[Poll] Favourite server operating system?

What’s your favourite server operating system?

  • CentOS / RHEL
  • Debian
  • Ubuntu
  • (open)SuSE
  • Gentoo
  • Slackware
  • Arch Linux
  • Fedora
  • Scientific Linux
  • *BSD
  • Solaris (including forks)
  • Windows Server
  • Other (comment below)

0 voters

Usually Debian minimal for any servers with < 2GB RAM. Ubuntu for anything 2GB+.

3 Likes

Low end servers get Debian, decent servers get Ubuntu & arm devices get Arch Linux

3 Likes

Not sure I can answer this anymore. I’m stuck between CentOS and Ubuntu

1 Like

I should have turned on the multi-answer option. I would edit it, but I think that’d delete all votes.

Debian FTW :wink:

More than each one’s choice, maybe you could state why do you prefer one over the other? For one, I’m interested to know why some of your loathe CentOS so much :smiley:

And why Ubuntu over Debian for a server OS?

Reasons why CentOS is awesome:

  • Almost same as RHEL, good software compatibility
  • High stability
  • RPM based
  • Systemd based

I hate Ubuntu with a passion. I despise the way it tries to be “friendly” by renaming packages and changing configuration file structure.

Debian Stable for most small VMs (always minimal installs), Ubuntu on bigger servers or if I’m running like automated configuration scripts that do better with Ubuntu. Almost exclusively Ubuntu at work now, except for Proxmox nodes.

Interesting poll. I don’t despise CentOS, I just began learning through Debian/Ubuntu so it’s what I’m used to. I’m interested as to why people specifically use Ubuntu over Debian for larger servers though?

1 Like

I’m more biased and loving of Ubuntu since that was the Linux flavor that I first picked up and got comfortable with. So when at all possible, I use Ubuntu (especially for Workstations / Desktop machines). I find its package and repo management to be easier to use over Debian as it seems to have the latest and greatest releases available without having to compile from source or add any wonky repos.

I opt for Debian for smaller VMs since it handles memory management much better and has a significantly smaller RAM footprint (even when not running anything). Any smaller VMs typically are a one-purpose machine for me so I don’t mind compiling from source or adding a repo to get things working.

I feel my loathing towards CentOS broods from my inexperience with it. With Debian/Ubuntu I can do most things (package installs, removals, network config, etc.) without needing to lookup any commands, but with CentOS I need to look up anything beyond a simple yum install. I do use it for work here and there, but am mostly shielded from getting too deep into it because most of my apps are Dockerized. Like any human, I’m averse to change, so I stick with what I know of the most part – being Ubuntu or Debian.

1 Like

deleted I thought you meant desktop OS… Debian it is!

I use CentOS whenever I can. Debian just for Proxmox installations.

I hate Ubuntu. It was fine for desktop.

Anybody knows why Digital Ocean loves Ubuntu?

People use what’s familiar to them. Their writers are probably proficient in Ubuntu, so that’s what stuck. I guess the saying “Ubuntu is the easiest flavour of Linux” also helps - even though I find this untrue.

Just out of interest I tried searching DO’s tutorial section for “Postfix”. They’ve got various tutorials on installation, mail server configuration, spam filtering and other stuff for Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04, 16.04 and Debian Wheezy.

There is one tutorial for installing Postfix+Cyrus on CentOS 6. That’s it.

1 Like

Debian always and forever. And, huh, CentOS for cPanel servers.

I’ve always been partial to Debian, because probably like many others Ubuntu was my introduction to Linux. I use solely CentOS for work, so I’ve gotten pretty familiar with it - but Debian still holds a place in my heart for #1.

When I first started out (1996ish) it was RedHat and Slackware. I then moved away from Slack and ended up with Centos (makes sense), at some point in the mid 2000’s I moved to debian and then to ubunutu. I guess I have no linux loyalty.

Windows servers still play a big part in my world though, mainly because of AD now…

CentOS baby !

2 Likes

Can move between them with relative ease. Hard to pick a favorite but I use Ubuntu the most in practice.

*BSDs what I started on followed by Solaris.

Debian for the linux route. I’m old enough to remember Pink Fedora and the Red Hat law suits. Centos purely because of cPanel and being lazy.

Ubuntu…I remember the updates wiping systems all too well.