decobuilding.jpgIn Part 1, I discussed the four Free Linux distributions that are best position to provide extended support and ample functionality to an end user through a protracted recession, as well as having the characteristic “safeness” or “stability” factor in terms of being able to weather the economic storm — i.e., their relative ability to resist the inevitable Darwinian culling of the herd that is likely to befall many less popular or well-supported distributions. In this second part, I’m going to list the Enterprise-class Free and Open Source Operating Systems which have similar characteristics. Unlike the previous list, not all of the OSes listed here are Linux-based — some of these are UNIX systems.

CentOS and Scientific Linux

Web Site: http://www.centos.org
More Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centos
Web Site: https://www.scientificlinux.org/
More Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Linux

Can’t afford the support licenses for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) but still want the industry-standard support of a Red Hat based environment? You could go with Fedora, Red Hat’s developer Linux platform, but their six month release cycle and 1-year lifespan for each release makes it a difficult choice for mission critical, enterprise Linux systems that need to stay in stable operation and have predictable maintenance cycles. Instead, you might want to consider either CentOS or Scientific Linux, both of which are near-identical clones of RHEL based on publicly available RHEL source code. They both run the same exact 3rd-party RHEL-certified software and 3rd-party packages intended for use in the RHEL environment, while running the same exact enterprise regression-tested kernel of RHEL, with none of the support costs. Unlike RHEL which requires an entitlement to Red Hat Network, patches and updates to CentOS and Scientific Linux are absolutely free — although they are released at a delayed interval from Red Hat’s own patches, usually about a week’s difference or less, depending on the severity of the bugfix or vulnerability.

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