InterWorx-CP Supported Distro Guide
A Distro (short for distribution) is a version of the Linux/Unix opperating system bundled together. Which Distro the system administrator selects is largely dependent on the data center hosting the box and what they provide and support. This page provides some general info about the the currently supported distros and gives those who have a choice some more information to help make a decision.
Currently InterWorx-CP officially supports Red Hat 9, Red Hat Enterprise 3.x, 4.x and 5.x, CentOS 3.x, 4.x and 5.x, and Fedora Core 1-4.
RedHat Linux 9 (RH9)
While a well respected and stable OS, Red Hat 9 is currently End Of Life (EOL) which means that RedHat Inc. is no longer creating updates for it. However many third parties on the Internet are filling this gap to some extent. Many data centers are still using it but unless you have a fully managed server or are comfortable manually locating and installing patches and upgrades to the software packages yourself you should not select this OS. The Fedora Legacy Project was providing a limited number of security updates for RedHat 9, but these were only security fixes were very limited. The window for these updates is now over, and the entire Fedora Legacy Project was shut down in February 2007 and the main repository taken off line. Files are now only available on mirrors which will no doubt be shut down in time as the content deemed stale.
| Unless you have a compelling reason to do so, we recommend that you NOT run Red Hat 9 on new servers. All available packages in the RedHat and FedoraLegacy YUM (mirror) repositories are well out of date and can not be depended on for security. Additionally, official InterWorx support for this distro will likely be phased out in the near future. |
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
When RedHat discontinued the RedHat Linux line it switched official support exclusively to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL is a COMMERCIAL product which means that you have to purchase it with a paid subscription. RHEL comes in several versions depending on your needs and budget. RHEL is designed to run web servers and is an excellent product if you are willing to pay for it. It is very stable and rock solid. Some DC’s do not charge extra for it and include the licensing fee with your server rental. InterWorx currently supports RHEL 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x.
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Fedora Core (FC)
RedHat Inc. also sponsors the open source Fedora Core.
However, Fedora Core is NOT officially supported by RedHat. This means that tech support for this OS is not available directly from RedHat. However, there are thousands of people on the internet who are more than happy to assist users, some for free, others for a fee. Development on Fedora Core is guided by a volunteer developer’s community. Unlike RHEL, Fedora Core releases several major updates a year. Since it was released in January of 2004 it has had 6 major releases to date.
Fedora has a reputation for being more “cutting edge” than RHEL. It also has a reputation for being more buggy and less stable. Whether this reputation is deserved is debatable. Because of the significant changes and rapid updates it requires more testing before it is officially “supported” by InterWorx. For example, as of this writing FC5 and 6 are available, but is not yet tested or supported by InterWorx. If you are either one of those who must have the newest OS as soon as it is released OR who is uncomfortable with frequent distribution upgrades you may not want to choose Fedora. However, if you are one of those who always wants the newest and most cutting edge software (once your control panel supports it), Fedora may be just what you want.
| Fedora Core 4 and higher ships with PHP5, and those not wishing to use that version of PHP will have to manually downgrade and exclude php-* updates in their yum.conf. They may also have to do some other tweaking to make things work right. We recommend novice users who wish to use Fedora Core install version 3. Fedora Core 5 and 6 are NOT supported at this time, nor is it in the upcoming InterWorx version 3.0. Support for these new distros will be added after the launch of 3.0 when the developers can dedicate more time to it. |
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CentOS
“CentOS is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor. CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendors redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. (CentOS mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork.) CentOS is free.” (from the CentOS website).
What this means in plain English is that the CentOS developers take the source RPM‘s from Red Hat Enterprise Linux and recompile them, making minimal changes, primarily in the area of logos and other copyrighted property, tweak it and release it. The vast majority of RPM‘s even have the same name. This is PERFECTLY LEGAL under the GPL, the license that governs all Linux distributions. What this means is that you get the stability of RedHat Enterprise Linux without the cost, RedHat logos, and support from RedHat. CentOS does have an active and growing development team and user community, and because it is virtually identical to RHEL in every way that really matters, support is easy to come by on the Internet. InterWorx supports CentOS 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x.
