[rhelv6-list] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 Beta Now Available

[Engineering Partner Management]

In March, we announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise 
Linux 7.1, the first update to our Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 platform. 
In addition, we also announced Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host, our 
first container-optimized host platform. Today, we are pleased to 
announce the beta availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 beta includes a number of new features and 
enhancements – while continuing to provide the stability, reliability, 
and security required to meet the demands of both modern datacenters and 
next-generation IT environments.  A focus on security, system 
administration and manageability, as well as a continued emphasis on the 
functionality to build and deploy Linux containers, helps Red Hat 
Enterprise Linux 7.2 beta to provide enterprises with a trusted path 
forward.

Security
In order to maintain stable and secure enterprise environments, the beta 
release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 includes several new and 
enhanced security capabilities. For example, the introduction of a new 
SCAP module in the installer (anaconda) allows enterprise customers to 
apply SCAP-based security profiles during installation. Another new 
capability allows for the binding of data to local networks. This allows 
enterprises to encrypt systems at scale with centralized management. In 
addition, Red Hat Enterprise 7.2 beta introduces support for DNSSEC for 
DNS zones managed by Identity Management (IdM) as well as federated 
identities, a mechanism that allows users to access resources using a 
single set of digital credentials.

Systems Administration & Manageability
To efficiently and effectively manage the modern datacenter at scale, 
the beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 includes new and 
improved tools to facilitate a more streamlined system administration 
experience. New features and enhancements include (but are not limited to):
   * The introduction of on-demand vmstat workers in the kernel helps 
achieve more efficient CPU sharing and resource balancing.
   * Enhancements to the storage management API (libStorageMgmt) now 
provide a vendor agnostic mechanism to query disk health and RAID 
configuration management.
   * The introduction of conntrack-tools for better network connection 
tracking.
   * Enhancements to NetworkManager, facilitating better integration 
with external programs.
   * A new web-based user interface for Performance Co-Pilot, aiding in 
the management and analysis of network and system performance.
   * New tooling that aids in diagnostics and allows system 
administrators to easily gather key I/O metrics for device mapper devices.

Containers
On the container front, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 beta provides 
improvements to the platform's underlying container support 
infrastructure (e.g. enhancements to OverlayFS and user namespace). By 
continuing to refine support for container-based application development 
and deployment, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 beta can help enterprises 
feel more confident as they begin to containerize existing applications 
or develop new applications based on a microservices style architecture.

Incorporation of Additional Upstream Developments
As always, leveraging work in the Fedora community, Red Hat continuously 
monitors upstream developments and systematically incorporates select 
enterprise-ready features and technologies into Red Hat Enterprise 
Linux. The beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 accomplishes 
this through the rebasing of the GNOME 3 desktop, the inclusion of GNOME 
Software, and the addition of new tuned profiles (inclusive of a profile 
for Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time).

For access to the documentation for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 beta, 
including the release notes, please visit: 
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/

RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.2 BETA AVAILABILITY
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 beta is now available in the Red Hat 
Customer Portal to all customers with an active Red Hat Enterprise Linux 
subscription. To access and download Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 beta, 
please visit:

https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/69/ver=/rhel---7/7.2%20Beta/x86_64/product-downloads

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
To access documentation for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, visit:
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/

Sincerely,
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Team