AlmaLinux continues to push forward with its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) clone, with AlmaLinux 9.4 adding improvements over RHEL.

AlmaLinux is a popular clone of RHEL, giving users an enterprise-grade distro for free. While AlmaLinux used to be 1:1 RHEL compatibility, the project had to change direction when Red Hat began restricting access to its source code. AlmaLinux is now Application Binary Interface (ABI) compatible with RHEL. This frees the distro to improve on RHEL, while still maintaining compatibility.

That newfound freedom is on full display with AlmaLinux 9.4, with the latest release bringing a number of improvements.

Introducing updates to enhance machine security and data protection, AlmaLinux 9.4 also provides improvements in web-console and system roles that automate additional operations and promote consistency in complex environments. Its new system roles enable the creation and management of logical volume manager (LVM) snapshots for improved data backup and recovery processes while its new features also aim to improve system availability and reliability, facilitate easier recovery operations, and enhance virtual machine snapshot capabilities in hybrid cloud environments.

One of the big features of AlmaLinux’s new release is support for older hardware that the latest RHEL has dropped support for.

With RHEL 9.4, Red Hat changed how they manage device drivers that are deprecated, disabled, or unmaintained, and also removed support for several older hardware devices. The way those devices are managed makes it easy for AlmaLinux to re-add support for those devices that the AlmaLinux community still needs. The release of AlmaLinux 9.4 marks a pivotal moment for any industry looking to keep hardware and human costs low by extending the life of still-good, but aging servers.

The list of devices deprecated in RHEL and supported in AlmaLinux include:

• aacraid – Dell PERC2, 2/Si, 3/Si, 3/Di, Adaptec Advanced Raid Products, HP
• NetRAID-4M, IBM ServeRAID & ICP SCSI
• be2iscsi – Emulex OneConnectOpen-iSCSI for BladeEngine 2 and 3 adapters
• hpsa – HP Smart Array Controller
• lpfc – Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel SCSI
• megaraid_sas – Broadcom MegaRAID SAS
• mlx4_core – Mellanox Gen2 and ConnectX-2 adapters
• mpt3sas – LSI MPT Fusion SAS 3.0
• mptsas – Fusion MPT SAS Host
• qla2xxx – QLogic Fibre Channel HBA
• qla4xxx – QLogic iSCSI HBA

“This significant enhancement not only streamlines installation and updates for our clusters but also revitalizes older systems, particularly in VFX studios where legacy CPU rendering blades still play a vital role,” said Tristan Theroux, IT infrastructure & security director for SHED. “In the realm of VFX, where every resource counts, these trusted, resilient servers tackle less intensive tasks, allowing more powerful rendering servers to be reserved for more intensive projects. AlmaLinux 9.4 doesn’t just bridge the gap between the past and present; it propels us toward a future where innovation knows no bounds.”

The AlmaLinux team emphasized the importance of the project’s newfound freedom, as well as the team’s commitment to its user base.

“The release of 9.4 stands as the latest testament to AlmaLinux’s steadfast commitment to our community while maintaining the ever-improved performance, scalability and reliability,” said benny Vasquez, chair of the AlmaLinux OS Foundation. “This is our second point release for AlmaLinux 9 since last year’s shift from copying Red Hat bit-for-bit, and we are starting to take advantage of our freedom.”

“Releasing AlmaLinux 9.4 less than one week after the release of Red Hat 9.4 is a testament to the strength and depth of knowledge of the AlmaLinux community and its commitment to speed as well as stability,” said lead architect at AlmaLinux, Andrew Lukushko. “We have the backing of companies and organizations that provide the infrastructure and fundamental understanding needed to deliver the enterprise Linux that our community needs.”