Thread: Best (Linux) OS for dedicated server

It's always a good idea to use what your host is more conformable and proficient with, this way if/when problems arise they can fix it quicker since they are used to it.

Debian is a good distro like any other, I personally am a CentOS & RHEL fan.

Only problem with Debian (and anything based off of it) is that it is a country mile behind in terms of hardware support - unless you don't stick to the stable releases, then you're loosing one of the reasons for going with it in the first place. As for Debian having a bigger community than CentOS - I don't think there's a bigger community out there for any distribution than there is for Redhat and its clones.

Originally Posted by Karl

As for Debian having a bigger community than CentOS - I don't think there's a bigger community out there for any distribution than there is for Redhat and its clones.

I personally wouldn't agree with that. On the Desktop front especially, Ubuntu is way ahead of anything else in terms of popularity. CentOS is probably used more widely on servers purely because it is supported by control panels, therefore most users will end up with it. I don't think it would be as dominant if you were able to purely look at 'technical' users.

Originally Posted by Karl

Only problem with Debian (and anything based off of it) is that it is a country mile behind in terms of hardware support - unless you don't stick to the stable releases, then you're loosing one of the reasons for going with it in the first place.

I agree with you on hardware support; it is an issue. Unless you're on the absolute bleeding edge though it's not a problem.

Originally Posted by stelios

You can always built the latest kernel into the stable release of Debian and then almost anything is supported. There is also a project (can't remember the name) where offering iso images of stable debian with latest 2.6 kernels.
The problem with it is that requires a good knowledge of Linux kernel where not many people have the time to get it but as soon as you understand the concepts and how it works then there is no other distribution

That ruins the whole point of Debian IMO.

I somehow hate myself for getting involved in this discussion. There is no clear cut answer. If you like Debian, use it. If you like CentOS, use it. If you've used neither, try both and pick one. They're both good.

Go with what you're comfortable with. Things to watch for include, Fedora and Ubunutu, the release and support cycles are quick and short. For ubunut keep to the LTS version which I think 8.04 currently is, or better yet go with Debian Etch if you're an ubuntuer. Fedora has a 6 month release cycle and I think the same goes for support.

Personal preference is either CentOS or Debian.

I just posted a comparison of different Linux server distributions to our website which may help you in your decision.

It depends largely upon support lifecycle. With RHEL you get a minimum of 4 years of updates. On CentOS updates are largely for 6 months only. My personal choice of free linux distro would be Ubuntu largely because package management with apt is a dream.

Stuart

Originally Posted by bluewave

It depends largely upon support lifecycle. With RHEL you get a minimum of 4 years of updates. On CentOS updates are largely for 6 months only. My personal choice of free linux distro would be Ubuntu largely because package management with apt is a dream.

Stuart

I think you're wrong about CentOS, it has the same life cycle as RHEL as it's based entirely on it. Thats my understanding.

Ubuntu maintainers have some weird ideas about fixing packages, the first LTS release was riddled with broken packages that ubuntu wouldn't fix. I think 8.04 will be a much better LTS release as they've learned a lot. I definitely wouldn't out ubuntu on a server though. Debian or CentOS is what we put on all our systems.

Yes, you mean Fedora being 6 months, not CentOS. CentOS has the same lifecycle as the parent distro, RHEL.

Originally Posted by Karl

Yes, you mean Fedora being 6 months, not CentOS. CentOS has the same lifecycle as the parent distro, RHEL.

I stand corrected

Originally Posted by Karl

Yes, you mean Fedora being 6 months, not CentOS. CentOS has the same lifecycle as the parent distro, RHEL.

Actually, Fedora is supported for one month after the release of the version after the next one, in practice this means 13 months after release.

You're quite correct about CentOS support being exactly the same as RHEL - it's just RHEL with the Red Hat trademarks taken out.

A summary of lifecycles is included in the distribution comparison article I referred to earlier in the thread:

Linux Server Distro Comparision - Security

CentOS is a very popular option !

We certainly see a lot of CentOS orders come through our systems however Debian still remains popular (maybe because of aptitude?)

But as has already been mentioned in this post it's very important if you're starting out to go with what you already know as if something goes wrong you want to be able to attack the problem and not look up *how* to go about attacking it.

Ubuntu is primarily based on Debian unless i'm wrong? Maybe this is the one for you?