Linux is known as one of the leading server operating systems which is more prevalent and wide-ranging. By the research I've done Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora and Red Hat came up often.
Which has been your favorite Linux server distro and why?
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Latest comments (78)
You should check this list, includes a comparison and a guide linuxstans.com/best-linux-distros-...
I tend to go with Debian because it's relatively light and widely supported. But I generally put everything in Docker containers so I'm pretty sure that it doesn't matter in the end.
If it works, it works.
Used to use UBUNTU. Now, shifted to Pop OS!!
Have used Ubuntu for year, really want to use elementary.io/
I have used Fedora, Ubuntu and CentOS. I really liked CentOS but I have some projects where making work some dependencies was painful and in Ubuntu it was automatic. So, I end up using Ubuntu always because it has better support for the things that I use. And Fedora I had bad experiences 7 years ago every time I updated the system it was throwing errors and things stopped working.
I would look at what is being asked from the server. If your going to run unifi software, Ubuntu/Debian. If your going to run a Desktop for gaming, Ubuntu. If your running a gitlab server RHEL/CentOS. And for security testing, Kali.
My first choice is RHEL/CensOS but if the task I'm looking to do doesn't run as smoothly or at all, then I'll pick the best Linux for the job.
Alpine Linux because it’s a lightweight OS for Docker host and containers.
True that, but I wouldn't call Alpine a server distro. It's a dedicated container distro. If you start with Alpine, you have to do a lot of tedious manual package installation and configuration to get to a decent standalone server setup.
For web hosting CloudLinux (usually installed on top of CentOS if images aren't available) is my preferred option because of CageFS.
I find the comments very insightful. I don't have much experience with servers. Does anyone have reasons not to use arch ? I'm thinking of setting up a personal email server and hosting a static site. I'm very comfortable with the distro.
Seems to me that Arch Linux is a distribution targeting people with infinite time in their hands. They have pretty good documentation on how things work, but they also don't think about anyone's real world needs. Every time I've done anything with Arch it's taken too much effort to get anything running.
It gets some getting used to. I run it as my desktop and I get things running within 5 minutes. Is there a technical reason I shouldn't use it for servers ?
@mazda , Quora would be the right place to ask questions. This is blogging platform.
I see your point. Tho, I always thought the discussion format is the best way to learn. The creators of DEV has dedicated a unique #discuss tag for that reason here on DEV too, with 10K+ posts already. The discuss tag is moderated by 5 people, if they will find the content to be inappropriate, they will change the tags or remove the post. 👮♂️
Quora is more oriented to general public and people in dev specific pages are often less competent and many do comment first Google result just to get points without personal experience in the field. DEV community is specifically oriented to devs and engineers, thus the discussions add way more value compared to Quora. 😉
I always try to give my knowledge on the top of discussion topics, so others can get some info from the initial post too. Furthermore, browsing through comments there are lots of valuable sources on new tools, tips and suggestions, as many users have noted that they have learned a lot from my discussions. I see it as a two way communication and it's awesome to exchange the knowledge, meaning it's a win-win for all of us participating ❤💯
Ah, that is so cool. Wasn't aware of it. Thanks for enlighting me.
But I would still hold on to my statement, Quora is much better for Q&A
I've always gone with Centos/Redhat but I finding their decision to move away from Docker quite challenging. Redhat bundle Podman in Centos/RHEL 8 as a container engine but it is not supported fully by Kubernetes so you end up fudging something. I'm now trying Ubuntu server and finding their Multipass installation a quick and easy method to build infrastructure. Will have to wait before commenting on its value as a Centos/RHEL replacement though
Yea I also had issues using podman when I first spun some containers up but it does say alot about dockers overly permissive use of the underlying system.
I actually still root for podman just because docker hasn't found stable funding for further development compared to red hat + ibm. Plus with other orchestrators like Nomad getting better it'd be interesting to see where container orchestration goes in a few years.
My favorite server distro gotta be ubuntu, there are few reasons unlike centos it changes enought quickly that you can be fairly certien newer changes will be applied whether that is kernel or software(underlying os should be fairly fluid and updated whenever possible in my opinion which goes against what most server admins say but i have my own opinion) which brings performance improvments and security. But reality is nowdays OS is just a piece of that story containers are a thing with docker at forefront, where i will use ubuntu as well but depending on your application you could use your own rootfs image, alpine or any other rootfs image and it comes down to preference and subjsctivity
Arch Linux (and other Arch based distro), because of the AUR.
That's not a Linux distribution
Depends on the use.
In general I prefer Redhat EL or Centos EL, which have 10 year support, that said because of the long support cycle the supported packages can be a bit dated between main releases. You can setup a server and besides for largely unbreaking patching it just works for many years.
Ubuntu is a bit more quirky, but has broad and fast support for newer software. That said, it will require to upgrade more often compared to Redhat/Centos, forced to do more portenialy breaking updates, but in general easier to upgrade over major version (which is good as you have to do it more often).
Recently for my home server I have been using PCLinuxOS. Not as popular or wide of support as Centos or Ubuntu, but it is light weight and major plus it is systemd free. So far, it has worked well as a base server.
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