CentOS Linux distribution is a stable, predictable, manageable, and reproducible platform derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) sources.
Since March 2004, this Linux OS has been a community-supported distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by Red Hat. As such, CentOS Linux aims to be functionally compatible with RHEL. They mainly change packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork. This Linux OS is free of cost and free to redistribute.
A small but growing team of core developers develops the Linux Operating System. In turn, the core developers are supported by an active user community including system administrators, network administrators, managers, core Linux contributors, and Linux enthusiasts from around the world.
Over the coming year, this Project will expand its mission to establish Linux OS as a leading community platform for emerging open-source technologies coming from other projects such as OpenStack. These technologies will be at the center of multiple variations of CentOS, as individual downloads or accessed from a custom installer. Read more about the variants and Special Interest Groups that produce them.
The CentOS Project
This Project is a community-driven free software effort focused on the goal of providing a rich base platform for open-source communities to build upon. There you can find a development framework for cloud providers, the hosting community, and scientific data processing, as a few examples.
The Governing Board
The Governing Board is made up of members of this Project, many of whom have been around since the creation of the Project, as well as new members from Red Hat who were instrumental in bringing the new relationship together. The focus of the Governing Board is to curate the Project, assist and guide in the progress and development of the various SIGs, as well as to promote CentOS Linux.
The Project Structure
The CentOS Project is modeled on the structure of the Apache Foundation, with a governing board that oversees various semi-autonomous Special Interest Groups or ‘SIGs’. These groups are focused on providing various enhancements, add-ons, or replacements for core Linux functionality. A few notable examples of SIGs are:
- Core – Building and releasing the core Linux platform.
- Xen4CentOS – Providing Xen4 support for version 6
- Design – Improving the user experience with high-quality artwork
CentOS is an Enterprise class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor.
This OS is developed by a small but growing team of core developers. In turn, the core developers are supported by an active user community including system and network administrators, enterprise users, managers, core Linux contributors, and enthusiasts from around the world.
It is a community-supported, mainly free software operating system based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It stands for Community ENTerprise Operating System.
It has numerous advantages over some of the other clone projects including an active and growing user community, quickly rebuilt, tested, and QA’ed errata packages. Also, it has an extensive mirror network, developers who are contactable and responsive, and multiple free support avenues including IRC Chat, Mailing Lists, Forums, and a dynamic FAQ.
Supported installation targets
An installation target is a storage device that stores CentOS and boots the system. CentOS supports the following installation targets for AMD64, Intel 64, and 64-bit ARM systems:
- Storage connected by a standard internal interface, such as SCSI, SATA, or SAS
- BIOS/firmware RAID devices
- NVDIMM devices in sector mode on the Intel64 and AMD64 architectures, supported by the nd_pmem driver.
- Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters and multipath devices. Some can require vendor-provided drivers.
- Xen blocks devices on Intel processors in Xen virtual machines.
- VirtIO blocks devices on Intel processors in KVM virtual machines.
System specifications
The CentOS installation program automatically detects and installs your system’s hardware, so you should not have to supply any specific system information. However, for certain CentOS installation scenarios, it is recommended that you record system specifications for future reference.
These scenarios include:
Installing CentOS with a customized partition layout
Record: The model numbers, sizes, types, and interfaces of the hard drives attached to the system. For example, Seagate ST3320613AS 320 GB on SATA0, Western Digital WD7500AAKS 750 GB on SATA1.
Installing CentOS as an additional operating system on an existing system
Record: Partitions used on the system. This information can include file system types, device node names, file system labels, and sizes, and allows you to identify specific partitions during the partitioning process. If one of the operating systems is a Unix operating system, CentOS may report the device names differently. Additional information can be found by executing the equivalent of the mount command and the blkid command in the /etc/fstab file.
If multiple operating systems are installed, the CentOS installation program attempts to automatically detect them, and to configure a boot loader to boot them. You can manually configure additional operating systems if they are not detected automatically. See Configuring boot loader in Configuring software options for more information.
Installing CentOS from an image on a local hard drive
Record: The hard drive and directory that holds the image.
Installing CentOS from a network location
If the network has to be configured manually, that is, DHCP is not used.
Record:
- IP address
- Netmask
- Gateway IP address
- Server IP addresses, if required
Contact your network administrator if you need assistance with networking requirements.
Installing CentOS on an iSCSI target
Record: The location of the iSCSI target. Depending on your network, you may need a CHAP username and password, and a reverse CHAP username and password.
Installing CentOS if the system is part of a domain
Verify that the domain name is supplied by the DHCP server. If it is not, enter the domain name during installation.
