I was wondering what everyone ones favorite Linux server distro was? I have always used Ubuntu, ever since 6.10 LTS, but watched a video with Richard Stallman, that has got me thinking about moving away from any Ubuntu distro. I am a command line junkie, when it comes to these rigs, and I also have no issues with compiling software from source, if they do not offer it in the repository. Anyway, I have a little time on my hands, and was thinking about firing up a few different distros, to find another one I like.
Favorite Linux Server Distro
- Thread starter clayb226
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Markverhyden
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For desktop/laptop my preference has always been for openSUSE. For servers it's either been CentOS or Fedora Core.
I have installed CentOS on a server, several years ago, it was like 6 cd set, I set it up for a company that wanted a GUI. I dropped the run level down to 3, and showed them how to run startx to kick open the GUI. That thing ran solid, probably still is running solid. Only issue I heard out of it was some samba permission issue, after an update. I am not as familiar with Red Hat based distros, I think they use yum package management, IIRC?? I may look the latest version up?? I have been using debian based for so many years, it may be time for a change.
Thanks for the reply!!
NYJimbo
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Markverhyden
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The problem I have had is CentOS has not played well with two things I use, Axigen for email and ownCloud. When I decided to move both from FC 12 and OS X respectively I spent many hours with poor results. So I ended up going with FC which was nearly trouble free from an implementation perspective.
SilverLeaf
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If you are already accustomed to a Debian based distro, why not just move to Debian stable? It's solid, stable, well-maintained, has excellent documentation, huge package repository, .......
That was going to be the direction I was going to lean towards, but thought I would get others opinions on their favorite distro, and maybe some reasoning behind their reasons. I like debian, I installed it for a on one of my kids computers, so I have it downloaded, somewhere.
Slaters Kustum Machines
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I like Debian, but CentOS is liked because it is close to RedHat, which is what is used in most Linux enterprise environments.
Yeah, it is Red Hat with different branding. I guess it is also a great study material for Red Hat Certifications, also.
Slaters Kustum Machines
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Yeah, I meant it helps with getting RedHat like experience without the cost. And if you plan to get a Linux admin position it is very likely to be RedHat that you are supporting. I understand Hypervisors and many "appliances" are *nix based and work great, but as for running a *nix file server in the SMB world can have pros and cons like anything else, but could be more of a support problem for a business in the "bus" incident if documentation is lacking as overall there are less admins familiar with *nix distros than Windows. However in the home lab environment run whatever you want, I am all for using FOSS when possible as long as it makes sense for the situation.
The last place I worked at, had to run Windows servers for LOB applications, but I still used Linux Servers where t was an option.
Markverhyden
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The problem with using Linux servers, especially as file shares, is M$ and it's partners have put in a lot of effort to insure that programs will not run if the app does not detect an underlying M$ OS provided storage layer. 10-12 years ago I used to be able to put things like QB, Access, and PracticeWorks DB's on SMB shares. Impossible today.
coffee
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Hi Clay,
To be honest, About any flavor of linux can be used as a server. I would not recommend fedora as the upgrade path is pretty quick and their are kinks in upgrades now and then. Its the test bed for Redhat.
Believe it or not, I use Mint with the mate desktop right now. As long as the packages you want are in the repos you would have no problem. The only catch is if you are low on memory and you want to run a command line server. However, If you run something like Mint with a GUI then after all your setup you could just log out and it would unload the desktop and free up the memory.
You are correct about Ubuntu. They cannot be trusted. However, Mint is ok. I have ran Centos and its good.
Red Hat has migrated from yum to dnf for package management.
Another choice for free is Fedora Server.
Red Hat recently introduced Fedora editions, one of which is the Server edition.
An advantage over Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS is that you can install extra software from official and third party Fedora repositories.
NJW
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It's certainly worth leveraging your Ubuntu experience, but use the netinstall CD – update as you go. The bandwidth requirement is fairly low for a headless server installation.
If you have more than one Debian-based machine on the LAN (real or virtual, including Ubuntu, Mint, et al.), it's worth setting up apt-cacher-ng locally: download once, deploy many. A great bandwidth and time saver.
frederick
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Ubuntu has its pros and cons, like all *nix flavors.
