Red Hat today introduced Image Mode for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), a new deployment method that delivers the platform as a container image. According to Red Hat’s announcement, Image Mode for RHEL gives Linux, which already sits at the core of containers, a container-native approach to building, deploying and managing the operating system.
Using container-based tools, GitOps and CI/CD, Image Mode helps organizations manage Linux at scale, providing a single workflow to manage the entirety of an IT landscape while addressing the disconnect that often exists between operations teams and the software development life cycle.
According to Red Hat, the benefits of Image Mode for RHEL include greater simplification and portability across the hybrid cloud, the ability to more easily plug RHEL into CI/CD and GitOps workflows, and giving security teams the ability to apply container security tools to the base elements of the operating system.
Further, Image Mode for RHEL supports the need for speed in building, testing and deploying AI applications via integration with Podman AI Lab, the company noted in its announcement.
“Developers can readily build intelligent applications using Podman AI Lab on their laptop through a process that’s greatly simplified by AI Lab’s recipe catalog and straightforward AI playground environment. They can then use the bootc extension for Podman Desktop to readily convert to containers, bootable images or even bare-metal installers, all running on the proven, trusted and consistent backbone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux,” the company wrote in its announcement.
