Which OS do you think is best to run on a server and why?

FreeBSD
Secure
Stable
Fast
Easy
Compatible
Has been around much longer than Linux and isn't made by M$ :)

Or any other BSD UNIX variant. OpenBSD is by far the most secure operating system I know of (at least out of the free ones).

Mac OS X is a BSD variant as well that has started to prove itself one of the best out there.

And Linux is just plain easy to use (relatively) and is compatible with just about anything.

If you use Windows... be prepared to watch over that thing 24x7. Updates and hardening are an around the clock necessity.

There is a huge number of threads concerning the issue of best server operating system. I suggest you use the search feature, these kinds of threads generally end up as flame wars ;)

Hehe ok thanks for the suggestion :)

That's why I wasn't coming back here after my one post... ;)

Personally i would use OpenBSD, but only a few dedicated suppliers have them, unless you want to get colo... :(

Windows Server 2003 :)

.NET is great.

Windows Server 2003 is good but they are prone to vulnerability... I prefer using FreeBSD and OpenBSD. If you can, compile their kernel (so you got stability and strong security) hehehe :-)

Windows is just too easy to be hacked.

If you're new to BSD, you should think about RedHat since they have the biggest customer around the world.

FreeBSD or Redhat is my vote

I have to say the best answer to this is going to be the server you can administer most efficiently, if you have never administered a box running FreeBSD I wouldn't recommend buying one and dropping clients on it, Systems Administration isn't something I would recommend jumping in to without testing out your abilities first. We run FreeBSD for everything here, but before I went into running a production server I had a machine at home for almost a year where I could learn the ropes, and its always good to keep a development or test server around so you can test out any updates before applying them, just a few words of advice;)

Cheers,
Matt

SCO Unix?

Originally posted by lobaloba9
SCO Unix?

Yeah right. SCO is an old, expensive POS.

As far as modern Unix OS's go, you cant go wrong with either FreeBSD or a 'stable' Linux variant. By stable, I mean I wouldn't trust my server to bleeding edge distros like Mandrake or Knoppix. RedHat has my vote.

Another thing to think about is hardware support. Linux seems to be ahead of the BSDs lately for supporting new hardware. Also, Multi-processor support for *BSD is not very mature. Two procs max. Of course you may never have a need for more than a dual proc box. I do. Need java? probably not, but Linux is the only free os to support modern JDK's.

So, personally, I use RedHat on my hosting server AND on the 90+ servers at my real job.

That being said, you can't argue with netcraft's surveys that show FreeBSD as the most stable OS on the planet.

Most stable on the planet? They probably haven't taken AIX, the original BSD UNIX, and other UNIX distros into consideration, because they're just so expensive. I haven't tried them, but I would think for an OS that costs more than a car, it had better be stable. :D

Out of the free OS's I would still think OpenBSD is the most stable and secure.... 1 bug in 7 years is incredible. And that was one in the installer, not the OS (I think...).

The best OS for a server is the OS that most-efficiently/completely suits your needs.


What are the operations of this server going to entail?

Originally posted by binaris
Most stable on the planet? They probably haven't taken AIX, the original BSD UNIX, and other UNIX distros into consideration,
No, Netcraft takes all OS's into consideration. AIX is simply not used on Web servers very often when compared to other OSes. Check out Netcraft's longest uptime stats. Almost ALL are FreeBSD.

Out of the free OS's I would still think OpenBSD is the most stable and secure.... 1 bug in 7 years is incredible. And that was one in the installer, not the OS (I think...).

That's crap. I know Theo from the OpenBSD project likes to perpetuate that lie, but It's simply not true. OpenSSH (from the OpenBSD project if you didn't know) has had all kinds of problems in the past couple of years. Rootable problems. That's one of many vulnurabilities included in the OS. Oh, did you mean the default install? Well, when the default install installs almost NOTHING, then you may be right. But when you need to USE the OS, that changes everything. OpenBSD uses Sendmail, OpenSSL, and Apache like every other unix like OS. That's where your vulnerabilites lie....in the applications and daemons you use.

My vote would be FreeBSD.

Solid, Stable, Powerful

Good control panel support and a great community to help you out if you get stuck.

Nick

Originally posted by vsa
As far as modern Unix OS's go, you cant go wrong with either FreeBSD or a 'stable' Linux variant. By stable, I mean I wouldn't trust my server to bleeding edge distros like Mandrake or Knoppix. RedHat has my vote.

Or if RedHat is too edgy for you (like me) then look into Debian. CP support for this distro isnt amazing yet but its stable as a rock. Out of all the Linux distros its the only one i trust to run my production servers where i have a choice on OS :)

I've said before i want OpenBSD, but like i said, debian is choice number two if OpenBSD isn't in the list to choose :)

I would personally use FreeBSD if it was offered at Rackshack, but it simply isn't offered. You can install your own FreeBSD remotely but don't expect them to give you your control panel license key or to help you with ANYTHING if you run into problems. So yes, my vote too goes for FreeBSD. My second choice of course would be RedHat simply because they have a sort of occultish following of users and the OS is widely supported. :D

FreeBSD for it's reliability, efficiency and stability.