CentOS - Jul 2021 - Centos versions in the future?

On Thu, Jul 08, 2021 at 08:39:19AM -0500, Valeri Galtsev
wrote:
> Well, I fled servers from CentOS to FreeBSD almost a decade ago. And
> actually not From CentOS per se, but from Linux. One of the reasons
> was: every 45 days on average: glibc or kernel update ?> reboot. One
> of my friends started using word ?Lindoze?. Linux is perfect for
> number crunchers and workstations. FreeBSD is waaay better for
> servers. In my book that is. 
> 
> Just straightening small nuance.
If you aren't rebooting your FreeBSD systems regularly, you're just as
vulnerable.

https://www.freebsd.org/security/advisories/

I see one less than 45 days ago that requires a reboot because of a
kernel security measure bypass.

Long uptimes are a thing of the past.  Build redundancy into your
infrastructure so you can handle reboots.

-- 
Jonathan Billings <billings at negate.org>

On Thu, 8 Jul 2021, Jonathan Billings wrote:
> Long uptimes are a thing of the past.  Build redundancy into your
> infrastructure so you can handle reboots.
+1

Beyond building redundancy, I'd suggest building the culture that sees 
regular maintenance windows as a provider of, not a drag on, value.

-- 
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
45.38? N, 122.59? W

On 7/8/21 8:55 AM, Jonathan Billings wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 08, 2021 at 08:39:19AM -0500, Valeri Galtsev wrote:
>> Well, I fled servers from CentOS to FreeBSD almost a decade ago. And
>> actually not From CentOS per se, but from Linux. One of the reasons
>> was: every 45 days on average: glibc or kernel update ?> reboot. One
>> of my friends started using word ?Lindoze?. Linux is perfect for
>> number crunchers and workstations. FreeBSD is waaay better for
>> servers. In my book that is.
>>
>> Just straightening small nuance.
> 
> If you aren't rebooting your FreeBSD systems regularly, you're just
as
> vulnerable.
> 
> https://www.freebsd.org/security/advisories/
> 
> I see one less than 45 days ago that requires a reboot because of a
> kernel security measure bypass.
> 
> Long uptimes are a thing of the past.  Build redundancy into your
> infrastructure so you can handle reboots.
> 
That original reason to flee for us (one of several as it turned out to 
be) is dated 10 years back. Not quite fair to apply today's 
counter-argument to it. Still a year or two ago when I checked last, and 
it was about 2 reboots a year required for FreeBSD, whereas <= 45 days 
is still was a fact for Linux.

But as you have said yourself, we live differently today, and several 
things (like one or few services per jail - the last having read-only 
base system to mention one) still make FreeBSD much simpler to maintain 
for servers. Not to mention, switching from Linux (10 years ago) to 
FreeBSD was quite smoother learning curve than adjusting to systemd and 
friends ;-) (I'm cheating a bit: I did run UNIXes in the past - waaay back).

Of course, tastes differ, but still, only those who tasted both things 
can have fairly say what is better to one's own taste. Saying not to 
Jonathan, of course, who I bet runs several UNIXes, FreeBSD included. 
(of course, not all of them can strictly be called UNIX, - re no 
loyalties to AT&T).

But even as part of our infrastructure fled to FreeBSD, workstations and 
number crunchers stayed with most adequate for them system: Linux. 
CentOS until recently, Debian once CentOS stopped being "binary
replica"
of RedHat Enterprise. Gionatan Danti mentioned another important reason...

Valeri

-- 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Valeri Galtsev
Sr System Administrator
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
University of Chicago
Phone: 773-702-4247
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