Virtualmin for scientific linux 6.

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#1 Wed, 03/09/2011 - 08:09
jespoting

Virtualmin for scientific linux 6.

Seeing that Centos 6 will take to get out, I think it also delayed the departure of Virtualmin to centos 6. Is not that right? Has not been thought out for another clone Virtualmin redhat enterprise?

As I read there are problems with Centos address. It makes no long updated and even missing updates.

I hope news.

Thank you very much

Wed, 03/09/2011 - 09:06
andreychek

Howdy,

CentOS 6 isn't out yet... though shortly after it's released, Virtualmin will have support for it.

Since it's based on RHEL6, that means RHEL6 would be supported as well.

I'm not familiar with Scientific Linux, but from the looks of it, Virtualmin should work well on it, since Scientific Linux and CentOS are both supposed to be compatible with RHEL.

So, keep an eye out for Virtualmin's CentOS 6 support -- once you see that, give it a try on Scientific Linux and see if that works :-)

-Eric

Sat, 03/12/2011 - 18:40
jespoting

You could know that is what makes not compatible with Redhat Enterprise 6 Virtualmin? If I install Virtualmin on SC 6 could not work?

Thanks.

Sat, 03/12/2011 - 19:36
andreychek

Right now, there are no Virtualmin packages built for RHEL6 and CentOS 6, the packages are only built for RHEL5 / CentOS 5.

As soon as CentOS 6 is released, Virtualmin packages for RHEL6 / CentOS 6 will be created.

-Eric

Tue, 03/29/2011 - 00:29
Joe
Joe's picture

As a random aside, I'm installing two new severs for Virtualmin.com next Monday or Tuesday, and it appears they'll be running Scientific Linux (since there is no CentOS 6, and we require some of the latest stuff to really get the most out of Cloudmin and some of the new features we're developing). So, barring a miraculous CentOS 6 release sometime between now and next Monday, you'll see official Scientific Linux 6 support in the Virtualmin install script sometime next week. Cloudmin might already install there, I'm not sure...if it doesn't, it'll also get support next week.

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Wed, 04/06/2011 - 08:44
trutwijd

Joe, any update on the install script supporting SL 6.0?

Thanks!

Josh

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 13:47 (Reply to #6)
Joe
Joe's picture

It won't be kept secret. When it works, it'll be listed in the OS Support page, and I'll post to the News forum about it. I've been poking at hardware issues (drivers and BIOS problems with our new servers), so I haven't done anything with Virtualmin or Cloudmin on them yet. Since it didn't get done last week, everything was delayed for several days by Texas Linux Fest.

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Fri, 04/22/2011 - 08:44 (Reply to #7)
BillDeLoatche

I know you are working on SL 6 but does virtualmin currently work on SL 5 as an A-supported OS, and would a Centos 5 backup of a virtual server restore properly on SL 5 and also SL6 when available? I am currently using php 5.2.17 from bleed.

Fri, 04/22/2011 - 09:45 (Reply to #8)
andreychek

Howdy,

He is indeed working on it (for anyone eager for SL6), and support for it is around the corner.

As far as Scientific Linux 5 -- sorry, we're not expecting to see support for that.

Will a CentOS 5 backup of a Virtual Server restore on "" -- the answer, regardless of "", is yes if it's a supported distribution :-)

For any supported distribution, version, and architecture -- Virtual Server backups should move cleanly from one server to another.

-Eric

Tue, 06/28/2011 - 09:46 (Reply to #9)
BillDeLoatche

It has been a couple of months since Joe said he was releasing support for SL6 and it was just arround the corner. Did he ask for directions from the Centos people?

Sun, 04/24/2011 - 14:44 (Reply to #10)
KarlMoik

annoying question: any news regarding SL 6.0? :D

Fri, 04/29/2011 - 22:50
raymor

So, barring a miraculous CentOS 6 release sometime between now and next Monday, you'll see official Scientific Linux 6 support in the Virtualmin install script sometime next week

As of 2011-04-15, centos-devel said "A build and QA plan is being worked out now with the QA team", . Figure that means about 4 weeks would be my guess. On 2011/4/14, developers hinted that around May10th they might send it over to the quality assurance team, who would do their thing, then it would be 48 to populate the mirrors. So maybe around the end of May based on that.

