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reviewer2121429 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Real User
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?

I use the solution as a SIEM tool for system locking purposes.

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
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about CentOS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
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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.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1473483 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
CentOS
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about CentOS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Security Pre-Sales Engineer - Southern Reigion at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Helps Us Keep Things Simple Yet Very Secure

What is most valuable?

The simplicity of the Desktop & Server platforms and the availability of multiple repositories of apps and tools.

How has it helped my organization?

We use CentOS together with Apache for certificate verification. The platform has helped us to keep things simple and yet very secure, allowing us to meet the requirements with surgical precision.

What needs improvement?

I've found certain issues where I couldn't find any documentation to help me solve them. But I guess it's a case by case situation where popular problems have a lot of chatter about how to resolve, whereas certain problems don't have as much.

For how long have I used the solution?

Daily use for a little over a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

None so far.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Didn't have the opportunity to go to a bigger scale, since our business was just starting out.

How are customer service and technical support?

Haven't had the chance to use it.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No. We started and created our solution around CentOS.Not at all complex. Anybody with basic Linux knowledge can install the server and almost anybody can easily install the desktop and get themselves familiar with it over a week

How was the initial setup?

Not at all complex. Anybody with basic Linux knowledge can install the server and almost anybody can easily install the desktop and get themselves familiar with it over the course of a week.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Nothing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Ubuntu.

What other advice do I have?

Make sure you've read about the installation steps and best practices for securing the servers once the OS is installed.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1934385 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Electronic procurement department at a government with 51-200 employees
Real User
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.
PeerSpot user
MIS Specialist at a agriculture with 201-500 employees
Real User
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.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Director Corporate Systems Division at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
System Has The Typical Configuration To Streamline Our Bidding, Development And Implementation

What is most valuable?

  • The size: in only 2U you have four dual processor servers.
  • The server manufacturer has a compatibility list regarding RAM, hard drives, LAN and RAID cards, operating systems, etc. Asus has its own RAID, LAN card, but supports other manufacturers.
  • The OS support list is very complete.

How has it helped my organization?

When a university or datacenter asked us about a certain amount of servers, we would study several models. As this four server system has the typical configuration (two LAN cards, remote management, two power supplies) the bidding, development and implementation process has been greatly simplified.

What needs improvement?

NVMe support. The manufacturer is developing a new line for that model which includes support for that type of hard drive.

For how long have I used the solution?

The last 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Yes. The system has 10GB SFP+ Asus cards but some of them, under CentOs 7, only work at 1GB speed. Asus discovered it is a firmware problem and sent us a new version for those cards. Now the system works at 10GB without problems.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No. The servers have enough card slots and memory slots, so when it is necessary to add more RAM or new cards, there is no problem.

How are customer service and technical support?

As I have just said, we had problems with the SFP+ cards but they were solved very fast. Asus technical support is very efficient.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Yes, BladeSystem. We changed the solution because the initial expenditure for BladeSystem is very high.

How was the initial setup?

It was very straightforward because the servers come with all the necessary components: CPU dissipators, kit rail, two power supplies, etc.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I always advise using free software (like CentOs) because it has all the necessary tools for the universities and CPD. The Asus platform has remote management activated, without any licensing. With other server manufacturers, I would suggest it is necessary to ask for remote management licensing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated 1U servers, but using the four-server system we save money.

What other advice do I have?

The Asus platform is tested with CentOs 7. But if it is necessary to add new hardware, it is very important to verify that it is compatible with CentOs.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user541425 - PeerSpot reviewer
SCM administrator at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Pretty much any code targeted at Linux builds and runs without any tweaking.

What is most valuable?

The solution provides stability and standardization. CentOS is fairly faithful to the Linux Standards Base, Freedesktop.org, and POSIX. Pretty much any code targeted at Linux builds and runs without any tweaking. Hardware support is extensive and diverse.

How has it helped my organization?

It's good to have a stable server OS that many people understand in depth. It has easier to find CentOS internal experts than Microsoft Windows internal experts, for example.

What needs improvement?

Out of the box, the NFS client is weak. It needs considerable kernel tuning before it runs NFS-bound applications efficiently. Perf "goes off a cliff" long before it should with the default settings.

The auto-mounter has been unstable, although it has been getting better recently.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using CentOS 5 and 6 for seven years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

It needs a kernel tuning tool. Many settings are mysterious and require considerable forum searching.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

When the NFS client becomes overloaded, due to its default queue sizes that are way too small, combined with poor scheduling algorithms, it makes the host unstable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There were no scalability issues yet.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Red Hat service is excellent. It is definitely worth the nominal license fee for access to their knowledge base.

Technical Support:

Red Hat service is excellent. It is definitely worth the nominal license fee for access to their knowledge base.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using Suse Enterprise. It was too non-standard. We often ended up fighting its mysterious "Yet Another Setup Tool" to get things installed.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was straightforward, until the need for kernel tuning arose. Then we were kind of on our own.

What about the implementation team?

We developed an installation image in-house and we distribute it to new hosts through a combination of PXE and Perforce sync.

What was our ROI?

The ROI is incalculable. We could not do our business without CentOS/Red Hat. It's the standard platform for most of our engineering tools.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Buy a Red Hat license. It's worth it.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We used SLES for a few years on some hosts. We considered Ubuntu LTS, Debian Stable, and FreeBSD.

What other advice do I have?

FreeBSD may be a better choice for network intensive applications, if your apps will run on it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Systems and Virtualization Engineer at Altelios Technology Group
Real User
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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free CentOS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: February 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free CentOS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.