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Compairison Grid
For those who are still having problems deciding which distro to choose, we have created this comparison grid to help you clairify your needs
| Need | RH9 | Fedora | CentOS | RHEL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing | GPL | GPL | GPL | Commercial |
| Paid Support from Vendor | NO | NO | NO | YES |
| Free “best effort” Support from Vendor (or development team) | NO | YES | YES | NO |
| Paid and free support readily available on the Internet | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Regarded as More Cutting Edge | NO | YES | NO | NO |
| More Stable -- Enterprise Quality | End Of Life | NO | YES | YES |
| Auto-Updates via YUM (auto-update must be on) | NO | YES | YES | YES |
| Auto-Updates to next point release (auto-update must be on) | NO | NO | YES | YES |
| Supports InterWorx Clustering | NO | NO | 4.x and 5.x Versions | 4.x and 5.x Versions |
Recommendation
The official stance is that all of the supported distros are equally good, and the InterWorx developers use all of them internally, but recommendations tend to lean toward the most current CentOS version for those who have no specific reason to select one supported distro over another, and CentOS is the most tested.
| If you wish to use InterWorx’s clustering abilities, CentOS 4.x/5.x or RHEL 4.x/5.x are required. |
Mini-FAQ
Why doesn't the newest version of InterWorx always support the newest versions of all supported distros?
Support for major updates for supported distros (e.g. RHEL 5, Fedora 5 and 6) is not as easy as simply installing InterWorx on a box running the new version, testing and tweaking as necessary. Please read the next question for specifics.
When a new InterWorx version is being finalized making sure the new version works on all supported distros is more of a priority for the developers than adding new distro support.
Why does it take so long for new major releases of supported distros to be supported?
Support for major updates for supported distros (e.g. RHEL 5, Fedora 5 and 6) is not as easy as simply installing InterWorx on a box running the new version, testing and tweaking as necessary. InterWorx depends on a number of customized packages to run properly, such as apache, qmail, djbdns, etc. (Run rpm -qa | grep iworx on your system for a list of the ones you have installed on your box).
For each major release, the source code must be acquired, the necessary (generally minor) changes made, and the rpms created. Then they must be extensively tested and tweaked before they can officially be considered supported. In some cases changes to InterWorx itself must be made but at the same time the developers need to make sure that these changes do not break anything on one of the other supported distros because the core InterWorx rpm’s are not disto specific.
What other distros do you intend to support?
We have specific plans for Debian and FreeBSD. Support for additional RPM based distos could conceivably be added if there is significant demand.
Why don't you support other major Linux distros?
For practical reasons, it was decided to support only RPM based distos. This is what our development team was the most familiar with, and it is widely used in the web hosting industry. We will eventually be adding Debian support, but this is still a package (.deb) based system so installing and updating will be more practical.
Non-package based distros, present more issues (e.g. the practicality of installing and updating the system and all of it’s packages) that would need to be overcome before support could be added. FreeBSD will eventually be added but most likely not for a couple years when more resources will be available to support it.
I'm running CentOS, but my rpm's all say rhel. What's up?
CentOS is a clone of RHEL and the two are 100% binary compatible. What that means is that RPM‘s created for RHEL work on CentOS and vice versa. CentOS rpm’s even incorporate the rhel into the filenames. Our CentOS rpm repository is actually a symlink to our RHEL repository on the updates server.
What happened to White Box Linux support?
White Box Enterprise Linux was supported in the later versions of InterWorx 1.x, but official support was dropped with InterWorx 2.0. However, InterWorx should still run on White Box using the RPM‘s for CentOS/RHEL for the corresponding versions of. for WBEL. This is of course officially unsupported.