I have also gone ahead and installed a new server using SL6, which I understand could be easily converted to CentOS 6 later if desired. If any testing or such is desired on SL6 I would be glad to help in any way I can. I do have 15 years of experience on RPM based servers, and I am a programmer, so I might be able help. It has been several years since I mucked about with the Virtualmin internals, though.

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 17:07 (Reply to #13)
KarlMoik

A bit off-topic: but why would one switch from SL to CentOS? SL has a far bigger base of devs/mataintainers. In addition it comes with a few extra features compared to CentOS. So if you don't need the 0.5% additional binary-compability, there seems to be no good reason for this step.

I would appreciate the opinion of an experienced admin.

Regards.

Wed, 05/04/2011 - 14:51 (Reply to #14)
Joe
Joe's picture

CentOS is used in a very large percentage of hosting deployments, while SL is pretty much non-existent in the hosting space (with a name like Scientific Linux, I can see how very few people would consider it for web hosting). CentOS has a much larger userbase than SL, in general, as well.

In short, CentOS is the standard in the hosting industry. Virtualmin is used for web hosting. Thus, CentOS is the most popular OS for use with Virtualmin.

As for switching...I don't plan to switch our servers to CentOS, even after CentOS 6 arrives. As far as I can tell, Scientific Linux will work fine for what we need, so I would see no reason to switch. And, once we commit to supporting and OS, we support it for the entire supported lifecycle of the OS (so we support CentOS releases for 5 years). I'm not sure what the lifecycle of SL is; if it's not as long as RHEL/CentOS, then I'd consider that a good reason for switching. ;-)

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Wed, 05/04/2011 - 17:08
KarlMoik

Hi Joe,

I appreciate your opinion which I basically share. I'd like to point out a few things based on your reply.

CentOS is well spread - absolutely. As far as I know has it been the only "real" and free RH clone - which might be the main (and only?) reason for the huge amount of CentOS installations.

SL on the other hand is "young". CentOS started with version 3 while SL started with version 4 if my informations are correct.

As you've already pointed out, might the name be a little bit "unfortunate". But how many distros are actually out there with a descriptive name? (and to be honest, when I read CentOS for the first time, my first thought was "cheap" :D). Scientific Linux has it's name because it's founded(?) and maintained primarely by scientific organisations like CERN and a bunch of other (educational) institutions. In fact, this could lead us to another point: how much do we trust CentOS or SL?

Most people (me included) would tend to the community OS (as far as I know is SL community based too, but the sponsors have the last word). Anyway, the question is how we do define "trust"? Would you agree if I say, we're talking about maintance and lifecycles?

Basically, Red Hat makes the rules. That leaves two questions: 1. how fast are patches/updates adapted? 2. are there (negative) differences regarding the lifecycles?

  1. I don't have any numbers, facts or proofs. But based on the fact that SL is used in (I suppose) critical enviroments, is my assumption that SL could be faster.

  2. in my opinion, this is the primary point and source of the whole discussion. a.) Why are we even talking about SL? Because CentOS seems to be..... not actually dead, but as far as I know it's simply unpredictable at the moment. As far as I'm informed, there is still no roadmap regarding version 6. (Don't get me wrong. This is no criticism and I appreciate their work and their priceless contribution to the community). Fact is, they have a lack of developers and contributors (actually, what would you expect when you release a free version of a commercial product :D).

SL on the other hand has released version 6 this March and I would say they have enough manpower (and money?) to maintain their distro. Their website quotes the same lifecycles as the original does.

