Good free server OS?

[Barnum4000]

I will be setting up a server with my spare hardware for a bit of fun. I was wondering what type of free server OS that you can download. I am thinking of using Ubuntu server OS because that is the only server OS I know and I am currently using Ubuntu so it makes sense to use it.

 

[Tytoowns]

I think you should use Linux Apache as i think that it is the best OS for server hosting. You can also find lots of information about it online.

You can find out more here.

Edit:

Didn't read the question properly, oops.
Well you should use The software but for OS I would say Ubuntu or Debian

 

[zoood]

Debian is the best solution for all the type of servers.

 

[Genesis]

Debian is the best solution for all the type of servers.

Why is it the best solution? Above doesn't earn you a credit for a quality post as we need to see some discussion about the topic and a meaningful contribution to the thread. Tell us why you think Debian is the best solution.

Suggest you read our Guidelines for Quality posts before you proceed further:
http://www.gigarocket.net/forum/thread-10.html

 

[zoood]

I think Debian is the best because:

- Debian can be run on to all PC systems, doesn't consume much resources;
- It Has a very very big community and full of "How to" tutorials;
- Perfect for any kinda of uses (WebServer, SQLServer, StorageServer, WhatEverServer);

and much more.

 

[un4saken]

I think Debian is the best because:

- Debian can be run on to all PC systems, doesn't consume much resources;
- It Has a very very big community and full of "How to" tutorials;
- Perfect for any kinda of uses (WebServer, SQLServer, StorageServer, WhatEverServer);

and much more.

You know this doesn't make sense at all right? I just laugh, lol.

---

@"Barnum4000"
Ubuntu uses debian sources and centos uses redhat and fedora sources.

They both have almost same structure but different packages.


It's just a personal difference. You can go with any Linux distro as long as you like it. They are %99 same.

 

[ogah]

my fovourite control panel is vpssim because it include nginx, memcache, mod googlepagspeed & zend opcache.
because centos is the requirement OS to install vpssim, so i use centos for my server OS

 

[riddict]

I don't know what is best, but I think you should proceed with what you expert most. If you already an expert on Ubuntu than it is better if you use it, You won't find any difficult installing any software for your server and configuring it to work properly.
Ubuntu and CentOS IMO is the popular ones for Server OS.

 

[fitkoh]

This question is much more complicated than it seems. We really don't have enough information to answer you appropriately.

This is sort of a unique area of expertise of mine, having a natural curiosity and a love for experimenting, I've used over 60 linux distributions in the last 15 years, and I can promise you that there are LOTS of good server distributions.

What you need to ask yourself is what not what is a good server, but what is a good server for you?

I did the same thing as you back in 2009, I took an old 686 and turned it into a server. I doubt it would have performed well under high strain but it was awesome for my own personal use.

As a beginner, I would guess that the primary feature you're looking for is user friendliness. That's always been ubuntu's strong point.

Do you intend to run your server headless (no monitor)? Will you connect through SSH and manage through terminal or will you install a web based administration package?

Will you install a desktop alongside your server? This isn't good as a production platform but it won't hurt you just to try things out.

There's a website out there called http://distrowatch.com which is a great resource in choosing server software.

When I was first playing around on the server I found it really easy to use some of these:

SMEServer - Robust and user friendly (for server software) based on RedHat/Centos
Puppy Server Edition - you might have to google a bit to find this one
Damn Small Linux - Discontinued development but works as a server right out of the box and has a desktop too.

Puppy and DSL are also super duper fast and perfect for older machines. SMEServer is a bit heavier software but should work for you if its just for testing. If you find out it runs too slow you can always try using a previous version. You can drastically extend the life of your computer by downgrading your software rather than upgrading your hardware.

 

[strokerace]

I would use what ever you are comfortable with. Remove things you don't want and add things that you do. If you have enough equipment, You can build one as a firewall for the server

 

[Barnum4000]

This question is much more complicated than it seems. We really don't have enough information to answer you appropriately.

This is sort of a unique area of expertise of mine, having a natural curiosity and a love for experimenting, I've used over 60 linux distributions in the last 15 years, and I can promise you that there are LOTS of good server distributions.

What you need to ask yourself is what not what is a good server, but what is a good server for you?

I did the same thing as you back in 2009, I took an old 686 and turned it into a server. I doubt it would have performed well under high strain but it was awesome for my own personal use.

As a beginner, I would guess that the primary feature you're looking for is user friendliness. That's always been ubuntu's strong point.

Do you intend to run your server headless (no monitor)? Will you connect through SSH and manage through terminal or will you install a web based administration package?

Will you install a desktop alongside your server? This isn't good as a production platform but it won't hurt you just to try things out.

There's a website out there called http://distrowatch.com which is a great resource in choosing server software.

When I was first playing around on the server I found it really easy to use some of these:

SMEServer - Robust and user friendly (for server software) based on RedHat/Centos
Puppy Server Edition - you might have to google a bit to find this one
Damn Small Linux - Discontinued development but works as a server right out of the box and has a desktop too.

