Centros or Slackware for a mission-critical web database application?
 

Hello:

I think that Centros is closely connected to Red Hat, right?

And, I have heard that if you are going to go for a non-free linux system for your business, Red Hat is rated # 1 followed by OpenSuse.

So, if you are going for a free linux system, is it best to go with Centros, or, is Slackware good enough?

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Depends on a number of things.
- What are you support / server / IT staff trained on? Do they know Centos better than Slackware
- What does your app support
- Will you need support in the future? If you IIRC (I could be wrong) you can change CentOS to Redhat
- What is your hardware compatible with?

My choice would be CentOS. You are correct in that is closely follows RedHat.

This is really a variant of the proverbial "which distro is best for ..." question and I don't think that there is a right or wrong answer. All distributions have their advantages and disadvantages. Out of the box, each of them will be fairly secure and each of them can be used in a server environment. A lot of it comes down to what are you comfortable with and what do you want? If you have been using Slackware and are familiar with it, then I would go with that, unless you expressly want to learn about a different distribution. The primary differences will be in things like screen layout and package management, but they are both Linux at the core.

You are correct that Cent-OS is related to Red Hat, being the open version of Red Hat. Regarding, is Slackware "good enough": this implies that Cent-os / Red Hat is superior to Slackware, which I don't think that it is - for the most part, I don't think one distribution is superior to another as each has been designed around their target audiences.

I personally use Both Ubuntu and Slackware for servers and both do an excellent job.

Just to clarify, my choice out of CentOS and Slackware would be CentOS. I'm a Debian fan. :D.

Noway's post explains the logic better than mine. :p.

Hello:

I wasn't trying to get into a 'which is better' thing, sort of.

I just thought that because people with $ seem to go with Red Hat for their business servers and that I have seen CentOS and 'mission critical' mention in the same breath here on the forums, that people go with CentOS when given a choice.

I like Slackware but, given my minuscule level of knowledge, I wouldn't what to start my work on a server that I would have to change later. I just needed to know that I wouldn't be wasting my time.

Thanks for all your time. :)

Since the question is "Centos or Slackware for a *mission critical web db app*?" I think the discussion should really be a comparison of Centos to Slackware, keeping in mind that it is going to be used for a mission critical server.

I do not see this as a general, "Which distro is best for..." since it excludes everything *but* centos and slackware.

My two cents for the comparison: Centos is based off of Red-Hat, and Red-Hat might be the most widely supported linux that there is (Google: Redhat support, then Google: slackware support and compare.) Also, I live near Detroit Mi, and I cannot find any on-site support for slackware, whereas RedHat has plenty of companies that support it and sell it. Also, many of these companies I have called have said "Oh yeah, we support Centos, its the same thing."

These are two base comparisons, which might only mean something to me, but I felt that I should mention them.

Generally I would say RedHat is used as they offer support. The company I work for could use CentOS or another *NIX OS but chose RedHat as we can get support from RedHat.

Both CentOS and Slackware will do the job. If you have narrowed it down to these, and excluded others, then I assume you have some reason for that. Why would that not help you decide between CentOS and Slackware. Which is better Linux? That's been debated for ages. Which is better for you? We could tell you if we could get inside your mind. If you can't decide, find a coin.

And to make the comparison valid add "free RedHat support".

Otherwise you're comparing something that comes w/ a hefty
per annum price-tag w/ something fairly cheap for a long
time ....


At the end of the day it's all about who's going to support
it, how much is that going to cost you in the long run.



Cheers,
Tink

I was purposely comparing mission-critical support(the subject of this thread,) between RedHat and Slackware, which is primarily "Paid support," and which Slackware has little if any. I made this comparison to point out... are you going to install a $4,000,000 application on an OS that only has "Free" Forum Support?

I believe this to be a correct and valid comparison (as a simple web search will show.) Hopefully one that the poster will find useful in choosing.

In response to your "Free" addition. A search of "Free redhat support" has 3 results. "Free slackware support" has 0 results. (www.google.com)

Correction, support is not the subject of this thread. The subject of the thread is "Centros or Slackware for a mission-critical web database application?" The word support does not even show up in the initial post.
I did just that and both of them came up with zero results for free support, at least on the first page. Multiple links explicitly say there is no free support.

The argument of "who is going to support it" has been used for many years to justify using only Windows in commercial applications. If high priority paid response if a requirement of this project then there is no question that Red Hat or one of the other commercialized distributions would be the way to go.

If we are going to make the discussion about "mission critical" applications then for completeness of the discussion, the meaning and expectations of term "mission critical" needs to be defined. In terms of free distributions, I don't see that Cent-OS is inherently better than Slackware in terms of its reliability.

If mission-critical is to only mean "Something that is reliable," then you are correct, I can find no way in which Slackware is more reliable than Centos or vice-versa. If mission-critical somehow, conjures up a personal definition of "This application is mission-critical, will have to have an up-time of 100%, will have a support team, and its underlying OS will need to have emergency support --hopefully by the company that Writes It--" then Redhat is the way to go.

But, as you said, "Mission Critical" needs to be defined. In the case that Mission Critical doesn't require specialist support of any kind -- I have to admit I've never heard Mission Critical used this way -- choose based on your own criteria, Slackware and Centos are both reliable. Its up to you to choose why you like one or the other.