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
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about CentOS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
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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
Fabián Balseca Chávez - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Presales Engineer at GMS Seguridad de la Información
Real User
Top 20
The open-source community includes valuable collections and collaborations
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is open source."
  • "The interface could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Our company has fourteen administrators and developers who use the solution to develop code. 

What is most valuable?

The solution is open source.

The community collections and collaborations are valuable. 

What needs improvement?

The interface could be improved. 

I would like more features for the system manager. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for seven years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

The solution is open source so there is no formal technical support. The community is a great resource and the solution's developers post content or answer questions. 

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

We previously used Oracle Linux. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup is easy. 

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the solution in-house.

Four administrators handle ongoing maintenance and management. 

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

The solution is open source so it is free. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We switched from Oracle Linux because the solution is free and now private. 

What other advice do I have?

The solution is a good product and I recommend using it. 

I rate the solution a ten out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
CentOS
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about CentOS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Team Leader Operations at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Deployment management software used to support a telecommunications platform that offers consistent stability
Pros and Cons
  • "The stability of this solution is its most useful feature. It is a high quality product and you know what you're getting. You also receive wide support from the community."
  • "This solution is no longer suited to our business following the change they have made to the release process. It is no longer an enterprise solution."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for our telecommunications platform and call center application for video, text and audio calls.

What is most valuable?

The stability of this solution is its most useful feature. It is a high quality product and you know what you're getting. You also receive wide support from the community.

What needs improvement?

This solution is no longer suited to our business following the change they have made to the release process. It is no longer an enterprise solution. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for five years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have not needed to scale this solution because we work with several small servers or containers.

How are customer service and support?

We have not needed to make use of the support team. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward. You do need a team for maintenance and we would recommend using maintenance tools like Ansible or Chef. 

What about the implementation team?

Deployment was done in-house. 

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

This is an open source solution.  

What other advice do I have?

I would not recommend this solution for enterprises. If you are looking for an enterprise solution, I would recommend Rocky, Linux, Oracle or Red Hat from our point of view.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Consultant at a educational organization with 11-50 employees
Real User
Stable, easy to set up, and free to use
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is free to use."
  • "Previous versions were unstable."

What is our primary use case?

The solution has many types of use cases. 

What is most valuable?

The configuration is very good. It is very easy to configure any application, et cetera.

The current version is stable.

The initial implementation is straightforward. 

The product is free to use.

What needs improvement?

Previous versions were unstable. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for close to four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable in its current form. This wasn't always the case. In earlier versions, it wasn't as stable as it is now. Currently, there are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. However, you do occasionally do still get some unstable packages.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is only really scalable if you handle on-premises versions. However, you can scale it up and down as you need. 

We have close to 300 users using the product right now. 

How are customer service and technical support?

I've never had to use technical support as everything is pretty straightforward. I can't speak to how helpful or responsive they are. 

How was the initial setup?

The installation is very straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult. A company shouldn't have too much trouble handling it. 

The deployment is very quick. It's up and running in a matter of minutes. 

What about the implementation team?

I've always handled the implementations myself. I've never used a consultant or integrator. It's easy to handle in-house. 

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

This product is free to use. It's great for companies with small budgets.

What other advice do I have?

I have a hybrid setup. On the cloud, I'm using version 7.5. On-premise I'm on 8.3.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. If it was more reliable in terms of dealing with stability, it would be excellent. 

I'd recommend the solution to other users and companies.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Director of Electronic procurement department at a government with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
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
Sr Manager - Information Security & Researcher at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
A good and productive solution which is straightforward and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is productive."
  • "The performance could stand improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use CentOS Seven.

The solution allows us to run our personal and business applications. 

What needs improvement?

Going forward, it would be nice to see how the container orchestration technologies are incorporated into this particular operating system baseline. I know that such platforms as OpenShift exist, but containers would basically be the norm. I want to see how CentOS can take it at the ground level up. 

The performance could stand improvement. 

While the solution is already secure, this could be improved. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using CentOS for ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is productive. It is good and is not buggy. While I have been using it for 25 years, I feel that it would be a mistake for me to get too attached to any specific operating system, as I come from a security domain background. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. 

How was the initial setup?

The installation is straightforward. 

It takes less than an hour. 

What about the implementation team?

One can handle the installation on his own. 

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

The solution is not subscription-based, unlike Red Hat. It involves recompiled binaries, so it does not come with a subscription fee. 

What other advice do I have?

My role involves the management of security tools. 

I would always recommend the solution to others. 

Our support involves 50,000 servers, 90 percent of these being linux-based. 

I rate CentOS as 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
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
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
Buyer's Guide
Download our free CentOS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free CentOS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.