Red Hat linux ... where to begin??? 2

[kzn]

Hi

Forgive me if this is not the right place to ask this question. I would like to learn Redhat and probably go on the admin course but first of all I would like to play with it and see if I want to proceed. Currently I have access to a 64 bit virtual environment. Is it possible to download a full version? or is that only accessible to paid customers? If I can down load it which iso should I be looking to download because there are a number of them and I dont know where to even begin.

Any help or pointers appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[AvayaTier3]

Fedora Project has free downloads for your study

A great teacher, does not provide answers, but methods to teach others "How and where to find the answers"
Avaya. Too little or no help? Expensive?
For FAST switch support at bargain rates, give bsh a call.

bsh

40 years Bell, AT&T, Lucent, Avaya
Tier 3 for 30 years and counting
[URL unfurl="true"]http://bshtele.com[/url]

 

[kzn]

Thanks for the reply AvayaTier3 , but does that have a server edition? or is it just desktop?

Thanks,

 

[AvayaTier3]

click the link - read

A great teacher, does not provide answers, but methods to teach others "How and where to find the answers"
Avaya. Too little or no help? Expensive?
For FAST switch support at bargain rates, give bsh a call.

bsh

40 years Bell, AT&T, Lucent, Avaya
Tier 3 for 30 years and counting
[URL unfurl="true"]http://bshtele.com[/url]

 

[SamBones]

Go get a copy of Centos. It is the full RedHat Enterprise Server version with all of the RedHat branding removed. It is as close as you can get to using real RedHat Enterprise Server without actually buying RedHat Enterprise Server. It is perfect for learning RedHat skills.

http://www.centos.org/

CentOS is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor. CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendor's redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. (CentOS mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork.) CentOS is free.

I use both the licensed RedHat ES and Centos, and I can confirm that they look, feel, and act the same. The only thing you don't get with Centos is the vendor support from RedHat.

 

[MikeHalloran]

If you want RHEL experience, you probably don't want Fedora, which is sort of bleeding edge, and includes stuff that may or may not someday find its way into RHEL. ... and may or may not work well. Fedora is sort of a test playground for Red Hat.

CentOS is very different from Fedora, much less flashy, and feels much more stable.
I'll take SamBones' word that it looks and works like RHEL, which I have not used.
If I read the CentOS release notes correctly, RHEL is now using a paid subscription model for updates, whereas CentOS updates are free, as is CentOS itself. So the update mechanisms must differ.

I have CentOS6 on a laptop and a desktop, and CentOS5 on a different laptop.
I'm starting to like it.

 

[kzn]

Great, thanks everyone for your input. I'm going to go with centos. I will get busy on YouTube Linux tutorials if things go well I will enrol in a Linux admin course. Thanks again