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Red Hat support is starting to impress me!

I've been using Red Hat since '99 (I think).  Mostly for entertainment initially, and then Red Hat would manage to present itself as the sensible solution for a number of problems.  Around 2003 or so I started to find more people suggesting Red Hat (or Linux) for a number of different things, seemingly because of "the buzz".  It seemed the more diverse of a deployment landscape I started to support on Linux, the more diverse the problems were - and back then I was not terribly impressed by the support of the product.  Red Hat was a quality distribution, but their support didn't necessarily seem to have answers I was seeking and they did not seem responsive.

Roll forward almost 10 years and it's a completely different experience.  These folks are on top of things.  Take the following example(s):

  • I recently posted to a Red Hat forum with a trivial question regarding implementing IPA and how to setup the supporting DNS.  The forum was unresponsive, but a Red Hat resource contacted me directly and addressed his concern that no one was able to help and offered his assistance.  I explained that I didn't want to open a ticket directly with Red Hat as my "issue" was not significant and more of an educational experience than a business need.  He acknowledged what I was saying and offered to watch the forum and open a case on my behalf.  And... true to his word... a ticket had shown up in my queue explaining what I was after and why he had opened a case on my behalf.  20 minutes later it was no longer a question, it was an answer.
  • I started to "play" with Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization and I literally was starting from scratch.  I happened to have discovered a small issue with some of the beta documentation and just blogged about my discovery and workaround...  Another Red Hat resource found my post and referenced it on the actual Red Hat forum's and contacted me to inform me that he had done so.  He also informed me of a number of resources which I could use to become more familiar with the product, which I did not know about.
The Red Hat train is moving... and gaining momentum... get on, or get left behind.  Something is different about Red Hat... and I'm liking it.
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