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Centos, debian or ubuntu?
Hello all!
Maybe that is a lame question for lot of you, but still: What is the best (easy/rich/with better repos/stable/fast etc) distro for vps? And for what purposes (web server/media server/proxies etc)? Centos, Debian or Ubuntu?
I noticed that Ubuntu is growing fast the last 5 years and is now in the second position in the usage at servers and centos is now third.
Also, witch distro is more user-friendly fow a server (installations and configures with less "clicks"manual configs/harm)?
Comments
It's all personal preference really..
A normal VPS user wouldn't install the desktop version, just a headless server so clicking is out of the question, this obviously uses less RAM..
I like Ubuntu only because I've been using it since version 7 or 8 .. I'm comfortable with it Debian is pretty similar and so is CentOS...
I vote for Debian minimal + dotdeb repo for a web server
No desktop enviroment, so no clicks needed
By "clicking" I mean less manual configuration, not a graphical environment. I mean, installations that works "out of the box" (of course via console) :-|
Out of the box i like Debian 6 - 7
ubuntu i really dont like much because you have to enable root password first & i dont think it would be better to use ubuntu performance-wise instead of debian because ubuntu originally is made from debian (?)
I prefer centos
I'll choose Debian then
Debian, but sometime stucked with centos. I like debian because:
I'm stucked with centos because some other person prefer it because it's more enterprise etc etc they said.
they all use the same kernel......
op, when it comes to openvz, there's almost ZERO difference
setting up a server is pretty much the exact same thing
configuring is the same thing
just choose which package manager you like better, i prefer rpm based distros because of "yum yummy"
I prefer CentOS. Although its a bit tight on packages OOB, you can get nearly all packages you can get on Ubuntu and Debian using repositories like EPEL, REMI, and RPMForge. Also, I personally think the CentOS UX is way better than Ubuntu's, others may differ, but thats what I feel.
1-Debian
2-Ubuntu
CentOS with EPEL and IUS repositories.
Sensible and easy to use.
I find Debian/Ubuntu easier than CentOS, but it's a personal preference. If you've little/no experience of either then I've found Debian/Ubuntu to have more useful information available online (though there's still lots for CentOS).
Don't use CentOS, Debian or Ubuntu. Oh well, use them when you don't mind 3 year old packages.
You should use Gentoo or FreeBSD. I am using Gentoo 2x and FreeBSD 1x as distros for my VPS's. And they are very good. I had Debian before. And it was the hell. With Gentoo you have the FULL control about your system, and there are very good tutorials for it. FreeBSD is Unix, but also very easy to use. You will love the ports and package system (no apt and yum crap!!!). So better go with Gentoo or FreeBSD. Just a tip.
How do you not have full control of your system with Debian? I think the reason many people use Debian is for the apt system as it's a great package manager.
You compile your own/modified kernel with Debian? Must be new.
I'm using CentOS because it's the most comfortable for me personally.
Yes.
Are you stoned?
You know that all those brand names of Linuxes are just distros, which means they pack some software with the Linux kernel and sometimes provide a nice package management? But in the end it's straight Linux. Ofc, you can compile your own kernel with Debian. And that's nothing new, that's something every distro can, because the distro is just a pack of software around the Linux kernel.
I am far from being an expert and for years I have opted for Centos but in the last year I have also used debian and found that once you know the differences, ie apt instead of yum etc then neither appears easier than the other. Personally I am happy using both.
No.
Depends on the purpose I guess... but here is my opinion:
Web server: Debian because security updates are out quickly and the limited life of the distribution (~3 years) forces you to upgrade and benefit from newer techs when they are proven stable (no bleeding edge).
Enterprise server (setup and forget for X years): CentOS because the 10 year support is hard to beat. A lot of companies have this "if it works, don't touch it" mentallity and CentOS offers that. You can setup your server, and forget about it (unless there's a security issue that need to be fixed).
IaaS & PaaS server: Ubuntu because it seems that a lot of developers are using Ubuntu to develop new "cloud" technologies and it's always the first platform of the 3 to be supported (as it should be, since it's more on the bleeding edge than CentOS/Debian).
That being said, I try to stay away from Ubuntu as much as possible. I prefer to use more recent kernels from 3rd parties (ELRepo, backports, etc.) on Debian/CentOS and compile missing packages myself than use Ubuntu. I want to use Linux, not a Linux-based OS like Ubuntu (go on www.ubuntu.com and try to search for the word linux on the homepage, you will get what I mean).
If you are going to install this OS on a VPS surely ubuntu is off the table. Then it comes down to what you know about command line, CentOS isn't as popular as Debian is so you'll be able to find support for it easier than CentOS. However CentOS has cPanel compatibility which would make it more of a point-click-install type deal. Bottom line I think debian is a better option
For production webservers I've been using Debian 6. Now I'm weighing the benefits of doing in-place upgrades to Debian 7, or moving to Ubuntu LTS for the longer lifespan.
Previously I used CentOS, but ditched it when faced with the impossibility of upgrading major versions.
Not yet!
/throws a stone at @fapvps >:D
Yes.
Must be some kind of kernel bug.
Definitely should've chosen Debian over anything else -.-
No.
I'll clarify my initial yes response: All 3 choices are good and I use all 3 of the os's and love them all.
Debian ++
CentOS. Just because i am bored with debian