A heavy website, a web portal, a social network, a network game – these are big internet projects that need hosting with exclusive requirements. CentOS is often used as an operating system for a dedicated server. A dedicated web server is a general solution that has a lot of useful qualities:

Increased security levels. You can set the access limitations by yourself.

High performance speed – as the server resources are used only by a renter.

There are no limitations in disk space. There are a memory drives with capacity of a few terabytes, so the memory limitation can be considered as notional.

Access to hardware part of the server. This helps to perform more precise adjustments that provide better performance optimization.

But all these advantages can be neglected by one grim fact – the price. Actually a dedicated server hosting is always more expensive than the common hosting. CentOS for a dedicated server helps to save money, gain higher performance and security characteristics.

This Linux-based system developed on the Red Hat Enterprise build becomes more and more popular day by day. It is mostly explained by its zero price. Therefore you can save money by using it.

While CentOS is called a Red Hat clone, it has some differences:

It is fully free of charge. While Red Hat provides some technical support, but it is a paid system. In its turn CentOS is fully free of charge.

The lack of help service. But CentOS is regularly updated from its own repository, different from Red Hat. As developers state, for each version updates can be received during up to 10 years, and the code of paid Red Hat is used. Of course, this can be a disadvantage, but in any case, an experienced administrator is required for correct Linux adjustments, and this compensates the lack of a technical support service.

Let\’s underline the advantages of CentOS for a dedicated server:

A big community of users that constantly grows. Support from independent sources, consulting help for errors fixing, useful recommendations and much more – this will help to get answers to all questions you have.

Simple updating and search for applications. Thanks to yum module (Yellow dog Updater, Modified) the search of required files, programs, update packages is highly simplified and can be automated.

High level of security. Over the last years CentOS for a dedicated server is used on more and more machines. The most of failures is fixed before the release.

Ability to use GUI. Some tasks don\’t require deep knowledge of Linux commands. A handy graphic shell is not only a user-friendly interface. It is also a comfortable tool for performing the required actions. CentOS is fully compatible with popular GUI packages – GNOME and KDE.

The performance stability. Servers based on Linux systems are considered as more fault-tolerant. CentOS for a dedicated server is not an exclusion.

High efficiency. As any other Linux-based system, CentOS has better performance speed characteristics. And this is highly important for big projects functioning.

An ability to create your own Live CD. It helps to get a system version with settings required for a specific project.

A system with a lot of advantages has also its weak sides:

The lack of proprietary multimedia mp3 codecs. Although the system doesn\’t read this popular audio format by default, the problem is solved by going to the third-party “rpmforge” repository, where you can achieve the required ability. However, the server may not required mp3 support, as the corresponding files are run on the client side.

Problems in using Microsoft technologies, such as ASP, ASP.NET, Access and others. If your project contains, for example, ASP.NET scripts, using a Linux-server may be a problem. While it is solved by installing additional software and fine-tuning, the current approach is not recommended in CentOS for a dedicated server.

Low speed of updating by YUM.

A need to have 2 DVD for installing the latest versions. This is an additional problem, but it is solved by creating a boot Flash drive.

While there are some advantages, all of them are solvable. Having a failure-proof system with ability of fine adjustments and high performance speed is what definitely needed and is provided by CentOS for a dedicated server.