CentOS Linux
CentOS Linux
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What is CentOS Linux?
CentOS Linux is a Linux distribution is an enterprise OS platform compatible with its source RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Its end of life was announced for December 2021.
CentOS Linux Technical Details
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April 26, 2022
Centos review to the best of my knowledge
As we have small clients we prefer to use CentOS, the installation is easier and it’s very stable and reliable. It’s recommended for faster security patching. The applications running on it don’t need to be updated as often and the cost is also very less than compared with other Linux essentials.
- Applications doesn’t need to be updated often.
- Reliable and scalable
- User friendly
- It should be made ready for bigger enterprises.
- It should be faster for booting.
- It should be a viable for daily use.
I use CentOS Linux in almost every capacity except as an end user facing system. I use it as a mail server, web server, router, vpn endpoint, development system, high availability clustering node, virtual machine hypervisor, wireless access point, encryption appliance, and virtually every other kind of system, other than laptop or desktop. It excels at all of the server type roles that it is placed in.
- CentOS Linux works extremely well as a development system. Development packages are readily available and 3rd party compatibility is very high.
- CentOS Linux works extremely well for high availability clustering. It has native packages for DRBD which make it easy to provision high availability.
- CentOS Linux has very little extra "nonsense" running, it can be slimmed down to a bare minimum system very easily to allow for maximum compute power to be devoted to the application.
- It is extremely stable, however it could use a more robust "experimental" branch where new/different/updated code could be applied
- It lacks end-user niceties. As a laptop/desktop system, it's absolutely awful. It would be very nice if there were better developed frontends for it
June 29, 2021
Stay away from CentOS Stream
We use various CentOS systems in our organization on over two thousand servers all over the world. We write custom software for CentOS and rely on it to be a stable and secure platform for our needs. CentOS needs to be reliable for our business org to function properly and not introduce issues.
- Stable
- Reliable
- Secure
- Undoing the move to CentOS Stream.
- Increasing the lifetime of CentOS.
- Provide already tested updates to users.
- Don't use the users as guinea pigs for testing.
CentOS has been my Linux flavour of choice for many years. I use it both personally and professionally for multiple purposes. We have CentOS running for our corporate firewall filtering, network file storage, web application development and MySQL hosting. We primarily use the operating system on headless machines, accessed over SSH. We utilize the command line interface, not the GUI options.
- Extremely Stability
- Widely Used - Lots of reference material available
- Runs fast, even on older hardware
- FREE!
- Moderate learning curve, not ideal for a Linux novice
- Support for newest software updates may require installing unofficial distros
- Support life cycle recently changed, pushing users away from traditional CentOS
May 19, 2021
CentOS - a more practical OS to choose
Our Organization basically belongs to renewable energy and to implement AI platform at our project locations our innovation team doing the development [is] on [CentOS Linux]. The resources they are using over the cloud for development are CentOS Linux based. We as the IT department are using our monitoring tools which are CentOS Linux based too. Since this CentOS is open sourced we don't need to make any investment on it and it help us to optimize the operation cost
- Open Sourced which help to optimize overall cost of IT operation s
- CLI as well as GUI interfaces consume very less hardware resources and perform well
- Ideal for code development environment
- GUI interface should be more interactive so that end users could work seamlessly. Still users prefers to work on window based OS
May 12, 2021
Server material
We use CentOS as the host OS for MongoDB servers in our analytics service. We also used to have it as the host for the user file Backup Service Front Ends. We use it both on bare metal and in virtual machines. We also have development and testing virtual machines setup with it as a host OS.
- Enterprise ready
- Stable packages
- Great Online knowledge base
- It's not as intuitive as it could be
- Some packages can be quite old compared with other distributions
- Breaking changes appear often when packages are obsoleted usually with no supported transition path (this is a general *NIX problem, but it's more accentuated in CentOS)
March 17, 2020
CentOS Free Alternative to Commercial Alternatives
We use CentOS currently for our server solutions.
- Web Server
- Database Server
- Security
- Hardened OOB
December 04, 2019
CentOS: stable, reliable, and secure Linux distribution
We use CentOS as the primary Linux distribution across all our instructional and research computing endeavors. It is used across all the IT infrastructure and supports many unique academic projects. The main problem that CentOS solves is that it provides a stable research platform that is easy to manage and most of all has a solid support path that extends well into the future.
