[ale] Web server OS

[Pat Regan]

Jon Reagan wrote:
> Thanks for the suggestions everyone... I'll just run some tests in
> virtualbox on debian/ubuntu/centos, just to see which one is best,
> especially with setting up a LAMP server.

Testing those three won't likely help you determine which one is "best."
 Many of the key differences are things you will only see over a long
period of time.

Debian's stable stays "stable" and maintained for a very, very, very
long time.  "Stable" in this case roughly means that it only gets
security updates and some bugfixes.  That means you aren't likely to
get surprised by an update installing something like an incompatible
library.  That cuts both ways, though, because as the Debian release
gets older you are more likely to not have a current enough version of
some core piece of software that you need.

I do not know the current definition of "very, very, very long time" for
Debian anymore.  I've been a big fan of Debian for years, but I've
switched to Ubuntu.

Ubuntu, for my purposes, is just Debian with a faster release cycle and
more up to date packages.  Ubuntu's LTS releases are supported for 5
years and are released about every 3 years.  That is a pretty
comfortable cycle for me.

CentOS is a rebuild of RHEL.  It also has a nice slow release cycle and
long support cycle.  If you prefer Redhat/Fedora, this is the way to go.

Someone mentioned Gentoo.  I don't think a distro like Gentoo that is
going to slowly and constantly be sneaking in new versions of libraries
is a good choice for a server.  You'll do just fine until one random day
it decides to install a version of some package that is incompatible
with your core application.



Pat

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