When someone asks what is the best Linux distribution out there it is very hard to answer. The reason is everyone has different opinions and almost anyone you ask will give you a different answer. This is usually due to the person’s experiences with a certain distro.
If you have never ran Linux before, I would suggest running it at least a week prior to paying for any type of server you have to manage. If you do not want to dedicated a server just to this function there is a wonderful technology of virtual machines. VMs allow you to have multiple operating systems on top of your primary machine.
The top contender in the virtual machine market today is VMware. If you run Windows or Linux they offer VMware Server completely free of cost. On the Mac side of things its not so cheap, VMware Fusion is $60 and worth the price.
Once you’ve got a virtual machine environment setup it is time to pick a server distribution. I have a few tips on choosing a Linux distro:
- A Linux server should not have a GUI; it should be controlled by the command line/SSH. This is due to the overhead a GUI places on the server, you would need double the resources to support a GUI as well as the server software
- A great Linux distro should make your life easier in the long run. It might take a while to get used to the command line, but eventually it should be stable and you should only thing about making things faster and not stabler
- Installing software should be easy. Anything much longer than five words when using the command line will confuse the beginner Linux user.
With These basic ideas in mind let’s take a look at some of the popular Linux distributions: Ubuntu, RedHat/CentOS/Fedora, Slackware, Gentoo, and Debian.
The first distro that most people are aware of is Ubuntu. This distro has become extremely popular in the last few years as it has lowered the entry level for desktop Linux. They provide very good driver support out of the box and it is easy to configure. The problem with Ubuntu is that it is bloated for a server. To be able to support such a varity of hardware out of the box it has to come with a ton of extra drivers and software that is unneeded for a server. A server should be small and secure. Ubuntu has not been out long enough to prove the security aspect.
The most popular version of Linux for the server is RedHat and its derivatives such as CentOSM and Fedora. These distributions use the same package management system using RPMs. In my experience this management system leaves something to be desired. Quite often I have had to spend hours resolving dependency issues. In layman’s terms that is going package by package to find out why something will not install.
One of the only original Linux distributions that still exist is Slackware. Being so old you have to compile every single component along the way. You have to know what has been updated and how it relates to all other software on the system. Slackware was one of my first Linux experiences and I learned a ton using it, but I have no overwhelming interest in running it today. It can be painful to sift through a ton of software trying to figure out what is causing your issue. Most of the time it is completely unrelated to the error you receive.
Gentoo is a geeks paradise. This distro is what they call a source distribution. What this means is that every single package that is installed on your machine was compiled on it. What this results in is a very fast system that will kill most precompiled distros. The problem arises when you figure out how much time it will take to get the server running in the first place. The standard install can take anywhere from six to 48 hours depending on how much software is being installed. For a server this can be a pain to update if the server has much of a load at all.
The final major distro we are goign to cover is Debian. I saved it for last as it is my preferred server environment. The reason for this is that is has wonderful package management and has been around for a really long time for a proof of stability. The default setup for a Debian server is completely preinstalled packages. You can then take your own source files and compile your own debian packages. This means you get the best of both worlds, a great package management system that is very quick with the ability to build your software for speed.
I probably made if fairly clear that my personal choice for a server is Debian. The choice does not simply come down to which disto you prefer though. There are quite a few other factors involved. The main being the software you require. If you plan on running Cpanel you will have to run a RedHat based distro (they also offer freebsd now). It should also be noted that since RedHat has been the primary server distro for many years now most of the support out there is based off of this. If you are new to the Linux world, adapting tutorials can be hard.
The best bet is to install any distro you might plan on using on a web server and install it locally. As suggested before virtual machines make this very, very easy.
