLC+ is built to close.

Let's talk about RLC+ and who it can benefit.

What is RLC+?

RLC+ is a CIQ-driven Linux distribution that is free, open source, and designed to be a downstream, binary-compatible release that uses Enterprise Linux source code and is maintained by CIQ.

RLC+ runs on the CIQ-built and signed Rocky Linux kernel, which includes backports, patches, tuning, and FIPS integration. This kernel is also the same foundation used across the full RLC product line and is eligible for Long-Term Support for the Pro tiers.

RLC+ is available as an upgrade for Rocky Linux versions 8, 9, and 10, across x86_64 and aarch64 architectures, and ships in every image format teams actually use, such as installer ISOs, KVM images, cloud images for AWS, Azure, and GCP, container images, and bootc images for modern image-based deployments. No matter your hardware or your methods, there's an RLC+ option for you.

But what about support for RLC+?

With RLC+ ready to go, you might find yourself at a point where you need a bit of help. RLC+ support comes in two different forms. The first is found within the Rocky Linux community that can be accessed via the Rocky Linux Mattermost and Rocky Linux Discourse.

Another option is via the CIQ support system. It is important to understand, however, that there is no Service Level Agreement (SLA) with RLC+, which means you may or may not hear back from support. Because of that, it's best to seek out help via the Rocky Linux community.

The core differentiator: GPU drivers

If there's only one reason to migrate from RLC to RLC+, it's the integration of GPU drivers for both NVIDIA and AMD hardware. Thanks to this inclusion, you'll find that apps and/or services such as locally installed AI (like Ollama) will run considerably faster (as compared to running in CPU mode). That alone is worth the upgrade from Rocky Linux to RLC+.

You might be wondering why that's important. Well, have you ever had to install GPU drivers manually? First, you have to know the exact make and model of your GPU. Next, you have to download the correct driver. Once you have the correct file, you have to run the installation and take care of the configuration.

With RLC+, you not only get those drivers preinstalled, but they also include the CUDA toolkit (a comprehensive development environment to use NVIDIA GPUs for General Purpose Computing), and DOCA-OFED (the official successor to MLNX-OFED that provides the same kernel drivers, user-space libraries, and management tools for NVIDIA ConnectX NICs).

For those with AMD GPUs, RLC+ also has the option for AMD ROCm (Radeon Open Compute), which is an open source software stack designed specifically for GPU computing, HPC, and AI.

According to Andrew Lewman (co-founder and CEO of the Tor Project), Ollama runs 7–20 times faster in GPU mode vs. CPU mode. Imagine you're using RLC+ as a local AI server on your LAN and it's getting hit by multiple machines at once. In CPU mode, that could bring the server to a halt. In GPU mode, the machine stands a much better chance of scaling to meet user needs.

With the addition of GPU drivers and the various community support routes, you are more likely to have your problems solved and your questions answered; that is certainly worth the upgrade.

Finally, RLC+ uses a CIQ-built and signed Rocky Linux kernel with backports, patches, tuning, and FIPS integration, which is the default for RLC+, RLC Pro, and RLC Pro Hardened.

Ideal use cases and target audience

As far as use cases for RLC+, this CIQ-driven distribution is fully capable of handling GPU-accelerated AI and machine learning, AI development and training, HPC and data analytics, proof-of-concept clusters, fast prototyping, cloud and hybrid cloud deployments, and general computing.

RLC+ enjoys a similar audience as Rocky Linux, but encourages those who are looking for a bit more flexibility and power to make the move upward. Although you can run the same types of apps and services on Rocky Linux as you can on RLC+, getting the most out of them requires a bit more work.

Those who want to skip the process of installing GPU drivers and dive right into making RLC+ a highly flexible platform include home users, small organizations, system administrators, and students. If you're on a tight budget, but you need more than what Rocky Linux has to offer, then RLC+ makes for an even more enticing option.

As to what type of use cases best fit RLC+, consider the following as a great fit: web servers, databases, cloud infrastructure, development environments, container deployments, AI and machine learning, clustering, and general usage.

You could even use RLC+ as your daily driver desktop.

Getting started with RLC+

To get started with RLC+, you first have to install RLC, which is done via a downloaded ISO (the process is all point and click). Once you have RLC up and running, the process of upgrading it to RLC+ looks like this:

1. Register on the CIQ portal (create account, accept agreement)
2. On the target system, install the depot client
3. Run depot login with portal credentials
4. Run depot enable to configure repositories for the entitled product
5. dnf update works against authenticated repos

Conclusion

For anyone looking to take Rocky Linux to the next level, the obvious and cost-effective choice is RLC+. With this upgraded version of Rocky Linux, you get a much faster and easier path to proper GPU driver installation, which delivers better performance for things like ML and AI workloads.

If you do opt to go with RLC+, remember to take advantage of the Rocky Linux community, which is strong, wide-ranging, and growing year after year.