CentOS 5.6: A Free Powerhouse for Web Servers

11.04.2011
Linux distribution releases have been coming fast and furious this spring, bringing fans of the more choices and more capabilities than ever before.

The next version of Canonical's wildly popular , dubbed "Natty Narwhal," may not be due until the end of this month, but in the meantime we've seen numerous other exciting releases come out from several of the other .

Just last week I looked at . Not long before that it was . The latest to be unwrapped is CentOS 5.6, and it offers several compelling reasons for enterprise users to check it out.

A Leader on Linux Servers

CentOS is currently the 10th most popular Linux distribution, according to DistroWatch, and it's particularly attractive as an option for Web servers. Last summer, in fact, it was named in that area, with almost 30 percent of the Linux server market.

There's good reason for that popularity. Based on Red Hat's paid Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) offering, CentOS is fully compatible with RHEL and is built in full compliance with Red Hat's distribution requirements. It also targets a similar base of enterprise users.