CentOS... any good?

[QwertyJuan]

We have a company setting up a DB for us.... they want me to setup a Linux server for them to install their DB to. They said either to use Red Hat, or CentOS if we wanted to go free(which we do! :D)

Anyone use it before?? Likes or dislikes??

[Boomslang]

I've used it - it's fine if you start with a very bare install. Out of the box, it's going to want to install a lot of stuff you don't need. The kernel version is very much older than what you're used to seeing in desktop systems as well, so keep that in mind.

[ameoba]

Nothing wrong with it at all, if you're OK with running older versions of software. They have a very conservative upgrade policy, which is good for enterprise use but kind of annoying if you're a developer and you want more up-to-date versions of things.

If you have a 3rd party that's actually doing the support then it doesn't matter what you pick - they're responsible for running the shit anyways.

[longblock454]

Cent 5.4 will be out very soon and is VERY good.

I've had several Redhat boxes I measured uptime in years, not days!

http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2009-August/081364.html

[`danny]

I use it on all of my VMs at home and have had no issues with it. One could say I live by it :)

[ThisIsTheNewSound]

CentOS is RHEL without the commercial packages. That said, in my experience it is the best linux server distro, hands down. It is all we use in our datacenter.

[QwertyJuan]

CentOS is RHEL without the commercial packages. That said, in my experience it is the best linux server distro, hands down. It is all we use in our datacenter.

Hmmm nice to know!

[Shaggy3zx]

If the server is mission-critical and you don't have any linux gurus then try to get the business to purchase a Redhat subscription. When you purchase Redhat; you are really purchasing support. That means when the OS has a major or minor issue resulting in downtime and the business is losing untold $$$/hr then your boss will want to kill RHEL support and not you personally.

If the server is for a non-critical project then by all means install CentOS because it is great! :)

[keenan]

Debian >>>> CentOS/RHEL

However, since it's basically just RHEL, if you're looking for a RedHat solution it's a fine option. Since you're buying from a vendor that's presumably going to set up and maintain the server for you, I assume if you have any issues you can go to them for support. I'd clarify this with your vendor though, and if they refuse to help you with OS-level issues, buy the support contract from RedHat. Just keep in mind you can't ever drop the support contract later because RH won't give you free software updates, you'd have to migrate to CentOS to continue getting security updates etc.

[compslckr]

CentOS is an excellent choice. We use RHEL at work, and I wanted something very similar for testing at home without the price tag. 99% of the things I can do in RHEL are identical in CentOS.

I say go for CentOS

[Digital Cro-Magnon]

Yep, we use CentOS on our development, testing, and production web servers. It is built from the source RPMs of RHEL. If you need support go with RHEL. Otherwise use CentOS and don't forget to donate to reward them for their efforts.:D