I use the solution as a SIEM tool for system locking purposes.
Security Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
It is a stable solution, but the hardware performance needs improvement
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable soultion."
- "It is challenging to scale the solution when we have to increase the storage capacity from one end."
What is our primary use case?
What needs improvement?
They should improve the solution's hardware performance.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
Buyer's Guide
CentOS
November 2024
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have five to ten users of the solution at our organization. We may plan to increase the number of users. It is challenging to scale the solution when we have to increase the storage capacity from one end.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used Kali Linux before. I switched to CentOS as it is free of cost and has a good infrastructure.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup is easy. There are installation options provided. We can either do a full or a minimum installation. It is easy to install tools in it. The process takes 30 minutes to complete.
What about the implementation team?
I implemented the solution myself.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the solution to others and rate it as a seven. I advise others to know about the solution's commands before purchasing it.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Consultant at a educational organization with 11-50 employees
Stable, easy to set up, and free to use
Pros and Cons
- "The product is free to use."
- "Previous versions were unstable."
What is our primary use case?
The solution has many types of use cases.
What is most valuable?
The configuration is very good. It is very easy to configure any application, et cetera.
The current version is stable.
The initial implementation is straightforward.
The product is free to use.
What needs improvement?
Previous versions were unstable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for close to four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable in its current form. This wasn't always the case. In earlier versions, it wasn't as stable as it is now. Currently, there are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. However, you do occasionally do still get some unstable packages.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is only really scalable if you handle on-premises versions. However, you can scale it up and down as you need.
We have close to 300 users using the product right now.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've never had to use technical support as everything is pretty straightforward. I can't speak to how helpful or responsive they are.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is very straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult. A company shouldn't have too much trouble handling it.
The deployment is very quick. It's up and running in a matter of minutes.
What about the implementation team?
I've always handled the implementations myself. I've never used a consultant or integrator. It's easy to handle in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This product is free to use. It's great for companies with small budgets.
What other advice do I have?
I have a hybrid setup. On the cloud, I'm using version 7.5. On-premise I'm on 8.3.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. If it was more reliable in terms of dealing with stability, it would be excellent.
I'd recommend the solution to other users and companies.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
CentOS
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about CentOS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Director of Electronic procurement department at a government with 51-200 employees
Easy to use, simple implementation, and good support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of CentOS is that it is easy to use."
- "The price of CentOS could improve."
What is our primary use case?
Support of public systems
How has it helped my organization?
We are going with CentOS due to minimalistic and stable approach during OS build preparation.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of CentOS is that it is easy to use.
What needs improvement?
The price of CentOS could improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CentOS for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
CentOS is stable.
How are customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
The setup of CentOS is easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
CentOS is an expensive solution. There are other solutions that are rated at the top that are not expensive, such as Red Hat or Oracle Linux.
What other advice do I have?
I rate CentOS an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Sr Manager - Information Security & Researcher at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
A good and productive solution which is straightforward and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is productive."
- "The performance could stand improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use CentOS Seven.
The solution allows us to run our personal and business applications.
What needs improvement?
Going forward, it would be nice to see how the container orchestration technologies are incorporated into this particular operating system baseline. I know that such platforms as OpenShift exist, but containers would basically be the norm. I want to see how CentOS can take it at the ground level up.
The performance could stand improvement.
While the solution is already secure, this could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CentOS for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is productive. It is good and is not buggy. While I have been using it for 25 years, I feel that it would be a mistake for me to get too attached to any specific operating system, as I come from a security domain background.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is straightforward.
It takes less than an hour.
What about the implementation team?
One can handle the installation on his own.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is not subscription-based, unlike Red Hat. It involves recompiled binaries, so it does not come with a subscription fee.
What other advice do I have?
My role involves the management of security tools.
I would always recommend the solution to others.
Our support involves 50,000 servers, 90 percent of these being linux-based.
I rate CentOS as a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior System Engineer at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Cost-effective and easy to install, but it will no longer be compatible with Red Hat Linux
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is that it is compatible with RedHat."
