[CentOS] reasons for using CentOS in business environments

Wed Nov 28 10:14:38 UTC 2007
Tomasz 'Zen' Napierala <zen at allegro.pl>

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,
-- 
Tomasz Napierala
System Administrator
QXL Poland - Allegro.pl Team
http://www.allegro.pl/