My apologies if this question has been previously answered, but could anyone here provide me with resources that I might use to help build a case for exclusively using CentOS in an enterprise environment? (Approximately 200 servers)
Long story short, I've used a little of everything out there (Gentoo/Debian/*BSD/Slackware) and have a fairly good overall strategy of how they all work (all of them have lived on my laptop at one time or another over the last 10 years or so), but I'm now looking for solid business reasons that I can present to the CxO types of a company to show them that CentOS is probably where they'd like to look.
Reasons thus far I've come up with include:
--free *and* "fully" (at least, in my experience) compatible with RHEL --fairly stable (I don't have problems unless I start mixing repos) --yum packages (almost as cool as Debian! Ok, I'm biased...or maybe I don't know how to properly use yum?)
Any other suggestions / tips I might add to my list would be greatly appreciated!
Rogelio wrote:
My apologies if this question has been previously answered, but could anyone here provide me with resources that I might use to help build a case for exclusively using CentOS in an enterprise environment? (Approximately 200 servers)
Long story short, I've used a little of everything out there (Gentoo/Debian/*BSD/Slackware) and have a fairly good overall strategy of how they all work (all of them have lived on my laptop at one time or another over the last 10 years or so), but I'm now looking for solid business reasons that I can present to the CxO types of a company to show them that CentOS is probably where they'd like to look.
Reasons thus far I've come up with include:
--free *and* "fully" (at least, in my experience) compatible with RHEL --fairly stable (I don't have problems unless I start mixing repos) --yum packages (almost as cool as Debian! Ok, I'm biased...or maybe I don't know how to properly use yum?)
(nah. yum needs some more catching up. in any case, a working software management system.)
If this is a Linux shop, the answer would be what everybody is most comfortable with. That fact that you can now make your own repository/repositories has made the score more even against Debian, deb and apt. Any distro without tools for managing packages on multiple servers from a local repository should be dropped. You can therefore paint Centos in this light as one that meets such needs.
Rogelio wrote:
My apologies if this question has been previously answered, but could anyone here provide me with resources that I might use to help build a case for exclusively using CentOS in an enterprise environment? (Approximately 200 servers)
Long story short, I've used a little of everything out there (Gentoo/Debian/*BSD/Slackware) and have a fairly good overall strategy of how they all work (all of them have lived on my laptop at one time or another over the last 10 years or so), but I'm now looking for solid business reasons that I can present to the CxO types of a company to show them that CentOS is probably where they'd like to look.
Reasons thus far I've come up with include:
--free *and* "fully" (at least, in my experience) compatible with RHEL --fairly stable (I don't have problems unless I start mixing repos) --yum packages (almost as cool as Debian! Ok, I'm biased...or maybe I don't know how to properly use yum?)
Any other suggestions / tips I might add to my list would be greatly appreciated!
Free is not a "good reason" (I think); the main problem is RHEL is too expensive; so there is the Centos project. If you can buy some RHEL : do it, because you will help a good company and indirectly Centos (because, after all, who do the tests? who create patchs?? mainly RH :)
my 0.02€
On Wed, 28 Nov 2007, js wrote:
Rogelio wrote:
My apologies if this question has been previously answered, but could anyone here provide me with resources that I might use to help build a case for exclusively using CentOS in an enterprise environment? (Approximately 200 servers)
Long story short, I've used a little of everything out there (Gentoo/Debian/*BSD/Slackware) and have a fairly good overall strategy of how they all work (all of them have lived on my laptop at one time or another over the last 10 years or so), but I'm now looking for solid business reasons that I can present to the CxO types of a company to show them that CentOS is probably where they'd like to look.
Reasons thus far I've come up with include:
--free *and* "fully" (at least, in my experience) compatible with RHEL --fairly stable (I don't have problems unless I start mixing repos) --yum packages (almost as cool as Debian! Ok, I'm biased...or maybe I don't know how to properly use yum?)
Any other suggestions / tips I might add to my list would be greatly appreciated!
I have a simple rule that determines is I use RHEL or CentOS in my work environment. Does the software running on this machine require RHEL in order to have vendor support. An extension of that rule is whether nor not Red Hat would support the specific use of this server in my environment.
