CentOS 4 or CentOS 5 for Production Server

shamimzaki · 10-03-2008, 05:03 PM

Hello,

I am planning to deploy a server which will run VPN Server, LAMP Server. I have CentOS 4.6 and CentOS 5.0 and CentOS 5.2 in my hand. Which release i should deploy and why i am going to chose that. The hardware is quiet new.

And is there any criteria to choose a release of a specific distribution for a production deployment.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Shamim A M Zaki

watcher69b · 10-03-2008, 06:09 PM

I like to use the newest distros with new hardware. CentOS 5.2 is what i use on most of my linux servers
it is a great platform and good with most RAID cards

sycamorex · 10-03-2008, 06:21 PM

Yeah, as watcher69b said, why would you like to use old versions with new hardware? Get 5.2

rossonieri#1 · 10-03-2008, 07:15 PM

hi shamim,

AFAIK - if i'm not mistaken - by default centos 4.6 is still using the old MySQL 4 with Apache 2.0 PHP 4 (of course you still can upgrade it), whereas centos 5 using the newer MySQl 5 Apache 2.2 PHP 5. so which one do you prefer? mostly i agree with the rest of the guys.

anomie · 10-04-2008, 12:57 AM

While both RHEL 4.x / 5.x (and, by extension, CentOS 4.x / 5.x) can be considered very stable, I generally will opt for the major version with the least potential for disruptive updates. To get an idea of what I'm talking about, refer to the RHEL life cycle:

https://www.redhat.com/security/updates/errata/

RHEL 4 will be in the production 2 phase for less than one year, after which time it will enter production 3. RHEL 5 will continue to be in production 2 until 2012. As indicated by the Life Cycle Phase chart, production 3 is the least potentially disruptive part of the life cycle.

For the types of services I run on RHEL, change ain't good. So if I were in your shoes, it'd be a no-brainer: run the latest version in the CentOS 4.x branch.

YMMV.

shamimzaki · 10-04-2008, 01:32 PM

Thanks "anomie" for your nice perspective regarding choosing the release version.

Sorry, as I am a newbie, I am asking mre.

Your perspective fits very good when you know what is going to run on that server.

As "rossonieri#1" mentioned CentOS 4 runs PHP 4 and CentOS 5 runs PHP 5. So there is a chance some one want to put a PHP 5 script in the server. How I am going to support him if I stick with CentOS 4.

What is the real life scenario in a web hosting environment ?

Regards
Shamim

rossonieri#1 · 10-05-2008, 01:35 AM

@ shamim

Quote:

So there is a chance some one want to put a PHP 5 script in the server. How I am going to support him if I stick with CentOS 4.

and this - put them together..

What is the real life scenario in a web hosting environment ?

if you are trying to start a new environment - go ahead with the latest STABLE RELEASE - since newer web apps require newer system environment (and not to mention : people do like new things, and you as a service provider - need to make an environmental decision). just go with the STABLE branch. There is no wrong to start with the older version - but believe me, to upgrade things will cause you a lot of efforts/hardworks.

As far as OS stability - IMHO and experiences both CentOS 4 & 5 (i havent tried that 5.2) are stable enough for heavy web access.

HTH.