Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Hosting Security and Technology : CentOS 3 or 4?

[dnseeker]

I hope I am placing this in the right part of the forum.

Could someone tell me the differences between CentOS 3 and 4?
which is better/more secure etc...?

thank you.

[vpsfusion]

I would go for 4.x. I use it and it works great for me.

[ThinkSupport]

I have used centos 3.5, 3.6, 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2; but I found 3.5, 3.6 and 4.1 to be the best with great OS stability ..

[M5Host]

CentOS 4.x uses the SELinux enhancements. 3.x does not.
CentOS 4.x uses the 2.6 kernel, and 3.x uses the 2.4 kernel.

If your application is well supported on 4.x, then use it. However, because RHEL is going to be a supported product for a very long time, there is much less urgency to go with the latest than with some other distros (especially Fedora). Also, consider using 3.x if your using an older application.

[Jakiao]

M5Host covered the major differences, so I'll just report my experiences:

CentOS 4 (I use 4.2) is great. It has great stability, quick RPM releases, and is very fast. I use it on all of my new production servers.

Just as a note: If you installed say 4.0 or 4.1, the moment you run up2date, your version will be changed to 4.2 as the up2date contains all of the core updates. So don't bother yourself to download any ISO's other than 4.0 if you choose 4.0.

Another note: On the aspect of 3.0 and 4.0 using different kernel version, the 2.6 kernel has always proven to provide a MUCH faster system in my experiences.

[renegadeavenger]

If you install centos 4.2 and experience horrible performance ( high iowait time ) either upgrade or downgrade the kernel back to 2.6.9-11. Just avoid using the stock kernel of 2.6.9-22

[Steven]

There is no significate difference between 4.1 and 4.2. They are just what redhat does when they release culumative patches.