As an example, I have a server that is used to accept HTTPS PUTs. I am using a module called mod_put. This is the machine's only goal in life. If I were to call Red Hat for support, the first thing they would ask is if I have any 3rd party modules. Since I do, they would ask me to remove it in order to continue troubleshooting. Removing or disabling this functionality would lose its intended functionality. Therefore this machine runs CentOS.
Hope this helps. Barry
On Nov 28, 2007 8:25 AM, Barry Brimer lists@brimer.org wrote:
I have a simple rule that determines is I use RHEL or CentOS in my work environment. Does the software running on this machine require RHEL in order to have vendor support. An extension of that rule is whether nor not Red Hat would support the specific use of this server in my environment.
That is exactly the mindset that I use in determining which to install. If my vendor will require RHEL in order to support my system, that is what I need to use. For in-house apps, lab servers, and/or vendors that don't care what I run, I will usually install CentOS.
Thanks, Scott
Wednesday 28 November 2007 06:31:02 Rogelio napisał(a):
My apologies if this question has been previously answered, but could anyone here provide me with resources that I might use to help build a case for exclusively using CentOS in an enterprise environment? (Approximately 200 servers)
This question was probably anwered several times, but the truth is, that every case is different. Ok, maybe not so different.
--free *and* "fully" (at least, in my experience) compatible with RHEL
Free it's not something you should mention to management (well, certainly not the main tjhing, it does not build trust. Things are not better just because they are free) RHEL compatibility sounds good, but then you'd have to answer another question: why RHEL ;)
--fairly stable (I don't have problems unless I start mixing repos)
Truth.
--yum packages (almost as cool as Debian! Ok, I'm biased...or maybe I don't know how to properly use yum?)
That's very technical, avoid it unless you know what you're doing ;) Besides, rpms and yum sux ;)
Any other suggestions / tips I might add to my list would be greatly appreciated!
- Well tested software (pacjages), - Huge user-base (implicates above) - Good hardware support, especially when we are talking about enterprise stuff (SAN, tape libraries, etc.) - Supported by main hardware vendors (although indirectly) - Long support - Very good documentation - Certification paths available (indirectly).
My 2 cents
Regards,
On Nov 28, 2007 12:31 AM, Rogelio scubacuda@gmail.com wrote:
My apologies if this question has been previously answered, but could anyone here provide me with resources that I might use to help build a case for exclusively using CentOS in an enterprise environment? (Approximately 200 servers)
Long story short, I've used a little of everything out there (Gentoo/Debian/*BSD/Slackware) and have a fairly good overall strategy of how they all work (all of them have lived on my laptop at one time or another over the last 10 years or so), but I'm now looking for solid business reasons that I can present to the CxO types of a company to show them that CentOS is probably where they'd like to look.
Reasons thus far I've come up with include:
--free *and* "fully" (at least, in my experience) compatible with RHEL --fairly stable (I don't have problems unless I start mixing repos) --yum packages (almost as cool as Debian! Ok, I'm biased...or maybe I don't know how to properly use yum?)
Any other suggestions / tips I might add to my list would be greatly appreciated!
You won't get sued by the BSA, Microsoft, Adobe or any of the other software giants.
Rogelio wrote:
My apologies if this question has been previously answered, but could anyone here provide me with resources that I might use to help build a case for exclusively using CentOS in an enterprise environment? (Approximately 200 servers)
[...]
Reasons thus far I've come up with include:
--free *and* "fully" (at least, in my experience) compatible with RHEL --fairly stable (I don't have problems unless I start mixing repos) --yum packages (almost as cool as Debian! Ok, I'm biased...or maybe I don't know how to properly use yum?)
I've done an introductory presentation of CentOS at Fosdem last year (and at some other places), in which I covered some of the reasoning why you should use CentOS/RHEL.
http://wiki.centos.org/Events/Fosdem2007?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=fosdem2007.tar.gz
Maybe that helps a bit.
Cheers,
Ralph
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Barry Brimer -
Christopher Chan -
js -
Matt Shields -
Ralph Angenendt -
Rogelio -
Scott Moseman -
Tomasz 'Zen' Napierala