Release notes

With the release of RHEL 10.2 and RHEL 9.8, the distribution method for updates to insights-core is changing. The updates will now be delivered as standard RPM packages in the official Red Hat Enterprise Linux repositories. The insights-client continues to be delivered as an RPM package. As a result of this change, the insights-client will no longer automatically update insights-core during its operation.

A new, tailored SELinux policy will additionally be deployed on systems to ensure that both the insights-client and insights-core operate strictly within a fully defined and confined SELinux security context.

For more information about this update, see the Security improvements and new distribution method for insights-client KB article.

The Inventory UI has been reworked to align with platform standards and to improve rendering performance. This redesign lays the groundwork for upcoming capabilities such as column management and customizable views.

Users can now try the new experience in pre-production. To enable the Preview mode in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console, use the toggle at the top of the screen. Provide your feedback to help refine the experience further.

By combining image blueprints with Content Templates, users now can create a consistent RHEL environment from image build through deployment and ongoing management.

A Content Template defines the repositories and packages that make up your standard operating environment (SOE). Associating a Content Template with an image blueprint ensures repeatable builds of an image by restricting image creation to approved repositories and packages. Systems deployed from those images remain aligned to the same content set.

When updates to the SOE are required, you can update the Content Template, rebuild the image, and apply updates consistently across deployed systems.

For more information about Content Templates, see Managing content templates.

Image Builder now supports the inclusion of packages and drivers from add-on repositories, enabling users to build RHEL images optimized for AI hardware acceleration without requiring manual post-deployment configuration.

Supported repositories:

This enhancement streamlines deployment workflows for AI-enabled systems and other specialized workloads.

Malware Detection in Red Hat Lightspeed now integrates with CrowdStrike, expanding malware coverage for RHEL scans.

Users can now use over 2400 CrowdStrike malware signatures with existing IBM X-Force intelligence, providing broader threat detection coverage and a unified view of findings directly in the Red Hat Lightspeed console.

For more information, see Integrating Red Hat Lightspeed with CrowdStrike for enhanced malware detection coverage.

Pen Drive is a disconnected variant of OCP Advisor, and is available as a Technology Preview. It now includes kube-compare functionality for template-based cluster drift validation in a Knative-native workflow.

This enhancement expands the existing disconnected cluster checking capabilities that were originally developed in collaboration with Nokia.

For more information about Pen Drive, see Pen Drive powered by Red Hat Lightspeed.

When you create a remediation plan, Red Hat Lightspeed now uses a system of action points to support reliable performance without timeouts or failures. Action points calculate the relative complexity and performance impact of a remediation plan, which can help you decide how and where to execute a remediation plan. Complex issues require a higher number of action points, and simpler issues require a lower number.

Red Hat Lightspeed includes a new Subscriptions service event type that notifies you when subscription usage exceeds defined capacity thresholds. The Exceeded Utilization Threshold event gives proactive visibility into capacity overruns, which helps you identify potential compliance risks and take corrective action before reaching subscription usage limits.

The event integrates with the Hybrid Cloud Console Notifications service and follows the standard event schema. You can use it alongside other Red Hat Lightspeed events for operational monitoring and cost management. You can also forward alerts to external systems such as Splunk, ServiceNow, or Slack. You can also trigger automated workflows such as Event-Driven Ansible.

Artificial Intelligence workloads require advanced GPUs for training and inference at scale. These GPUs are expensive resources in modern data centers. Cost Management can now track GPU consumption and calculate cost based on custom rates defined by the user.

This feature is currently implemented for NVIDIA GPUs running on premise.

On January 14, 2026, Red Hat will update its CDN and entitlement networks. This affects customers who use RHEL 7.3 or earlier and customers who use specific IP allowlists. These network updates directly impact the insights-client. After the hostname is updated to the legacy endpoint, insights-client will stop reporting to Red Hat Lightspeed services on RHEL 6 and RHEL 7. To maintain Red Hat Lightspeed functionality on these legacy versions, you must register your systems to a Satellite server.

If you maintain systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 or earlier, or if you configure your firewall to allowlist particular IP addresses to connect to Red Hat networks, you must make configuration changes before January 14th, 2026 to avoid losing access to content.

For more information, see Red Hat Content Delivery Network (CDN) & Entitlement Network Modernization.

The Red Hat Lightspeed API cheat sheet has the following updates:

The Red Hat Lightspeed policies service will be decommissioned on December 12, 2025. Customers should use inventory APIs or Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) to standardize system profiles and report use cases.

The Red Hat Lightspeed compliance service, which evaluates systems against OpenSCAP policies for security compliance, is not impacted.

The Planning team expanded the following capabilities to support long-term planning: