Point and click servers

If you need the robustness of CentOS in a server distro that’s easy to rollout and administer, grab yourself a copy of ClearOS Community Edition. One of the biggest advantages of ClearOS over other similar offerings is its larger repos of supported server software. The distro supports over 80 free services for various roles including a network server and a cloud server and more. In addition to common servers such as a directory server, database server, mail server, web server, FTP server, content filter and more, you can use the installation as a seedbox and a Plex Media Server.

ClearOS also includes several system and network management tools for creating backups, managing bandwidth and RAIDs etc. New admins who aren’t sure of the components to install can use the Feature Wizard, which helps pick services. The number of options available to you depend on whether you plan to deploy ClearOS inside a private network or as a gateway server or in a publicly accessible network.

Since it’s based on CentOS, the distro uses the same Anaconda installer. Once the installation is complete, the distro will take you through a basic setup wizard where you’ll be asked to select whether your ClearOS installation will be used inside a protected network (like an office), in a publicly accessible network (like a hotspot or a data centre) or as a Gateway server. You’ll also be asked to create an account at www.clearos.com and register your installation before you can access its server apps and services via its marketplace.