Favorite server OS?

Sirupsen · 2010-04-24 23:38:49

What's your favorite server OS, and why?

I recently bought a server, and tried Debian since a friend had recommended it. But aptitude really drove me crazy, when I was used to Pacman, and Clyde. I have never liked the Red Hat based systems, so I ended up using Arch Linux, and I am incredibly happy with it.

lustikus · 2010-04-25 05:59:04

I use gentoo on my vserver because it's more stable and I have better control with USE flags, this can save some RAM.

rwd · 2010-04-25 10:29:03

I tried installing Debian on my home server because of it's reputation and stability. But it didn't support my network interface, and I found the documentation to be a mess, so I slapped Arch on it. Debian/Centos/FreeBSD are popular server distros though, FreeBSD probably being the closest to Arch in terms of philosophy.

Last edited by rwd (2010-04-25 19:24:56)

Allan · 2010-04-25 10:31:14

Windows Server 2008 R2

When it is a critical server, I tend to use Debian or CentOS depending on which package management system I feel like using. For a personal server, Arch is good for me.

lifeafter2am · 2010-04-25 14:21:08

NetBSD at work; Arch / Gentoo at home.

pseudonomous · 2010-04-25 22:20:46

So far, my least painful experience with a server has been with OpenBSD.

Edit:

I guess I should say why, basically it's because OpenBSD keeps things really simple, no post-install autoconfig, really simple init scripts, solid software in the base distribution and very few bugs.

Last edited by pseudonomous (2010-04-25 22:26:14)

chpln · 2010-04-25 22:37:45

Debian for me.

One day that might change to *BSD, though Debian has never been given me a reason to switch.

SoleSoul · 2010-04-25 22:40:17

In a production server you might want a corporation behind the software, something like redhat. Taking the price into account I see CentOS as a good solution.
Using CentOS also makes you appreciate the beauty of Arch.

fumbles · 2010-04-26 04:24:32

Favourite server OS? Hmmmm, Solaris? HP-UX? As I remember a Linux guy saying: "Linux is only free if you value your time at zero". Linux is a good thing, but it's not just quite there yet in terms of stability and reliability.

JohannesSM64 · 2010-04-26 11:03:23

fumbles wrote:

Linux is a good thing, but it's not just quite there yet in terms of stability and reliability.

Care to elaborate? Google, Wikipedia, Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Sony, ILM and other movie production studios from Hollywood run it. If your definition of "Linux" is GNU/Linux/X/DE/desktop hardware/bleeding edge upstream/average user it's indeed not reliable though.

Misfit138 · 2010-04-26 16:24:25

JohannesSM64 wrote:

...If your definition of "Linux" is GNU/Linux/X/DE/desktop hardware/bleeding edge upstream/average user it's indeed not reliable though.

Good point, which is why servers should keep it simple.

marvin · 2010-04-26 18:14:14

Plan 9 from Bell Labs

P.S.: And OpenBSD for my firewalls.

Gullible Jones · 2010-04-26 18:47:39

Based on my limited experience, Debian Stable. I do really have a thing for OpenBSD though, it's an absolutely amazing piece of software and all Linux mavens should try it at some point.

Sirupsen · 2010-04-26 19:54:46

A lot of people seem to like these *BSD system for servers. Mostly heard about {Open, Free}BSD.
I bought my VPS recently, and I like to play around and get some experience and preferences, would you guys recommend me to play with a *BSD system, and if so, which one would be friendliest to an Arch lover?

x0rg · 2010-04-26 20:05:31

I had FreeBSD as a server and it's really nice as you got the ports system with a ton of ports. You find every package there and a smaller selection of apps has even got a binary version.
And it requires much less fiddling around as Debian, most things work excellent out of box.
I don't have much experience with Open- or Netbsd, but they haven't got as much ports as FreeBSD and FreeBSD has got a much bigger Userbase.

Infinity717 · 2010-04-26 20:54:34

Sirupsen wrote:

A lot of people seem to like these *BSD system for servers. Mostly heard about {Open, Free}BSD.
I bought my VPS recently, and I like to play around and get some experience and preferences, would you guys recommend me to play with a *BSD system, and if so, which one would be friendliest to an Arch lover?

I believe that you will find sysinstall from FBSD quite familiar to ARCH installation process.
OpenBSD has also a very easy installation, a few questions and you are done.

rc.conf is also familiar, ABS is heavily based on ports so you won't have any issues with software installation either.
(As a FreeBSD user i love portmaster(8))

The absolute best thing about the BSDs is that they make a clear separation between the base system and 3d party software,
3rd party software uses /usr/local as local base so it's almost impossible fuck up your system from installing an application.
You can always remove every single installed software / package and still have a fully functional OS.

Moreover the ports tree is the same for all versions of the OS, so you have the latest software available even if you are using for example FBSD 6.

Last edited by Infinity717 (2010-04-26 21:00:16)

Themaister · 2010-04-26 23:50:49

For my personal servers, Arch has been wonderfully simple to maintain, so in a sense I guess it's my favorite server OS.

Misfit138 · 2010-04-27 13:52:44

Gullible Jones wrote:

...I do really have a thing for OpenBSD though, it's an absolutely amazing piece of software and all Linux mavens should try it at some point.

I agree. I think OpenBSD is crude, but utterly beautiful..if software can be described as such.

Spacenick · 2010-04-27 16:38:25

Debian might also use Fedora, instead of aptitude I like using apt-get + apt-cache

smakked · 2010-04-28 10:06:02

CentOS at home for me, only because i am in the process of getting redhat certified

BlackIkeEagle · 2010-04-28 10:35:37

Damn, for me it is and it stays Slackware, just incredible stable, and also very close to upstream but not bleeding edge as Arch

herzen · 2010-05-02 03:55:11

I don't see any point in Arch users mucking around with other Linux distros for a server. If you don't feel comfortable, for whatever reason, running Arch on a server you're setting up, then try one of the BSDs. I've only tried FreeBSD; my understanding is it's got the most extensive collection of software packages of all the BSDs, and I am not aware of any advantages OpenBSD has over it.

My own personal choice for both desktop and server is OpenSolaris, but I'm not going to push that here, since FreeBSD is probably easier for an Arch user to get used to than OpenSolaris.

cesura · 2010-05-02 04:40:10

OpenBSD is amazing for a server. Even though I don't run an *Arch* server, it would be really easy to maintain, as...well...I'm used to Arch

Kaeso · 2010-05-02 05:23:21

I use Debian (Stable) on mine.

mikesd · 2010-05-02 06:00:49

I use Debian, or Ubuntu if I think I will need more recent packages, for production systems. I have heard good things about the BSDs as well.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-04-24 23:38:49

Favorite server OS?

#2 2010-04-25 05:59:04

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