Forum Moderators: phranque
Any input would be gladly appreciated. Thanks.
Jim
Any Unix-style operating system, eg. Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris will do the job with ease. jdMorgan is right, FreeBSD makes a good general web server OS, but the differences are minimal and your choice should revolve more around other factors: previous experience, budget, preferred package management tools, support requirements...
Windows can be a suitable candidate only if you are running Apache 2.x. If you choose Windows, make sure it is either Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003: XP or any older system is unsuitable.
Any Unix-style OS, you say?
I thought I'd comment on this, so not every average windows user decides to replace windows with openBSD ;)
Any Unix-style OS will do the job, but if you're afraid of ze Shell, then not every *nix will be suitable for you. I haven't tried freeBSD, but afaik it comes with X, which is a window system infrastructure. Most of the biggest Linux distros also have this, along with a graphical desktop system, like KDE or Gnome. (IMO, KDE is the best one)
The ideal server in my opinion, would be one that has nothing installed except for the programs I need. No default installation with lots of extra irrelevant programs that may or may not have bugs that could potentially be exploited.
But you also have to set up and configure the server, and make it secure, and it's hard to do that if you don't know the OS. If you're coming from windows, then there's most likely much you need to learn before your new shell based OS will work perfectly.
Having said that, I'd like to point out again that many *nixes have graphical environments, which can be more familiar to many people.
But regardless of graphical environment or not, it comes down to your knowledge of the OS. A windows expert could probably make a windows server secure, and the same expert could also make a *nix server insecure.
If you have much time to teach yourself, I'd recommend that you pick an OS that has proven to be stable and secure for many years. The *BSD's have good reputation. They are openBSD, freeBSD and netBSD. Many people say that openBSD is the most secure. Like I said, I haven't tried freeBSD, but I get the impression it's more newbie friendly than it's relative *BSD's.
>> If Linux is (the best OS), which linux would be ideal? Red Hat...Mandrake...?
That depends on what your ideals are. Do you value security over user-friendlyness? ..or do you need to get things done on your server, but aren't delighted at the thoughts of weeks and months of studying?
If the latter applies to you, then I guess the Linuxes you mentioned will be very good candidates for you. Perhaps SuSE as well.
If the first one applies; I mentioned *BSD, didn't I? :)
It seems that BSD is the popular choice on this one. I haven't had the pleasure of exploring that yet, and now I definately have to. The only web server I've brought up was a Microsoft 2003 server, but for this project I will most likely go with Linux. I've yet to decide on which distribution, possibly Mandrake as an initial run to go through the learning process, then something more secure in the future. I definately have to look into BSD though. Thanks.
in case you're interested, my personal OS is SuSE, I found it better than Mandrake. I have to say though, that I haven't much (or any) experience with Mandrake, so my opinion may or may not be fair; I had it installed for about half an hour on my computer until I changed back to SuSE. :)
I would recommend you to try out a couple, and see for yourself, because there can be huge differences on the different Linuxes. (depends on which ones you compare, of course)
Mandrake and SuSE (and possibly Red Hat?) should be pretty similar in many ways.
When installing, you'll get the opportunity to choose graphical environment; that's either KDE or Gnome. Perhaps you should try them both out, but if not, I would definitely go for KDE.
A couple of Linuxes I would strongly suggest you don't go for, are Linspire and Lycoris. Those are just a waste of time, and time is precious.
Just thought I'd give some of my personal advice, because I've been there myself, and I tried quite many different OS's before I settled with SuSE.
Anyway, I guess taste is a personal thing, you'll have to find out for yourself :)
Regards, and good luck
-Eivind
