[OT] Is there a future for CentOS or systems to run on your web server

[Andre Garzia]

Hello Folks,
I am bringing this here since with the introduction of RevWeb and RevServer,
many here will be jumping on the webserver bandwagon. You can always opt to
go using On-Rev which is a fantastic service for both value and features.

There are cases where you will want to own your own server, a virtual
private server or a dedicated machine. If you're going towards these routes,
you'll need to know/learn about many things but one basic choice you will be
making is what operating system you'll use.  The usual choices are: Linux,
Windows, *BSD, MacOS X. Now, let me stress something out, DON'T USE WINDOWS,
the list of reasons is so big and deep that I'd rather you all just trusted
the majority and kept windows out of your server. We can rule *BSD out too
(FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD), they are fantastic operating system and I'd
rather be running FreeBSD than Linux but Revolution does not run under BSD
so, running on a BSD system will keep you from running RevServer when they
release it. MacOS X servers are expensive, and that alone is a problem.
Which leads us to Linux!

Linux is not one thing, it is a very broad familly of operating systems that
are more or like each other. They all run the same kernel but they have
modifications and ways of doing things that might differ from each other.
You might ask: "Aren't they all Linux?", yes but in the same sense that an
Apple Tart always contains apples, try mine and one at a 5 star restaurant
and you'll see that having apples is not enough.

As I said, Linux is a familly and you can mostly track it's members
according to who is a derivative of who and there are basically two branches
the ones coming from Red Hat and the ones coming from Debian (there are
more, but those are more widespread). Red Hat is famous for being the Linux
of choice for web servers but in its Red Hat Enterprise Linux offering, it
is a tad expensive. Debian and Red Hat have somewhat different philosofies
about where things go, which package management should be used and things
like that. Debian is minimalistic and running a debian system require some
linux skills. So it's a non-surprise that many choose RHEL or one of it's
cheaper derivatives to be their linux of choice. Which brings us to CentOS.

CentOS is basically a free repacked version of RHEL. It's a way to run a Red
Hat compatible system without paying the price. Now, I am a ubuntu guy, but
I think ubuntu server still has some way to go before being a stable good
candidate for a web server. I've run CentOS in basically all my servers
since some years and being happy about it. And I am very picky about Linux,
I don't like RPM based system (thats the red hat package manager) and I find
RHEL/CentOS choice of packages very conservative (but it needs to be) and
yet I've been quite happy with my CentOS system. It never failed me, it
never got in my way.

Now, the main project administrator of CentOS went AWOL (whatever that
means, I think it means Away Where Owls Live, more info at
http://planet.centos.org ). And now nobody has the passwords for the main
servers and support systems or access to the previous financial
contributions. Thinks look bad for CentOS since they will probably need to
restart from scratch their support systems and money things if the guy keeps
being away not answering his phones. Now what does that means for us, CentOS
users, well my system is quite well and running and I could keep it like
that for many many years without the need to upgrade but yet, who will trust
a headless project?

So while the coice of linux is not determinant and its more a matter of
taste than something that will deeply impact your business it is something
that will make your day to day life as a system administrator more or less
easy. If I was shopping for a server right now, I might not consider CentOS
and try Ubuntu Server (I am not running mission critical here) since I like
debian or I could maybe finally spend the money for RHEL. Anyway, this not
to brief piece of text is a reminder to all, always look into the prospect
of future for your operating system of choice, look and learn how well they
are structured and see if they can fail if some key person vanishes like
that. CentOS is a terrific job on its own but so are many others, volunteer
run systems are cool and all but a system with some better backing and
organization might have a safer future (I am looking at you canonical and
red hat and novel).

my 0.2 bogomips.






-- 
http://www.andregarzia.com All We Do Is Code.