Hi all,

I'm currently working for a small web design company who have their own servers. They are currently looking at an upgrade and have been looking at which linux distro they should use.



Now for some reason they have asked me to research this for them, even though they have some much more knowledgable ppl in the office. So, here it goes!

I need as much information as posssible on things like up time, security, maintainance, etc for the following linux distros:
Suse
Slackware
TurboLinux
RedHat

Please post your own opinions, experiances, etc. and also any links to sites that might help me.

TIA
Athon Solo
AKA Allen Brooker
Smart-Decision.Net

http://www.smart-decision.net/

Are you new to the Linux scene? If so I'd probably avoid Slackware... while I recon that is a great distro (as the one I use) it doesn't provide much automation so forces you to do stuff manually - this is great as it makes you learn what the graphical tools are doing behind the scenes but until you get upto speed on it can be extra hassle that you might just not have time for.

Having said that it seems to be very stable and doesn't seem to suffer from too many security problems. Having said this you can make just about any distro as secure or insecure as you like. There was a thread recently discussing security of distros. Have a seach for it.

HTH

Jamie...

Well RedHat is the most commonly used and most popular here in America as a Server type. Its good, it has its ups and downs but overall a great distro.
I would stay away from Mandrake as a server type. Its more for the desktop type use distro.
Slackware is excellent, most Unix like.... very good choice.
Debian is the most robust but most advance. Very good.
SuSE is the most popular distro in Europe. It comes with tons of apps and other goodies that most others don't package, but if your just needing a webserver, you probably won't need all of that. Even though it would do the job.
TurboLinux, they still exist. Haven't heard anything from them in a while, not even any type of updates. Hardest distro to get X working in so far, didn't like at all. Though even though with a web server, you wouldn't need X.

Overall, almost any distro is gonna do the job. My overall picks would have to go with RedHat or Slackware.

if you go with redhat, i would recommend NOT using 7.0 many bugs in it...7.1 also had some problems (well for me it did) ..but not as good as good 'ol 6.2. I think jeremy said redhat 6.2 and the 2.4 kernel were an AWESOME combo.

I recommend Redhat or Debian. Slackware is good too.

DO NOT install Xwindows on a server that will be used in production. 99% of all my problems with Linux have been attributed to something going wrong with X or an X-app. Or at least if you install it.. don't run it.

Redhat 7.1 is a very good distro. A lot of folks complain about 7.0, but with the updates from Redhat for it I have never had a problem with it.

Redhat 6.2 was good and a lot of commerical folks are still implementing and using it.


I will make one important recommendation about using Linux in a production environment. Get whatever version of whatever distro you want and STICK WITH IT. Don't update ANYTHING unless you have a specific need to do so. And even then, if you can get the source or binary package FROM the company that makes the distro then do it that way. DO NOT just go willy nilly and update everytime someone comes out with a patch for source code on the web. Also .... learn to use whatever package managment system comes with your distro. Be it RPM, DEB, or TGZ. It will make your life much simpler. Learn to make your own packages from source if you want, but use the package system.


One more thing... Linux is Linux. Everyone has a favorite distro. But the bottom line is they all use the same kernel source and they have the same capabilities. Be selective about what you install from each distro and one is just about as good as another.

I would look at service and support options if you really want to differentiate between them.

KevinJ