CentOS

CentOS is the third most popular distribution of the Linux core. The abbreviation CentOS stands for “Community Enterprise Operating System”. The core of the operating system, that is the central component of an operating system, is referred to as a Linux core. A Linux distribution contains both the system core as well as other applications such as office programs, multimedia software, various editors, e-mail software, Internet browsers and server services.

Linux version based on RHEL

CentOS is based on the “Red Hat Enterprise Linux” (RHEL) Linux distribution, and is also binary compatible. RHEL is a commercial Linux distribution which can only be acquired with support contracts for which a fee is charged. CentOS was written by a group of voluntary developers who manage it and make it available free of charge.

Since the RHEL source codes are available online, it is possible to use any software that is used on RHEL on CentOS too. This means that as a result of CentOS, more RHEL versions are ultimately in use than there are licences sold. CentOS is only cut off from the latest version of the original software for a few weeks after the six-monthly RHEL releases, but this has never yet been the case for more than one or two months.

At the beginning of 2014, Red Hat and the CentOS team announced that they would merge and continue to develop CentOS together in future.

Ideal for large companies and government organisations

RHEL is geared to the needs of large companies and government agencies, and hence to maximum stability and durability. CentOS can therefore be used for up to ten years without any need to port or migrate systems. Due to their stability, these “enterprise operating systems” are used in research, on stock exchanges and in Academia. These systems are also used by the military and in space exploration since reliability und security have the highest priority here too. An image is available on CentOS’ homepage which can be burnt onto a CD or installed from a USB stick. Thanks to a user-friendly installer, CentOS will also not cause beginners any problems in installation. The appropriate components and applications are downloaded and installed from an online server.

Installation notes:
We can install CentOS for you either in combination with the Plesk administration interface or without any admin panel in CentOS 8 versions.