- Excellent "L" in the LAMP server.
- CentOS is a total workhorse and very stable distribution.
- Security and other updates are a breeze with YUM.
- The community support and documentation is as good as it gets.
- Sometimes we have to add some esoteric repositories to YUM, and that is a bit of a pain.
- Sometimes we fight with SE Linux if it is enabled.
- I wish I could get a CentOS t-shirt.
October 31, 2019
Cheap RPM support, not much else
As our organization looked to shift to cloud development, we need to standardize on a cloud-friendly Linux distribution. We evaluated CentOS for this purpose within my development team with the idea being that CentOS offered compatibility with rpm packages, and could largely mirror an expensive Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server, without the cost. Unfortunately, we found that CentOS 8 was not fit for this purpose.
- Barebones user-interface - CentOS doesn't aim to be flashy, and takes a no-nonsense approach to the user interface. Unfortunately, this is also one of its downsides.
- RPM package compatibility - CentOS can readily use most RPMs making it trivially easy to set up a machine for development that you'll want to mirror for production.
- Command Line Customization - CentOS is easier than other distributions for customizing from the command line, making it easier to automate the deployment of a new instance.
- Ugly User Interface - I can deal with a simple and barebones interface, but that doesn't mean it needs to look like it was designed in the early 90s.
- Smaller user base than other distributions - CentOS, while well established as a viable Linux distribution, lacks as strong of a user base as other distributions, making it more difficult to get support on user forums.
- Drive compatibility - CentOS lacks as robust driver support as other distributions. For instance, in my most recent install, I still needed to install networking support packages, rather than having in-built support.
October 24, 2019
CentOS - Absolutely the best value for the money
We use CentOS for all of our Linux hosts and Linux containers, for webservers as well as application servers, and addresses the need for a solid platform to run generic code, without worrying about licensing or justifying initial cost.
- As it is derived from the commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution, most instructions for installing enterprise software on Red Hat also work on CentOS, including the package manager.
- CentOS lags behind Fedora (the other free Red Hat derivative supported by Red Hat), which makes it a solid choice for the enterprise (or even SMBs - stability is universally appreciated!).
- CentOS isn't (and may never be) a strong contender for a desktop (GUI) Linux distribution.
October 18, 2019
CentOS - the best flavor of Linux out there
CentOS is the standard flavor of Linux that we've used for our VMs, throughout the company. Based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you know you are getting a solid Linux distro.
- Base image for virtual machines
- Great OS for running Docker
- Based of solid RedHat enterprise linux, so compatible with pretty much everything
- I haven't had a reason to try anything else really
July 17, 2019
Why I love CentOS
Most of our development team works with opensource tools and contribute towards the improvement of CentOS and other Linux based tools and our default Operating system is CentOS. Our system administrators and Linux engineers mostly operate with CentOS.
- It is highly customizable.
- Very secure.
- Very stable distribution with a wide user community.
- It is a little complex because few c/c++ libraries will give dependencies issues.
- Installing/uninstalling packages in RHEL is a little bit of a headache.
- Not being able to run certain things on CentOS because everything is so out of date.
July 06, 2019
CentOS rocks!
CentOS is our go-to. For any software that can run on Linux, we choose it. We don't have to mess with Microsoft licensing and Windows updates. It is fast, stable, and relatively easy to use if you are familiar with Linux at all. If you are having a problem a quick Google search will typically turn up an answer.
- Fast
- Stable
- Well documented
- Secure
- Not a big fan of Firewalld in CentOS 7 but it's pretty easy to switch back to Iptables if needed.
May 15, 2019
CentOS to save time and money.
We use CentOS for all of our Linux hosting servers that is over 2000+ servers in production and about 70% of them uses different versions of CentOS its a great alternative to RedHat which charges licensing fees whereas CentOS is opensource and perfect for our and our clients' needs.
- Server Management
- Web Hosting Management
- Secure compared to Windows
- Support for cloud and containers
- Documentation is not comprehensive
- Issues reported take a while to get corrected.
May 01, 2019
Fast, Reliable and Secure
In most cases, I have been and still am using CentOS operating system as the base for information/cyber security virtual appliances. In my practice, I have been using a lot of different virtual information security appliance from different vendors. Most of the vendors are placing their Infosec related software on top of CentOS operating systems. Also, I have been using CentOS servers for a telephony system.