Depending on what I'm needing and how much control I have over the situation, I tend to look at Debian, CentOS, and RHEL for servers.
Debian, for me, has been more stable and easier to use for a LAMP stack server, or just as an Apache server, or a MySQL server.
CentOS has been my go to for Nginx. I also like CentOS for storage management (NAS), SAMBA, and a few others. In a production environment, I want RHEL. I tend to build a dev and test net on CentOS, and then just move it over to RHEL server.
It doesnt matter if you use core or GUI. Im a command line guy personally, but if Im doing something like LAMP on the server, having the GUI helps because I can use additional programs on that server that help me accomplish tasks. Kate is my best friend when talking about Linux and text editing certain things. Built in language checking helps a lot for finding errors. As well as several awesome other apps that can seriously help you with your LAMP server.
In the end, dealers choice. He who has the cards, picks the game. Your best option is grabbing the different distros and just going crazy with them.
Depending on what I'm needing and how much control I have over the situation, I tend to look at Debian, CentOS, and RHEL for servers.
Debian, for me, has been more stable and easier to use for a LAMP stack server, or just as an Apache server, or a MySQL server.
CentOS has been my go to for Nginx. I also like CentOS for storage management (NAS), SAMBA, and a few others. In a production environment, I want RHEL. I tend to build a dev and test net on CentOS, and then just move it over to RHEL server.
It doesnt matter if you use core or GUI. Im a command line guy personally, but if Im doing something like LAMP on the server, having the GUI helps because I can use additional programs on that server that help me accomplish tasks. Kate is my best friend when talking about Linux and text editing certain things. Built in language checking helps a lot for finding errors. As well as several awesome other apps that can seriously help you with your LAMP server.
In the end, dealers choice. He who has the cards, picks the game. Your best option is grabbing the different distros and just going crazy with them.
Pawel
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A long time ago when I didn't have to actually earn money I spent a lot of time testing out different Linux distributions. I started out with Red Hat and installed many other ones including Slackware, Debian, Mint, etc.
I would say you need to ask yourself a couple of questions.
1. Does your current server distribution work?
I also have Ubuntu Server installed on an old G4 PowerBook:
Code:
10:03:02 up 55 days, 17:29, 2 users, load average: 0.08, 0.03, 0.05
Code:
Linux G4 3.16.0-37-powerpc-smp #51~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 6 15:59:07 UTC 2015 ppc ppc ppc GNU/LinuxIt works. I'm happy with it. I don't have time to experiment and it does everything I need it to do (almost, as some things will just refuse to run on the RISC Motorola G4).
2. Are there any practical reasons why you would want to switch?
Security, simplicity, or getting more familiar with a distribution your clients are using. If it's ideological or hobby/curiosity related, then that's what it is and you need to be aware of that.
If you have time to compile from source as opposed to using some kind of package manager, then go right ahead. I used to recompile kernels for fun. Now I just don't have the time and more importantly - the need for it. It would just be dabbling/experimenting without getting any real work accomplished.
But...
Let's say I did have the time, I would probably lean towards RHEL.
Just my two cents.
Pawel
Altster
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I'm assuming you know of www.distrowatch.com ? Since you've been using Ubuntu all this time why not stay with some Debian distro package?
I use Linux from time-to-time for many reasons (at work) but here at home I'm still on Win7Pro 64bit. Once I get my computer lab back and running again (if it ever happens again) I'll be running some Linux boxes. But now I run them on this computer in VMWare when I want to check them out.
NETWizz
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The only one I use routinely is CentOS. It powers Aruba Airwave and Mobile Iron Core & Sentry for Mobile Device Management (MDM)...
I highly recommend it... I mean YUM seems to be fine... the Debian stuff that I remember is apt-get install or aptitude vs. YUM. Regardless, I think CentOS has great support, a great community, and is a very solid product.
I highly recommend it... I mean YUM seems to be fine... the Debian stuff that I remember is apt-get install or aptitude vs. YUM. Regardless, I think CentOS has great support, a great community, and is a very solid product.
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