What Enterprise Linux Should Have Always Been | RLC Pro
Eric "the IT Guy" Hendricks makes the case that running community or traditional commercial Linux in production shifts risk onto your own team: forced upgrade cycles, compliance gaps, and bugs that wait on upstream. RLC Pro, Rocky Linux from CIQ Pro, is CIQ's answer, packaging what enterprises actually need into a single subscription with no add-ons.
He runs through the bundle. Long-term support covers most even-numbered minor versions with up to four years of security patching, so teams upgrade on their own three-to-five-year roadmap rather than the upstream calendar. FIPS 140-3 validated, NIST-certified cryptographic modules are included for government, defense, financial services and healthcare. CIQ engineers can fix bugs directly and ship patches upstream, and standard and premium enterprise support options are available.
Because RLC Pro is fully binary compatible with Enterprise Linux, applications, scripts, automation playbooks and ISV certifications carry over, and rolling back to community Rocky Linux remains possible. Hendricks also points to RLC+ as a no-cost starting point with GPU and networking stacks pre-integrated, and to hardened and AI-optimized variants built on the RLC Pro foundation. IT leaders weighing their Enterprise Linux options get a concise pitch for the model.
Key takeaways
- Every RLC Pro subscription includes long-term support for most even-numbered minor versions, with up to four years of security patching.
- FIPS 140-3 validated, NIST-certified cryptographic modules are bundled for government, defense, financial services and healthcare workloads.
- CIQ's engineering team can fix bugs you hit and ship the patch directly rather than waiting on the upstream release calendar.
- RLC Pro is fully binary compatible, so applications, scripts, automation playbooks and ISV certifications carry over, and you can roll back to community Rocky Linux.
- RLC+ offers a costless starting point with GPU and networking stacks pre-integrated, while hardened and AI variants build on RLC Pro.
Questions this video answers
What is included in an RLC Pro subscription?
RLC Pro bundles long-term support for most even-numbered minor versions with up to four years of security patching, FIPS 140-3 validated cryptographic modules, direct bug fixes from CIQ engineers, and standard or premium enterprise support. It is full Enterprise Linux, binary compatible with what you already run, delivered in a single subscription with no add-ons.
How is RLC Pro different from community Rocky Linux?
Community Rocky Linux is free and widely deployed, but production teams depend on volunteers when problems arise. RLC Pro adds enterprise capabilities on top of the same Linux: LTS, FIPS 140-3, direct bug fixes and commercial support. Because it is binary compatible, moving between the two is not a migration to a new ecosystem, and rolling back is possible.
About this video
Running community or traditional commercial Linux in production means your team absorbs risk. Forced upgrade cycles, compliance gaps, and bugs that wait on upstream to fix. Engineering time that should go toward building products goes toward managing the OS instead. RLC Pro changes that.
In this video, Eric "the IT Guy" Hendricks walks through what makes RLC Pro the modern Enterprise Linux standard, including:
- Long-Term Support bundled for most even-numbered minor versions, up to four years of security patching
- FIPS 140-3 validated cryptographic modules for government, defense, financial services, and healthcare
- Direct bug fixes shipped by CIQ engineers without waiting on upstream
- Full Enterprise Linux binary compatibility, your applications, scripts, and certifications carry over
- Standard and Premium enterprise support options
This video is part of the RLC Pro playlist. Browse every CIQ video by product and topic.
Transcript
Running community or traditional commercial Linux in production means your team absorbs some form of risk. Forced upgrade cycles, compliance gaps, bugs that don't get fixed until upstream has time to fix them. Engineering time that should go towards building products goes towards managing the OS instead. RLC Pro changes all of that. Hey everyone, Eric the IT Guy Hendricks here for CIQ and we're talking about what Enterprise Linux should have always been. Today, Linux is everywhere. It powers AI training, HPC clusters, and mission-critical enterprise infrastructure. It's the foundation people everywhere trust, whether they know it or not. And Rocky Linux, sponsored by CIQ, is one of the most popular Enterprise Linux distributions, trusted by millions of deployed instances worldwide.
But when you need someone to stand behind your Linux in production, that's RLC Pro from our team here at CIQ. Rocky Linux from CIQ Pro, or RLC Pro, is the new Enterprise Linux standard. We bundled what enterprises actually need into a single subscription, no add-ons necessary. Long-term support? Bundled. Every RLC Pro subscription includes LTS for most even-numbered minor versions, with up to 4 years of security patching. Your team plans infrastructure on a 3-to-5-year horizon and upgrades when your roadmap says to, not when the upstream release calendar says it's time. FIPS 140-3? Included. NIST-certified cryptographic modules for government, defense, financial services, and health care. Direct bug fixes?
Standard. This one's a big deal. When you hit a bug, our engineering team can fix it and ship the patch directly upstream. Your engineers stop firefighting and start shipping. Full Enterprise Linux, binary compatible. Your applications, scripts, automation playbooks, and ISV certifications carry over. You're not migrating to a new ecosystem. You're adding enterprise capabilities to the Linux you already run. If you ever need to roll back to community Rocky Linux, you can. Enterprise support, standard and premium options are available. When something goes wrong in production, you're not depending on community volunteers to fix your enterprise specific problem. And that's just RLC Pro. For teams who need a costless starting point with complete GPU and networking stacks pre-integrated, check out RLC Plus.
We believe that hardware ecosystem integrations should be turnkey and free. For environments that demand specialized security hardening or GPU optimized AI workloads at scale, we have purpose-built variants built on the RLC Pro foundation. LTS, FIPS 140-3, direct bug fixes, full Enterprise Linux compatibility, one subscription. That's RLC Pro. This is our vision of what the modern Enterprise Linux ecosystem should be. Learn more at ciq.com or talk to one of our team of experts today.
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