- First of all, CentOS is one of the most secure and stable OSes straits from the box.
- High performance on the average hardware.
- In most of my scenarios—easy and quick deployment.
- Huge KB community that helps to build and support different services on CentOS.
- Versions lifecycle.
- Configuring network interfaces sometimes causes a lot of issues, especially when you are using it out of regular configuration.
- Server updates—would be better to decrease the time for that.
- CentOS is not a good desktop solution.
April 29, 2019
CentOS: The Reliable, Lightweight and Secure Server
In IT, CentOS is used by our organization to host many of the service's organization-wide services. It is a great cost-free alternative to the commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux product. It is built using the same source code as RHEL with just cosmetic modifications made due to licensing/trademarks. It delivers robust services on a free platform. CentOS is well-supported with regular security and operating system updates. It is well-suited for all network services, including as a network file share. Also run FreeSWITCH for the entire organization-wide phone system, which is also based on CentOS.
- Easy installation process with sensible and secure defaults.
- Its very stable and reliable.
- Good package management.
- Fast security patching.
- CentOS is community-supported, so some software vendors will not officially support it because it isn't Red Hat.
- CentOS is not a great desktop platform, only for servers.
April 06, 2019
CentOS: The Reliable and Secure Server
CentOS is currently being used as the primary OS for our Zabbix Server and our Web Server that hosts a couple of our websites. CentOS is a very stable build of Linux based off of Red Hat but it is free so you get a lot of the power and features of Red Hat Enterprise but you do not need to pay for any licenses. We are using it because we wanted to run our web server on a very minimalistic and quick operating system that we knew would we not really run into any issues with. I can say for as long as I have been dealing with the server side of things I have never had any problems with our web server or our Zabbix server.
- CentOS is very secure and stable. It is on par with RHEL and receives a lot of the same corporate level security updates making it a great choice for all users.
- Another strength of CentOS would be its longer release cycle and longer support cycle. RHEL packages have been through a lot of testing before going to the repositories. This helps makes sure that all bugs are found and "hopefully" fixed prior to being released. Both RHEL and CentOS releases are usually supported for about 10 years.
- Then I think really the other thing is just speed as I mentioned above. CentOS runs very basic software and will run much faster than other similar Linux distributions.
- I also really like CentOS Web Panel for our web server. I don't know if that was built in or if it was something we added on, but it is a free application that allows us to manage our hosted sites very easily and see how everything is doing. We can just open up a web browser and browse out to CWP and see all the stats of our websites.
- The hugest drawback, but also the best feature of CentOS is the lack of updates. It is awesome because you know what you have installed on your server is going to just work, but it works because the release is usually older and has been tested to work. With that being said you don't get the latest and possibly greatest versions of the software. So you could be missing out on some great new features.
- Nothing else really I feel is a con. It is a really good Linux server option.
March 11, 2019
Centos Lightweight, Robust and secure
[CentOS is] Used as a minimal Linux system for mail handling and web reverse proxying.
- Robust
- Good package management
- Fast security patching
- Increase number of standard packages rather than having to use EPEL releases
- Increase speed of getting latest version of base packages
- More Stable arm builds
January 31, 2019
No need to break the bank when getting your feet wet with Enterprise Linux, just use CentOS!
In IT, we use CentOS Linux servers to provide various supplementary services to our infrastructure. It is a great cost-free alternative to the commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux product. It is built using the same source code as RHEL with just cosmetic modifications made due to licensing/trademarks. Each version has a 10-year life cycle so we can deploy it knowing that it will be supported for the long haul.
- Built on the same source code as RHEL. Each version has been thoroughly tested and customizable.
- CentOS provides a rock-solid basis for applications that rely on maximum uptime. This has helped our services to maintain excellent availability.
- While commercial support contracts are available, the project has a huge following/community and is always willing to assist.
- To maintain maximum stability, software packages may not be the latest and greatest versions but you can easily compile their source code yourself if a packaged version is missing certain functionality.
- Sometimes, the major version releases of CentOS may be delayed in delivery due to the project's infrastructure limitations. RHEL sets the cadence and others like CentOS and Oracle Enterprise Linux follow soon after.