Puppy and DSL are also super duper fast and perfect for older machines. SMEServer is a bit heavier software but should work for you if its just for testing. If you find out it runs too slow you can always try using a previous version. You can drastically extend the life of your computer by downgrading your software rather than upgrading your hardware.

I went with Ubuntu server 14.04 since it was not a big deal with what I needed it for and I had already use ordinary Ubuntu for work. I used terminal and changed the IP to static and just set up a simple game server for Minecraft and played with a few friends. Currently it sits idle and I plan on using it again for something more complex like a web server possibly.

 

[Genesis]

I went with Ubuntu server 14.04 since it was not a big deal with what I needed it for and I had already use ordinary Ubuntu for work. I used terminal and changed the IP to static and just set up a simple game server for Minecraft and played with a few friends. Currently it sits idle and I plan on using it again for something more complex like a web server possibly.

Well done! :good:

I've just checked out a YouTube tutorial for Ubuntu and didn't realize how versatile it is. I'm used to CentOS as I've only had exposure to servers for hosting, and nothing else. Eli the Computer Guy highly recommends the desktop version of Ubuntu. So you must have made a good selection.

 

[Barnum4000]

I've just checked out a YouTube tutorial for Ubuntu and didn't realize how versatile it is. I'm used to CentOS as I've only had exposure to servers for hosting, and nothing else. Eli the Computer Guy highly recommends the desktop version of Ubuntu. So you must have made a good selection.

Yes Ubuntu server is quite versatile and the desktop version is also great for starting with Linux which I have got and I am looking forward to version 16.04 which comes out soon. Ubuntu server is a lot fun to play and use with and after using it for some time now I would defiantly say that this is a good free server OS.

 

[yngwie123reloaded]

If you need a good system for computers a bit dated , you can try using puppy linux is very fast it has all the major applications installed . Please install new software is very easy using the pet packages , almost like windows .

 

[immakeylogger]

I think Debian is the best because:

- Debian can be run on to all PC systems, doesn't consume much resources;
- It Has a very very big community and full of "How to" tutorials;
- Perfect for any kinda of uses (WebServer, SQLServer, StorageServer, WhatEverServer);

and much more.

Sorry mahn, but this really makes no sense.

-Almost all distros can be run on any PC, if not all. And there are better ones that don't consume much resources, like Arch.
-Linux has a very big community, and how-to tutorials for pretty much all distros.
-All distros are perfect for any server types, we pretty much can install apache on all the other distros, or MySQL, or SQL.

It's all a matter of taste and resources, there can't be a best.

Just my opinion.

 

[smokeless]

The problem with Ubuntu isn't a matter of taste. It's not that I don't like Unity, or I have bad feelings about Shuttleworth, or that the logo doesn't agree with me. It's much more fundamental: The Ubuntu model for development is broken.

Ubuntu periodically forks Debian's "Unstable" tree (Debian's rolling release). Canonical, inc. works from that snapshot for six months, and then publishes a Ubuntu release.

Inside that Ubuntu release, there is a core of Canonical-supported packages. Canonical accepts bug reports for these packages. These packages receive updates for the supported lifetime of the release. Ubuntu's "core" is supported much the way that Debian or CentOS is.

The problem is that this core is only a fraction of the packages on the system. Ubuntu 14.04, 44378 packages. Only 8751 of them are in the supported part. The rest of the packages go into a separate repository, "Universe."

The packages in Universe, the missing 35 thousand packages, are six months old on release day. They've gone six months without updates or security patches. By the end of the release cycle, they're five and a half years out of date.

People will doubtlessly point out that a legion of unpaid, untrained, unorganized volunteers can "maintain" packages in universe. But it's completely optional. Any given package might be untouched (bad), get backported security updates (good), be updated religiously from upstream (really bad), or replaced with something completely different from debian (really, really bad).

There's no release management process. There are no guarantees about what you find in Universe. It's totally up to the kindness of individual strangers.

Universe and Launchpad.net are sources of "works on my machine" issues and security holes. And that is all I have to say about that.

Of course, all this peril can be avoided if you don't enable the "Universe" repositories. If you restrict yourself to the core and update repos, you should have no problems. In that case, Ubuntu could be just fine.

Now let's try to use it.

I'd like to build a ruby application. Whoops. There's no bundler. That was part of Universe.

Python? Oops. No pypi and no virtualenv. Those are also stuck in Universe.

Java? Sorry. Maven was also part of Universe.

Perl? Nope, no mod_perl2.

PHP? Actually, PHP works fine with only core. All the necessary bits are supported. I can say without any trace of sarcasm that Ubuntu is 100% totally suitable to hosting PHP applications.

 

[koktey14]

CentOS made for you

 

[dmull]

I feel the CentOS or Fedora are more of a server platform then any other os. Ubuntu makes it difficult to edit any config files that are located certain folders. Just my opinion

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[mgmpastas]

[No message]

 

[fitkoh]

I went with Ubuntu server 14.04 since it was not a big deal with what I needed it for and I had already use ordinary Ubuntu for work. I used terminal and changed the IP to static and just set up a simple game server for Minecraft and played with a few friends. Currently it sits idle and I plan on using it again for something more complex like a web server possibly.