- "In the future, CentOS will no longer be compatible with Red Hat."
What is our primary use case?
Most of the time, I use CentOS for deploying Tomcat to run web applications. I use it to run Docker, as well.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is that it is compatible with RedHat.
What needs improvement?
In the future, CentOS will no longer be compatible with Red Hat. I would prefer that it remains compatible because when it changes, we will no longer be using it.
What is missing from this product is a real file system like CFS. Having a modern file system is important and in CentOS 7, btrfs was supported. However, in version 8 it has been removed. I don't understand why and I think that it was a very bad move and a very customer-unfriendly thing to do.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with CentOS for a few years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
CentOS is quite stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In the company, we have approximately 800 people who are using it. Beyond that, a lot of our customers are using it, as well.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have never been in contact with technical support. We manage it ourselves.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
For as long as I have been with the company, they have been using CentOS.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is mostly straightforward. We have automated it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are no licensing costs for CentOS.
What other advice do I have?
At this point, because of the announcement that it will no longer be compatible with Red Hat in the future, I do not recommend this product.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
MIS Specialist at a agriculture with 201-500 employees
Stable and reasonably priced, and performance compares favorably to others
Pros and Cons
- "It is better than Ubuntu Linux."
- "We occasionally have issues with software installation."
What is our primary use case?
Our file management system is based on CentOS.
What is most valuable?
It's quite good.
It is better than Ubuntu Linux.
What needs improvement?
We occasionally have issues with software installation. For example, if we want to install a gen framework, we will face some challenges.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with CentOS for approximately five years.
We are using the latest version of CentOS.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
CentOS is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In our organization, there are four or five users.
At the moment, we have no plans to increase our usage.
How are customer service and support?
We have not yet contacted technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are also using Ubuntu Linux.
How was the initial setup?
The installation can take up to a day, but it can also be completed in as little as 10 minutes.
What about the implementation team?
We have a team of four or five engineers who will install and maintain this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have no complaints about the price, which is quite reasonable.
We have a CentOS license that we pay for on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
Both CentOS and Ubuntu Linux are great choices.
I would rate CentOS a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Applications & Systems Administrator at a university with 501-1,000 employees
You can do a lot on the command line. I would like it to be more intuitive.
What is most valuable?
- Command Line
- Cost
- Ease of maintenance
With Linux, you can do a lot on the command line. Once a Linux server has been built, it tends to be stable with no performance leakage.
How has it helped my organization?
- Scalability
- Security
- Performance
What needs improvement?
I would like it to be more intuitive. There could be better help facilities. However, I guess the GUI can be fairly intuitive.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I did not encounter any issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I did not encounter any issues with scalability.
How are customer service and technical support?
I would rate the level of technical as OK.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We uses Windows before.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was complex initially. However, once we overcame the steep learning curve, it was a lot easier.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This solution is much more cost effective than Windows and the Open Source options.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Sun and Ubantu.
What other advice do I have?
You need to have a command line skill set.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Systems and Virtualization Engineer at Altelios Technology Group
reliable, scales well, and beneficial community support available
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability of CentOS is good. We can deploy the operating system in many hardware, laptops, and servers."
- "CentOS should extend the support of the solution. The solution is set to have no update support in 2023."
What is our primary use case?
I use CentOS as an operating system for many of the services we are using.
What needs improvement?
CentOS should extend the support of the solution. The solution is set to have no update support in 2023.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CentOS for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
CentOS is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of CentOS is good. We can deploy the operating system in many hardware, laptops, and servers.
This solution is not used by end-users, it is used by IT staff.
How are customer service and support?
There is not any technical support available from CentOS since it is open-source. However, there is a large community where information can be found for any problem that might arise.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of CentOS was simple. There was some configuration to be completed but then it is up and running.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is a free solution.
What other advice do I have?
The number of maintenance people needed depends on the company and its strategy.
I recommend this solution to others but the support of the solution is ending next year.
I rate CentOS an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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