Due to features such as open-source, privacy, security, namespaces, and package management, Linux distributions are popular for development scenarios. As a result, many distributions have been introduced thus far. Various distributions are used for a variety of applications. In this article, we will look at what is CentOS operating system, which is widely used for mission-critical tasks. We'll go over its features, benefits, and drawbacks in detail.
What is an Operating System
The operating system serves as a bridge between the user and hardware, performing all the tasks that the user desires. The operating system has complete control over what the user inputs and what it must provide in accordance with the instructions; basically, it all depends on the OS.
It is broken down into subcomponents so that each can do their job. CentOS is a popular operating system built on the Linux kernel. A kernel is the core part of an operating system that governs user interaction with hardware. CentOS is also known as a Linux distribution.
What is a Linux Distribution
A Linux Distro consists of the Linux Kernel and a collection of tools that run on top of it and allow users to perform a variety of tasks.
There are numerous Linux distributions to choose from. The kernel is open source, and you can use it to create new distributions that meet your specific requirements. As a result, we now have a plethora of Linux distributions, each tailored to the needs of the team and the user community. Today's popular Linux distributions include Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, and others.
What is CentOS
Centos is a popular Linux operating system that is frequently used on virtual private servers. CentOS Linux is a policy derived from the origins of Red Hat Enterprise Linux that is stable, open-source, consistent, controllable, and reproducible. Many groups also use it for development and production servers. The first CentOS release, CentOS version 2, in May 2004, was a fork of RHEL version 2.1AS.
CentOS version numbers before 7.0 have two sections, a major version and a minor version, which correspond to the main version and update set of Red Hat Enterprise Linux used to create a distinct CentOS release.
You can check CentOS version from the link mentioned here. CentOS has a relatively long release cycle, which causes problems for developers because the next update is unlikely to arrive any time soon. It is widely used by newcomers or business owners who do not require a large number of administrative tasks.
Red Hat terminated CentOS development in December 2020. Later, Gregory Kurtzer established the Rocky Linux project as a continuation of CentOS's original mission. Cloud Linux (creators of CloudLinux) released AlmaLinux, a new RHEL variant, in March 2021.
Features of CentOS
Architecture
CentOS supports multiple hardware architectures, including x86-64/AMD64, 64-bit ARM, POWER8, armhf/armhfp, i386, and ppc64el/ppc64le.
Package Manager
CentOS's package format is RPM, and its package manager is YUM/DNF. Package managers are in charge of automatically managing and installing all of the packages in an operating system.
Release Cycle
CentOS has a 4-5 year release cycle, making it a stable operating system. On the other hand, working with CentOS may occasionally cause problems due to bugs as the next major release takes longer.
Privacy and Security
CentOS is an operating system that supports multiple users. These types of operating systems place a high value on privacy and security. CentOS does a good job of protecting our data from unauthorized access. A user cannot access another user's resources without authorization. This feature allows multiple users to work on the same workstation without interfering with other users' work. On the other hand, the root user has access to all of the resources in the Operating System that belong to other users.
Multitasking
CentOS is a multitasking Operating System which means multiple processes can be run on the processor simultaneously with some scheduling schemes. Popular scheduling schemes are Round Robin and Shortest Remaining Time First. Multitasking allows parallel processing and faster execution of programs.
Namespaces
Namespaces separate multiple processes and assign them separate computational resources. Separate process trees exist for different namespaces. This is useful in application containerization because the container is not affected by any other process.
Advantages of CentOS
- Multiple CPU architectures are supported
- Configurable, open-source and stable
- Multiple Desktop support is available
- A large number of installed packages
- Good for mission-critical tasks
Disadvantages of CentOS
- The release cycle is high, which sometimes creates a problem due to bugs
- GUI is not interactive and not suitable for novices
- Not installed by default in most of the machines
- Cannot play AAA title games
Conclusion
In this article, we went through the details of what is CentOS Operating System, including its history, features and pros and cons. We can conclude that CentOS is primarily built for mission-critical tasks and is quite stable for server related tasks. However, it is not usually suited for novices due to its complex interface.