If we put all those pieces together I come to the following conclusion:

  • In my view SL seems to become the "new" CentOS
  • It might have a smaller user-base (yet) but the foundation looks more robust to me.
  • If you choose Linux as server OS it makes no difference which distro you are going to use (in my opinion are there only two distros I'd consider for a server: Debian and RedHat/CentOS/SL)
  • One has to decide if he trusts a distro/company/organisation or not. I'm personally very skeptical. In fact, the only company I trust is Red Hat (and only because of Greg Kroah-Hartmann). Since the main sponsors are CERN, Fermilab and ETHZ I would tend to trust SL (hey, CERN could blow up the world, why would they mess around with Linux? :D).
  • For any other concerns -> Red Hat

However: How about Red Hat 6 support for Virtualmin? :D

Sources: https://www.scientificlinux.org/about/credit https://www.scientificlinux.org/distributions/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux#Life_Cycle_Dates http://centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=25878&forum=53

Tue, 05/17/2011 - 07:14
BillDeLoatche

Have you changed your mind about SL6 and decided to wait for CentOS?

Tue, 05/17/2011 - 09:59
raymor

: but why would one switch from SL to CentOS? SL has a far bigger base of devs/mataintainers. In addition it comes with a few extra features compared to CentOS. So if you don't need the 0.5% additional binary-compability, there seems to be no good reason for this step.

The two are virtually identical I understand, so it could come down to what you LABEL the system. Why would you call it CentOS instead of Scientific Linux? Installing VirtualMin using the recommended method, the automatic method, would be one reason. The auto installer will recognize CentOS as a supported OS, but won't recognize SL at this time. Similarly for other software or people who may recognize CentOS but not SL. Proprietary drivers, for example, or maybe support purchased for a database system or what not, where their policy people may not know what CentOS and SL are pretty much identical.

I haven't actually done significant work on my SL 6.0 system yet, so I'm not aware of whatever other reasons may exist. That's another reason I like knowing that I can easily switch it, actually, the fact that I don't know what I might run in to. I know that IF I run into some unexpected hurdle with SL updates or whatever I can always "punt" by converting renaming it as a CentOS system, then running the updates.

Wed, 05/18/2011 - 13:28 (Reply to #18)
KarlMoik

The two are virtually identical I understand, so it could come down to what you LABEL the system. Why would you call it CentOS instead of Scientific Linux? Well, although both Distros are trying to be as binary-compatible as possible with the original one (which in fact isn't possible, because they will always lack the non-free Red Hat tools), they're actually modifying/adding and - most importantly - removing packages.

CentOS: http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS5.6 SL: http://www.scientificlinux.org/distributions/6x/rnotes/sl-release-notes-...

That might (or might not) be a another reason to prefer one over the other. (i.e. i like the additional shipped repos in SL).

Anyway, the methos how VM identifies the used OS is a combination of the install-script, the RPM and a file on their webserver. Somewhere on my TODO-list is an entry for building a RPM which doesn't care about the underlying OS and some of the dependencies (the admin ought knows what he's doing). However I'm very occupied lately. Additionally am I still optimistic, that there will be an official VM release with RH/CO/SL 6 support.

Btw. to be fair..... CentOS released 5.6 while SL still stucks on 5.5 (purpose?)

Wed, 05/18/2011 - 14:00
raymor

[quote] Additionally am I still optimistic, that there will be an official VM release with RH/CO/SL 6 support.

Btw. to be fair..... CentOS released 5.6 while SL still stucks on 5.5 (purpose?) [/quote]

Yeah CentOS decided to put 6.0 on hold to get 5.6 out the door, while SL decided to do 6.0 first, then 5.6. For official RH/CO/SL 6 support, expect CentoS 6.0 in about two weeks - roughly June 1st or 2nd.

Wed, 05/18/2011 - 14:11
raymor

Because CentOS seems to be..... not actually dead, but as far as I know it's simply unpredictable at the moment. As far as I'm informed, there is still no roadmap regarding version 6. (Don't get me wrong. This is no criticism and I appreciate their work and their priceless contribution to the community). Fact is, they have a lack of developers and contributors (actually, what would you expect when you release a free version of a commercial product :D).

