Hello,

Having had a lot of experience with different flavors of Unix in many areas, they don't unfortunately include administration so I want to correct that lacking and am looking at CentOS to help me do that.

My question is, what makes CentOS or any Enterprise OS different from non-Enterprise OS? Is it in the area of support, stability or certifications?

Thanks,
Ben

Welcome to the CentOS fora. Please see the recommended reading for new users linked in my signature.

Your question clearly does not fit in "User Comments" so it is moving to Social. The recommended reading, the choices under Information / What is CentOS on the bar near the top of the page, and the FAQs should help answer your questions. If you are still unclear on anything, after some study of those information sources, please ask.

The way I see it is that RedHat started the enterprise notation in order to be able to differentiate themselves from other distros. This has been pretty successful. Then they do not conform to the GPL as interpreted by the majority of *nix consumers. All distros make freely available the source and binary packages. RedHat on the other hand only the source and it is a pain in the back to get this all working, not to mention time consuming. Then you have the wonderful blokes running the CentOS project, compiling the RedHat code and releasing it in Binary form. They are indeed doing a stellar service.

For me there are three main distro. Namely 1.) Debian (my favourite), 2. Suse which followed suite to RedHat and uses a different naming scheme for commercial and community distros( I liked Suse when they first started) 3.) RedHat.

These three distros pretty much in my opinion shaped the way things linux are done now adays. Don't get me wrong, they all implement the same open source stuff more or less, however their configurations methods and kernels all vary to tailor for their goals. RedHat I have respect for, just because it is the first distro I used. I still remember getting the official CD's from CDW ages ago. They seem to have conquered the business scene in the U.S. Where as Suse is generelly though to be more European based. I have to say Ilike the way Suse packages their configuration into a single interface. And then there is Debian, for some a pain to get going, but I can tell you that you do not have the same type of upgrade issues between major releases.

RedHat I sort of grown out of because for many things I need to do I always have to enable third party repos,( but if you have the subscription to some of their services, they do have some neat propriety tools). Not that much fun to do all the time. But each distro has it's own strenghts and weaknesses. All three the ones I pointed out I believe will make a very solid base distro. Everything else is mostly only spin offs.

This is just my opinion, please understand guys I have no intention of starting a flame war about distros. Currently I am using CentOS 6.2 and am liking what I see, partly for certification reasons, however, it is a pretty solid distro as far as I can see. Currently virtual machines I have set up runs very smooth. I think the implementation of Centos and RehHat's implementation of SELinux seems to be working pretty nicely. As far as configuration goes, I feel it is pretty easy compared to some other systems, and config files are located in sensible places.

I am confident that you will enjoy using this distro. Some things installed during a minimal install I still think is not strictly required, however, most distros follow this in order to make it a little easier to the end user after initial install. The only distro I have major issues with too many unecessary stuff running and being installed is Ubuntu. But if you use one of the three I mentioned above (using CentOS instead of RedHat), you cannot go wrong. Using their forum is also quite good. So far it appears that there are not too many users, but that is great news. You get specific OS help.

All and all, I rate CentOs as a great system.

Hello:

To the best of my knowledge there are two Linux Distros that state they are 'Enterprise Linux'. These are Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Suse Enterprise Linux Server (SELS). Both of these companies charge a fee for their product, which mostly covers propriatary packages and some type of service agreement. There are a number of clones of RHEL, with (in my opinion) CENTOS being the best. I administer 4 Centos Servers at work, and use another 6 in the courses I teach. I can tell you from experience that it is a 'Rock Solid' enterprise server.

As regards your question about the difference between an "Enterprise" linux and the rest of the distros. Enterprise Linux systems are primarily designed for the Corporate Server Market, though both companies have a 'Desktop' product. In order for the client to get as much return as possible, the Enterprise Linux Distribution needs to be maintained for a longer period of time than the normal distros. The Desktop Linux Systems (all the rest) are targeted primarily at the consumer market. Most of these have a set update cycle (usually about every 6 months), with support for previous versions generally not lasting much more than one or two version updates. Yes, the software development in the linux world really does change that fast!

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Suse Enterprise Linux Server (SELS) distribute versions that are guaranteed to be supported for a number of years. Red Hat is still supporting Red Hat Version 4.x (I think) while they are actively producing ver 6.x, a support gap of several years. Because of this the 'Enterprise' linux versions do not use the latest, greatest, bleeding edge, packages. The return for this a very stable product with proven reliability.

On the negative side, the Enterprise Distributions are often not compatible with newer state-of-the-art hardware. This is especially true with notebook computers. The areas where Enterprise Linux distros have the most problems are Video Sub-systems, and Wifi Sub-systems. If you are planning on running Linux on a new notebook computer, or you like to keep up with the latest software upgrades, then an Enterprise Linux distro is probably not a good choice.

On the other hand is you don't mind having to work a bit to get things to work, and want a stable, reliable system that you can use reliably, I think you will find an Enterprise Linux a very nice choice.

FYI I am currently working on getting Centos 6.2 to work reliably on my new HP Notebook Computer. So far I have everything except the Wifi Adapter working. At times I could throw the damn thing against the wall, but I struggle on.

I hope this answers your questions. If you have more feel free to ask in this forum. I think Social is the best place for questions like this, but if it's not the 'mods' will get it straight

Welcome aboard, and enjoy the trip.

MrPete