Instead of guessing which version of RHEL a particular distro is based off, just run:
rpm -E %{rhel}
For Amazon Linux 2, this will give you 7.
Has someone done an exercise like this before and compared Amazon Linux 2 and RHEL offerings on AWS ?
Would be nice if anyone could link as it seems my google-fu is failing me.
Rhel is more expensive than amazon or centos in aws,
Amazon Linux 2 is code compatible with rhel 7/centos7 but has some bells and whistles included for ec2 that rhel does not have,
eg if using multiple IPs on an ENI Amazon Linux can manage them all via DHCP whereas Centos would only manage the first, additional IPs would have to be manually configured. It also automatically manages route table configs if using multiple ENIs.
None of these are issues as such but just make things a little easier. I’m sure others will chime in with more.
When we were fighting repository hell with AWS Linux we found some research that it's "most like Fedora with a bunch of undocumented AWS customizations".
Instead of guessing which version of RHEL a particular distro is based off, just run:
rpm -E %{rhel}
For Amazon Linux 2, this will give you 7.
There's a discussion thread available over on the AWS forums that indicates the officially supported Amazon Linux AMI is not based upon any Linux distribution. Rather, the Amazon Linux AMI is independently maintained image by Amazon.
Amazon Linux 2 Users - Plan Your Conversion to RHEL Before June 2026 End-of-Support
Amazon Linux 2 End of Life Migration
Amazon Linux AMI 2018.03.0 or Amazon Linux 2 AMI
Amazon Linux 2 EOL - AppStream Elastic Fleet Linux Support
Red Hat pricing details are here http://aws.amazon.com/rhel/ and Amazon Linux is here: http://aws.amazon.com/amazon-linux-ami/; as you say, RHEL implies additional cost, whilst Amazon Linux involves 'no additional charge' beyond the charges for running instances and related services.
Amazon Linux, like CentOS, is based on RHEL -- it is fundamentally a minimal/basic install of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (hence optimised for the purpose). Amazon are currently offering a year's free Amazon EC2 Micro Instance for new customers within the 'free usage tier', as per http://wpmu.org/would-you-like-a-free-server-for-a-year/. If you would like to try EC2 for free, because of the limited memory/resource availability for the 'Micro Instance', trying Amazon Linux makes sense.
Usually, the price you pay for the "Enterprise" versions (RHEL, SLES) isn't for a bonus in performance, but for a bonus in service. For example, a certain to-remain-unnamed provider of "enterprise" databases won't offer you any support unless you are running the database on a certified Linux (i.e., SLES, RHEL). If you don't have support contracts to worry about, there's little to be had in the "enterprise" distributions that is worth the price.
IMVHO.
Amazon Linux 2 (AL2) is reaching its end of support on June 30, 2026. To make sure your systems stay secure and up-to-date, you'll need to start planning a migration.
The Convert2RHEL utility now lets you convert AL2 directly to RHEL 7. Note that the conversion from AL2 to RHEL 7 is unsupported, meaning Red Hat does not provide support during the process, but the resulting RHEL 7 system is eligible for support afterward.
Once you're on RHEL 7, you have two choices for ongoing support:
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Stay on RHEL 7: RHEL 7 transitioned to Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) on June 30, 2024. To keep receiving security updates, you must use a subscription that includes the ELS Add-on such as the Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Third Party Linux Migration with ELS AWS Pay-As-You-Go subscription, which provides updates until May 31, 2029.
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Upgrade to a newer RHEL version: You can perform an in-place upgrade to RHEL 8 or later using Leapp. You can use a standard RHEL subscription or one of the no-cost options, such as the Red Hat Developer Subscription for Individuals, Red Hat Developer Subscription for Teams, Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Open Source Infrastructure, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Business Developers.
Read more about the conversion at How to perform an unsupported conversion from a RHEL-derived Linux distribution to RHEL.
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