Comparisons Between Three Open Source Operating System

( Linux Kernel Based Open Source OS )

General Information
Distribution
Characteristics
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server
CentOS Red Hat Enterprise
Linux
Company /
Developer "Creator"
SUSE The CentOS Project Red Hat, Inc.
OS Family Unix-like Unix-like Unix-like
Based Distribution based on SUSE Linux based on Red Hat Enterprise
Linux
(based on Red Hat
Linux/Fedora)

License GNU General Public
License and Various.
GNU GPL & various others. Various free software
licenses, plus
proprietary binary
blobs.
Marketing Target commercial market
(includeMainframes, Server
s, Workstations,Supercomp
uters)
Free computing
(desktops,mainframes, serve
rs, workstations)
Commercial market
(including for
mainframes, servers
,supercomputers)
Initial Public Release March 1994 May 14, 2004 started as RHEL on
March 26, 2002
Last Stable Release 11 SP2 6.4
5.9
6.4
5.9
Last Stable Release
Date
February 15
th
2012 March 12th 2013
January 17th 2013
February 21th 2013
January 7th, 2013
Purpose server, workstation server, workstation server, workstation
Maintenance Cost 799$ for one year N/A 799$
Technical Information
Distribution
Characteristics

Kernel Type Monolithic (Linux) Monolithic (Linux) Monolithic (Linu
x)
Kernel Programming
Language
written in the version of the C programming language supported by GCC (which
has introduced a number of extensions and changes to standard C)
Supported File
System (FAT, NTFS,
Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, UFS,
NFS, ZFS, etc. )
EXT2
Ext3,
ReiserFS,
XFS,
OCFS2
Btrfs
NFS
JFS
VFAT

EXT2, EXT3, EXT4 , NTFS,
XFS, NFS , XFS
EXT2, EXT3,
EXT4, XFS ,
NFS, ISO 9660,
MSDOS, VFAT

Supported Processor
Architecture
IA-32, x86-
64, s390x, PowerPC,
Itanium
i386, x86-64 (as of CentOS5) x86, x86-
64; POWER; S/3
90;z/Architecture
Supported Network Giga Ethernet Giga Ethernet Giga Ethernet
10 Giga Ethernet
Realtek
WLAN
Bluetooth
IrDA
10 Giga Ethernet
Realtek
WLAN
Bluetooth
IrDA
10 Giga Ethernet
Realtek
WLAN
Bluetooth
IrDA
Supported Network
Technology
TCP/IP, IPv6,
DHCP, DNS, IPX, PPP,
PPPoE, OpenVPN, ssh

service location
protocol (SLP)
NTP (network time
protocol)
Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (LDAP)
TCP/IP, IPv6,
DHCP, DNS, IPX, PPP, PPPoE,
OpenVPN, ssh
Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP)

TCP/IP, IPv6,
DHCP, DNS,
IPX, PPP,
PPPoE,
OpenVPN, ssh
Tunnel
Addressing
Protocol
(ISATAP)
Lightweight
Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP)

Security Features
Managing X.509
Certification
Masquerading and
Firewalls
SSH: Secure Network
Operations
Network Authentication
Kerberos
Installing and
Administering Kerberos
Encrypting Partitions and
Files
Confining Privileges
System Logger
Pluggable Authentication
Modules
Testing PAM
Using Digital Certificates
Intrusion Detection
SSH: Secure Network
Operations
Security-Enhanced Linux
(SELinux)

System Security
Services Daemon
(SSSD)
Security-
Enhanced Linux
(SELinux)
Backup
Passphrases for
Encrypted
Storage Devices
sVirt
Enterprise
Security Client
ESC

Variants ( Server,
Desktop, etc)
Server
Desktop
Workstation
Server
Desktop
Workstation
Server
Desktop
Workstation
ComputeNode
Package
Management
Manager
RPM Package Manager RPM Package Manager RPM Package
Manager
Package Zypper/YaST2 Yum (PackageKit) Yum / PackageKi
Management (Install
& Update Method)
t
Advantages & Disadvantages
Distribution
Characteristics

Advantages - Maintenance support
- Windows
interoperability
- Reliability,
availability and
serviceability
- Security: has EAL
4+ certification
- Less expensive in
the subscription cost
comparing with
RHEL
- Rapidly upgraded
- unlimited sockets
support
- Very complete and
highly scalable
server package
- SV support
- Virtualization
- GUI (YAST)
Freely available (no licenses)
Everything in one channel
Strong and big community
support
Stable/tested
easily synchronized with
prominent online repositories
such as RPM Forge and
kernel.org.
No need to upgrade to the next
major release
Not limited by Upstream
restrictions
Can be easily downloaded via
FTP/HTTP/Torrent.








- Maintena
nce
support
- Windows
interopera
bility
- Reliability
,
availabilit
y and
serviceabi
lity
- Security:
has EAL
4+
certificati
on
- Rapidly
upgrade
- Stable
applicatio
n
developm
ent and
productio
n platform
-
Disadvantages
Costly
NO beta versions are
provided for the
customers to evaluate
fast release cycle every
year which leads to
unstable usage
high cost of design
- less rapidly upgraded
- does not provides the
RHN style support
- less features

-
Costly
Limit of
sockets
supportin
g
Doesn't
work with
CentOS,
Fedora,
Scientific,
et al
Support
not
standardiz
ed
(requires
more
skilled
maintaine
rs)