This will be the next major release of the SME Server distro

May 30, 2016 21:45 GMT  ·  By

Today, May 30, 2016, the Koozali SME Server development team, through Terry Fage, has proudly announced that the Koozali SME Server 10 operating system is now open for development, and a first Alpha build is now ready for testing.

For those not in the known, SME Server is the leading GNU/Linux distribution designed to be deployed in various small and medium-sized enterprises. The OS is created by Koozali Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing legal and marketing support for the server-oriented operating system.

Koozali SME Server 10 is the next major version of the server-oriented, open-source, CentOS-based, and free operating system, based on the latest stable release of CentOS 7 Linux (version CentOS 7.2.1511 for Alpha 1), which will receive security patches and software updates until June 30, 2024.

Koozali SME Server 10 Alpha 1 release notes

With the exception of the rebase of the entire SME Server operating system on CentOS 7.2.1511, as mentioned above, which means that it borrows many of its core components, updates, and security patches, the first Alpha release of the upcoming SME Server 10 operating system introduces numerous bug fixes and improvements.

Most of the changes are under the hood, and if you want to know what exactly has been changed, please refer to the release notes. Otherwise, you are invited to take this first Alpha build for a test drive and help the development team polish the operating system by addressing various annoyances or implementing new features.

During testing, please try to keep in mind that in-place upgrades are not supported for the Alpha 1 build, which means that you'll need to backup and then restore, and that the spare handling for RAID arrays feature has not yet been implemented. Also, the installer is currently based on the CentOS artwork.

"If your disk is not empty, you will need to use the Anaconda interface to format it and partition it. If it is empty all is automatic. You will have to set twice your root password: one during Anaconda installation (you could use a lame password), a second time in the Koozali SME server configuration process," said Terry Fage.

You can download the Koozali SME Server 10 Alpha 1 ISO image for 64-bit hardware architectures right now via our website, but please try to keep in mind that this is an early preview of the upcoming operating system, which means that you should not deploy it in production environments.