There IS a roadmap and a new open development platform at http://qaweb.dev.centos.org/ . Recent developments have shown the need for changes to the methods and systems used for CentOS in order to allow more volunteers to help more easily. The OpenAtrium platform is one of several new systems being tested to open it up more so that more people can contribute.

Compared to other open source projects, SOME of the leaders of CentOS aren't AS INTERESTED in whether or not other people use or contribute to the project. Other leaders are interested in opening it up so that more people can contribute and actions are being taken in that regard. Something else which may be somewhat new is that the leadership is realizing that users had been starving for information. They have recently begun t get the information out a little better, announcing a while ago that they planned to send 6.0 to the QA team on a certain date, etc.

Sun, 06/05/2011 - 12:45 (Reply to #21)
KarlMoik

Thank you for this useful information!

As you've mentioned, it seems like the information-flow is a bit confusing, but the QA blog looks like a good source for news. I'm surprised about the progress they made, the first Live CDs have been released for testing.

I'm looking forward for their released and the differences to SL.

About the "interested" thing... well, I know by myself how hard it is to maintain OSS projects (needlessly to mention the complexity of a whole distribution), especially when you're a student or occupied with other private stuff. So I wouldn't blame them - everybody has it own priorities. But that is one of the key-points imho in the discussion SL vs. cOS.

Anyway, let's wait for the final and furthermore... Virtualmin support.

Tue, 06/28/2011 - 12:03
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey guys,

Just to chime in on this...SL6 for x86_64 is pretty much finished, though not well-tested...and it seems to deadlock during install on virtual machines for reasons I haven't yet been able to figure out. Our website issues have been keeping me too occupied to track it down (we're in the midst of a complete migration to all new infrastructure, including moving onto a multi-server configuration using the Cloudmin Services module for DNS and MySQL, so it is much more complicated than a simple migration). I'm sure everyone has noticed that the website currently sucks, in terms of performance; and the 500 errors remain a constant due to disk IO just being too high for our current disks (Drupal has some pathological SQL queries that I don't know how to fix without breaking compatibility and upgradability, so we have to just throw a lot of hardware at the problem and hope for the best).

Anyway, to get back to the point, from before I started rambling...SL6 onn x86_64 systems will probably install fine today. But, because I haven't tracked down numerous issues, and I haven't finished the i386 build, I can't call it supported. So, if you're waiting, and you have a 64 bit system, and you don't mind it possibly breaking, go ahead and give it a go. (As for reporting bugs, I already know about the freeze during installation of virtualmin-base; it seems to happen on virtual systems only, I think).

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Wed, 06/29/2011 - 10:33 (Reply to #23)
KarlMoik

Hey Joe,

thanks for the feedback. I've a well running installation on a KVM based SL 6 x64 system. Did the installation the webmin -> VM way. Not the best way but I didn't face any freezes or other stuff.

If you need access to the machine or if there's anything else I could help with - feel free to contact me.

Kind regards.

Wed, 06/29/2011 - 12:46 (Reply to #24)
Joe
Joe's picture

Thanks, but we have a half dozen VMs and two dedicated servers running SL6 now, including both 32 and 64 bit. So, we have plenty of places to test. The problem isn't lack of test machines as it is time to fix the problems revealed by testing. ;-)

But, YAPC wraps up in a few hours, and I'll have a bit more free time to finish our migration to new servers and to get SL 6 support rolled out officially.

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Thu, 07/28/2011 - 12:49 (Reply to #25)
BillDeLoatche

It's been another month since you said it was just around the corner. SL6.1 is now released and no official support for either CentOS6 or SL6.

Thu, 08/11/2011 - 20:38
Joe
Joe's picture

Scientific Linux 6 has been added to the Grade A supported operating systems list, and is expected to work correctly out of the box when using the Virtualmin install.sh install script.

Please let us know about any problems you run into in the ticket tracker.

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