CentOS - Jul 2008 - RHEL vs. CentOS

Hi, we have a new customer to support.  They have RHEL5 not CentOS5.

Is there a summary of the differences between RHEL and CentOS?

We have come across differences in how yum works.  There is
magic involving the rhnplugin that connects us to invisible
repositories not mentioned in the yum config files, interacts with
the web interface via rhn.redhat.com, ...

We wonder if there are other differences that we have not yet stumbled
upon, that might create issues in the future.

-- 
Drew Einhorn
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drew einhorn wrote:
> Hi, we have a new customer to support.  They have RHEL5 not CentOS5.
> 
> Is there a summary of the differences between RHEL and CentOS?
> 
> We have come across differences in how yum works.  There is
> magic involving the rhnplugin that connects us to invisible
> repositories not mentioned in the yum config files, interacts with
> the web interface via rhn.redhat.com, ...
> 
> We wonder if there are other differences that we have not yet stumbled
> upon, that might create issues in the future.
Your client can call red hat support and there is a working yum-security 
plugin.

They also have access to RHN to manage assets.

That is about it for differences.

You need to think more about things like compiling custom kernels or 3rd 
party repos, since you have upstream paid support now.



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Exactly,
RedHat service (not free) uses the  redhat  update network and tools
like "up2date"
to deliver updated RPM packages to their customer.   They do not distribute yum
by default and they do not have a yum repository configuration that works.

Under the covers both RHEL and CentOS use RPMs  so "rpm -Uvh this.rpm
that.rpm" works for both.
Because of this "yum" can be installed and a local yum repository can
be used for
local packages.  RPM will do the right thing as long as the local
packages are 'well'
made.
>From the support point of view  expect redhat updates to be delivered
to RH customers
a min. to a week sooner than the CentOS community sees them.   Start
using language
like "package update tool" where you would commonly use
"yum".

Scan the online documentation for redhat network, up2date, rhn etc....
In with the exception of "rhn" .vs. "yum" and copyright
images  there is
no difference beyond possible random differences (minor) in the hosts
that  RPMs are
built on.

Also "/etc/redhat-release" will (OK should) differ.

On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 9:09 AM, Johnny Hughes <johnny at centos.org>
wrote:
> drew einhorn wrote:
>>
>> Hi, we have a new customer to support.  They have RHEL5 not CentOS5.
>>
>> Is there a summary of the differences between RHEL and CentOS?
>>
>> We have come across differences in how yum works.  There is
>> magic involving the rhnplugin that connects us to invisible
>> repositories not mentioned in the yum config files, interacts with
>> the web interface via rhn.redhat.com, ...
>>
>> We wonder if there are other differences that we have not yet stumbled
>> upon, that might create issues in the future.
>
> Your client can call red hat support and there is a working yum-security
> plugin.
>
> They also have access to RHN to manage assets.
>
> That is about it for differences.
>
> You need to think more about things like compiling custom kernels or 3rd
> party repos, since you have upstream paid support now.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS at centos.org
> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
>
>


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