Call for inputs from Providers/Users - CentOS alternatives (2022)

vyas

Edit: Updated Title: Providers and users who use CentOs/Alternatives for servers

Greetings!

I have been working on a post for LE blog on the topic : > 12 months after RH announced EOL for CentOS 8, and 5 weeks after the actual EOL, which of the possible alternatives actually have received traction or acceptance from the users?

Rocky
Alma
CentOs Stream
Oracle Linux

etc.

What were your reasons for choosing a particular distro? (for eg. I recall @MikeA had mentioned in one of the posts that he has deployed Alma Linux) . What about others?

I am specifically looking for inputs from folks who use the OS on servers. Most reviews and articles talk about desktop interface and gaming. Yuck! That's the reason why I want to differentiate so that the LES post may actually add value. Thanks

p.s: Even at LET we've had discussions on this topic, such as this https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/comment/66896

But that was before the so-called Apocalypse. I am keen on what is happening in 2022.

bruh21

anything but alma
the director is a freak

skorous

You specify providers and all my stuff is personal but I went with a mix of Stream and Alma. Things I knew will get torn down and rebuilt every so often went on Stream. Things that I hope to have around a long time ( couple file servers, my dns master, my plex box, etc... ) went on Alma. It was a toss up between Rocky and Alma but my experience was the people running Alma tended to be less disparaging of Rocky than vice versa so I joined that team.

MikeA

I will eventually migrate or move everything from CentOS 7/8 to AlmaLinux.

flips

Using Rocky when RHEL compatibility is required.

angstrom

I haven't yet needed to do an installation, but my present preference for a CentOS replacement would be Rocky Linux.

beagle

I'm sticking with CentOS 7 while it is supported. My plan is to move to Rocky then but I'm keeping an eye out on how the competitors develop.

skorous

@angstrom said:
I haven't yet needed to do an installation, but my present preference for a CentOS replacement would be Rocky Linux.

What made you choose Rocky?

angstrom

@skorous said:

@angstrom said:
I haven't yet needed to do an installation, but my present preference for a CentOS replacement would be Rocky Linux.

What made you choose Rocky?

I think that other things being equal, I simply prefer a community distribution -- or let's say one with fewer commercial interests in the background. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see how quickly they were able to get Rocky out the door. There seems to be -- at least so far -- a lot of commitment to the distribution.

Having said this, I'm certainly not against AlmaLinux, and AlmaLinux may well have a better chance of survival (than Rocky Linux) in the longer term.

nfn

I'm using Rocky too, more community centric in my opinion.

skorous

@angstrom said:

I think that other things being equal, I simply prefer a community distribution -- or let's say one with fewer commercial interests in the background. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see how quickly they were able to get Rocky out the door. There seems to be -- at least so far -- a lot of commitment to the distribution.

Interesting. I appreciate the response.

cybertech

@angstrom said:
I haven't yet needed to do an installation, but my present preference for a CentOS replacement would be Rocky Linux.

What made you choose Rocky?

I think that other things being equal, I simply prefer a community distribution -- or let's say one with fewer commercial interests in the background. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see how quickly they were able to get Rocky out the door. There seems to be -- at least so far -- a lot of commitment to the distribution.

Having said this, I'm certainly not against AlmaLinux, and AlmaLinux may well have a better chance of survival (than Rocky Linux) in the longer term.

i have the same reason for choosing Rocky, again same thoughts that Alma will last due to 1M funding from Cloudlinux, along with other industry sponsors.

but also because of this, finally converted to Debian 11 for my use, and found it very lightweight and easy to do custom ISO installs with VPS below 2GB ram

vyas

Thanks all for the inputs.

Got some good insights from user perspective

vpsgeek3333

I have moved everything over to Alma as I expect them to last longer due to the backing of CL & others. I have nothing against Rocky though & I wish them all the best

mikho

@11111jfkdd said:
anything but alma
the director is a freak

Please elaborate.

AlwaysSkint

I've just installed a new VPS with Almalinux 8. What a fiasco to get there! Debain 10 bootstrap CentOS 7, then Elevate to Almalinux 8. Thanks OVH for making your new upgraded VPS range more restrictive i.e. no ISO booting.
Reason for Almalinux now, is so I won't be left with C7 in say 5 years time and trying to force through a live upgrade. Also, the OS needs to play nice with WHM/cPanel & Cloudlinux.
Still think it's a crapshoot, as 'muricans might say.

bruh21

@mikho said:

@11111jfkdd said:
anything but alma
the director is a freak

Please elaborate.

just search benny vasquez

mikho

@11111jfkdd said:

@mikho said:

@11111jfkdd said:
anything but alma
the director is a freak

Please elaborate.

just search benny vasquez

Or you could give me a couple of links to where to start reading.

bruh21

@mikho said:

@11111jfkdd said:

@mikho said:

@11111jfkdd said:
anything but alma
the director is a freak

Please elaborate.

just search benny vasquez

Or you could give me a couple of links to where to start reading.

well firstly vasquez used to work at cpanel which is bad in my opinion

https://twitter.com/bennyvasquez/status/1187842389962035200

also from this you can see the twitter profil which is concerning that someone does not capitalize their name to me. mostly this is just nitpicking from me but that is just my opinion. the main issue is cpanel association which i do not feel confident in. (although yes i think vasquez seems to be a freak personally, not the big issue but just a personal jab)

mikho

@11111jfkdd said:

@mikho said:

@11111jfkdd said:

@mikho said:

@11111jfkdd said:
anything but alma
the director is a freak

Please elaborate.

just search benny vasquez

Or you could give me a couple of links to where to start reading.

well firstly vasquez used to work at cpanel which is bad in my opinion

https://twitter.com/bennyvasquez/status/1187842389962035200

also from this you can see the twitter profil which is concerning that someone does not capitalize their name to me. mostly this is just nitpicking from me but that is just my opinion. the main issue is cpanel association which i do not feel confident in. (although yes i think vasquez seems to be a freak personally, not the big issue but just a personal jab)

And here I thought benny was a mans name .... wow

jon617

This is a great thread. Happy with CentOS 7 in production now, and good to start thinking about switching before its EOL in 2024. So maybe mid-2023 I'll see how Rocky, Alma, and others have held up before deciding.

vyas

@mikho said:

And here I thought benny was a mans name .... wow

Too much ABBA can do that to you. !!