- As it's meant for server installations, personal computer and laptop peripherals that sport the latest technologies might not be supported right away.
CentOS is used by our organization to host many services organization wide services. We have various public facing web sites that utilize PHP, MariaDB, and DotNet Core that are hosted on CentOS servers. We also utilize a few CentOS servers to host applications such as UniFi's controller software, Zabbix for infrastructure monitoring and problem alerting, as well as DNS services. We also run FreePBX for our entire organization wide phone system, which is also based on CentOS.
CentOS gives us a secure and very reliable OS to host these services on commodity hardware for a very little financial impact.
CentOS gives us a secure and very reliable OS to host these services on commodity hardware for a very little financial impact.
- Quick and easy installation process with sensible and secure defaults.
- Its very stable and reliable.
- Very easy to install 3rd party software via upstream repositories.
- SELinux that helps to harden CentOS can sometimes get in the way of 3rd party software and working around it can be a trying process.
CentOS is a RedHat clone that is widely accepted as the "Go To" Red Hat Linux clone for mimicking a production Red Hat environment. I use it for virtual machines for various services such as web server. CentOS is used as a standard OS. CentOS solves a major business problem which is enterprise service delivery. It delivers robust services on a free platform. CentOS is well-supported with regular security and operating system updates. It is well-suited for all network services, including as a network file share. It shares all the features of Red Hat including that of a virtual host. I use it as an OpenVZ hosting platform but it's quite capable as a KVM host as well.
- CentOS provides businesses with a very complete development platform for all open source software languages and some proprietary ones. Entire development environments are available with a few commands or clicks in the GUI.
- CentOS is a powerful and free web host platform. Using Apache, Nginx, or other web servers, CentOS can be part of a standalone web solution or as part of a large farm of load balanced systems.
- CentOS provides a free platform for hosting all necessary network services such as DNS, file sharing, printer sharing, DHCP, and more. It also works extremely well as a virtual machine, to further that no cost platform into a farm of systems.
- CentOS is not a great desktop platform. Although some would disagree with that statement, I think that CentOS is better suited to life as a server.
- Since CentOS is community-supported some software vendors will not officially support it because it isn't Red Hat.
Currently we use CentOS as a service bus to interconnect through different web servers and applications that provides information in different systems. It has also helped me because it is a stable and robust operating system that helps you not to hang up or get stuck at the time of execution.
- is a good operating system to create servers due to its stability and security and budget-friendliness, since it is a free distribution
- this system is stable and efficient in the consumption of resources, which helps our budget, especially since it has expanded to run Apache, PHP, MySQL and be more on a par with other systems
- What I do not like about centOS is that in some installations it has caused problems with the network interfaces which I have to do cumbersome procedures for their configuration
- In rare cases there is a software that we want that is not available through a repository. I think it would be better if they expand more these repositories to improve the user's experience
November 02, 2017
CentOS 7 simply the best
The centos 6.5 Linux operating system is used mainly for our Asterisk PBX solutions. This solution is used for our retention agents to communicate with customers via this system. The O.S is configured at the IT departments and is used for retention contact center.
We have addressed a lot of problems for our retention team as we have a more robust solution that can be managed on a reliable operating system. Centos is free open source Linux based system that is stable and prone to various and easy to use. The agents at the contact center can perform the various functions via asterisk solution perfectly.
We have addressed a lot of problems for our retention team as we have a more robust solution that can be managed on a reliable operating system. Centos is free open source Linux based system that is stable and prone to various and easy to use. The agents at the contact center can perform the various functions via asterisk solution perfectly.
- The operating system is open-source Linux based distribution. These have helped companies to spend money on purchasing licenses unlike the Windows operating system
- You can find solutions to any issues for the operating system. Since it is a community build, access to basic troubleshooting or problems for CentOS can be found easily online. Other operating systems you might need to pay for their help desk assistance.
- The command line in CentOS is really a valuable tool especially for the developers. This is one way in which applications can be installed and function properly. But one has to be a master of coding before performing functions on the OS.
- Security is not an issue for the operating system as most linux boxes are prone to security. Unlike the Windows operating system, you might want to spend money buying an anti virus to run on your servers which is not really cost effective.
- Less text editors.
- Options for full access for admin users.
- More security functionalities for root access.
- Server updates can take a while. The time for this can be reduced.