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CentOS Linux

Score8.6 out of 10

136 Reviews and Ratings

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.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about CentOS Linux.
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CentOS: stable, reliable, and secure Linux distribution

Incentivized
Jason Smith, DPA
Instructional Technologist in Information Technology at Pomona College (201-500 employees employees)

Pros

  • 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.

Cons

  • 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.

Return on Investment

  • CentOS is all positive on return!
  • The more CentOS machines we have around here the better.
  • CentOS is a tight Linux distro, it is conservative and solid where it needs to be.
  • Security options are excellent. You can really make it tight.

Alternatives Considered

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Ubuntu Linux

Other Software Used

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Apache Tomcat

CentOS Free Alternative to Commercial Alternatives

Incentivized
Kaitlyn Delacruz
CEO (Chief Executive Officer) in Corporate at Yokai Sakura Limited (1-10 employees employees)

Pros

  • Web Server
  • Database Server

Cons

  • Security
  • Hardened OOB

Return on Investment

  • No Cost
  • Free Upgrades

Alternatives Considered

Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

CentOS - Absolutely the best value for the money

Incentivized
Bear GolightlyView profile
IT Operations Manager / IT Service Manager in Information Technology at Nashville Wraps (51-200 employees employees)

Pros

  • 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!).

Cons

  • CentOS isn't (and may never be) a strong contender for a desktop (GUI) Linux distribution.

Return on Investment

  • The cost of ownership is debatable, but the purchase price is zero dollars ($0), which is hard to argue with.

Alternatives Considered

Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

Other Software Used

ASP.NET, Visual Studio IDE, PyCharm

Fast, Reliable and Secure

Incentivized
Valery MezentsauView profile
IT Department Manager in Information Technology at Acceptance Solutions Group (51-200 employees employees)

Pros

  • 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.

Cons

  • 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.

Return on Investment

  • Being supported by Infosec software vendors provided us vendor documentation, knowledge bases and decreased time spent troubleshooting issues.
  • Fast and easy deployment: saved time and people resources for implementation.
  • Cost saving on deployment because no licenses needed.

Alternatives Considered

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Ubuntu Linux and Windows Server

Other Software Used

VMware ESXi, VMware vCenter Server, Veeam Backup & Replication, Windows Server, Hyper-V, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Ubuntu Linux, Microsoft Office 365, MS SharePoint, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, NETGEAR Ethernet Switches, Cisco Ethernet Switches, SonicWall TZ

Why I love CentOS

Incentivized
Joseph Ngugi MuiruriView profile
IT support in Information Technology at D-TAG Europe Ltd. (51-200 employees employees)

Pros

  • It is highly customizable.
  • Very secure.
  • Very stable distribution with a wide user community.

Cons

  • 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.

Return on Investment

  • Improved the development cycle.
  • Improved and secure virtualized systems.
  • Flexibility.

Alternatives Considered

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Ubuntu Linux, Ubuntu OpenStack, Oracle Linux and IBM LinuxONE

Other Software Used

Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Oracle Linux