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CentOS Linux

CentOS Linux

Overview

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.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

CentOS Linux is widely used in various industries and for a multitude of purposes. Organizations rely on CentOS as a stable and reliable …
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Server material

8 out of 10
May 12, 2021
Incentivized
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 …
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CentOS rocks!

10 out of 10
July 06, 2019
Incentivized
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 …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

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Product Demos

DELL OMSA CentOS 6.4 DEMO 2014

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demo of free open source CentOS Linux, R, and RStudio for quant

YouTube

CentOS Linux Hot Plug CPU and Hot Plug Memory Demo

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VMware Tutorial Beginners | Session 14 CentOS Linux Hot Plug CPU and Hot Plug Memory Demo

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Learning Centos Linux : LVM Management on CentOS XenServer Demo Linux VM

YouTube
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Product Details

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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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(130)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

CentOS Linux is widely used in various industries and for a multitude of purposes. Organizations rely on CentOS as a stable and reliable operating system for hosting a wide range of services. It serves as the foundation for information cyber security virtual appliances, making it a popular choice among vendors in this field. Additionally, CentOS is well-suited for network services like web servers and network file sharing, providing a solid platform for organizations to deliver their online presence.

Academic institutions also find great value in CentOS, using it as the primary Linux distribution for instructional and research computing endeavors. It offers a stable research platform that is easy to manage and comes with a solid support path. Moreover, CentOS is preferred by developers for custom software development and deployment, as it provides a stable and secure environment while offering regular security updates.

For organizations looking for cost-effective solutions, CentOS is an excellent choice. It eliminates the need for costly licenses associated with other Linux distributions like Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Many companies use CentOS for hosting public-facing websites, infrastructure monitoring, DNS services, phone systems, and various other server roles. Its compatibility with RPM packages makes it cloud-friendly and allows mirroring of expensive Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers.

Overall, users appreciate the speed, stability, and ease of use that CentOS offers. It serves as the go-to choice for virtual machines throughout many organizations and is known for its reliability. Additionally, CentOS eliminates the need for Microsoft licensing and Windows updates, making it a hassle-free option for those seeking an alternative to Windows-based systems.

High Security and Stability: Many users have expressed their satisfaction with the high level of security and stability provided by CentOS. They value the peace of mind that comes from using a reliable operating system straight out of the box.

Smooth Performance: Users consistently praise the performance of CentOS, even on average hardware. They appreciate its efficiency and optimization, which result in a smooth and responsive user experience.

Versatile Deployment: The ease and speed of deployment in various scenarios make CentOS a versatile choice for different projects. Users find it convenient for their needs, allowing them to quickly set up their development environment or host necessary network services.

Network Configuration Issues: Some users have experienced difficulties configuring network interfaces in CentOS, particularly when using it outside of regular configuration. This has been a common frustration among reviewers.

Slow Server Updates: Reviewers have expressed a desire for faster server updates in CentOS. They feel that the current update process takes too long and they would like to see improvements in this area.

Limited User-Friendly Features: CentOS is not considered a good desktop solution by some users due to its lack of certain user-friendly features and an intuitive user interface. These limitations have been mentioned by multiple reviewers as drawbacks of the software.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-7 of 7)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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
I have been a CentOS user for over 10 years and remain loyal to the core OS. When it comes to stability and speed, there's no other OS I'd recommend over it. I base this recommendation on my personal experience, as I have multiple development and production servers running the CentOS software today. It's running on newer and older hardware with ease, and the price is right!
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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.
CentOS is ideal if you need to replicate a Red Hat Enterprise Linux server setup for cheap/free, as you can use most, if not all, of the same packages you use on your RHEL set-up. It's also ideal if you need something that you can easily customize from the command line (such as in a virtualized environment.) It's less ideal if you want user community support or a user-friendly desktop environment.
Bear Golightly | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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.
If you need a Linux host for running server software, you almost can't go wrong by installing CentOS - the Red Hat ecosystem is one of the most highly-supported Linux distributions.
Valery Mezentsau | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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.
For the same type of tasks/roles that I have been using, I would definitely recommend CentOS for my colleagues. 9 out of 10 because it is a very stable and secure solution, but for some different tasks, there are lots of other Linux OSes that could be a better fit. For example, RHEL sometimes has better support of software vendors. Or, Ubuntu-like systems are better for GUI and desktop experience.
Kenneth Hess | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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.
I would use CentOS in any scenario where cost is a concern or where speed and reliability are very important. CentOS is very well suited to Internet-type services, such as network services and N-tier hosting scenarios. It is an excellent database server because of its speed and tunability. Anything that you would use Red Hat Linux for, you can do with CentOS. I would not recommend CentOS as a desktop operating system. There are better distributions for that application.
germary zambrano | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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
This system has good performance as an operating system for servers. In addition to the stability and features of this robust distribution of Linux, it allows for easy configuration for web servers, has a library repository and has the security of source packages released from Red Hat.

They do not have x86 versions of the other distribution. Which is a trend for all operating systems, but I still have some cases where the x64 version will not be installed on the hardware I have
November 02, 2017

CentOS 7 simply the best

Olumayowa Mosuro | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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.
  • 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.
It is well well suited for PBX solutions such as Asterisk, voice-over IP and CRM solutions, database solutions. Not well suited for security solutions, network monitoring.
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