• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Best OS for a server

B

BustAcap

Member
I am thinking of building a web server to host sites. I am pretty sure I want to use a UNIX based OS, but I'm not sure exactly what product to use. What would you recommend and why?
 
What kind of webserver do you want to run?
What kind of skills do you have?
What kind of webhost software will you need to run?
What kind of hardware will you be using?

It is never easy to answer generic question like yours. But IMO, RedHat and Win2k makes a very good web server. RedHat for stability and Win2K for software platform that runs on it.

eRr
 
Certainly not linux. If you want a flavor of unix, use FreeBSD. If you don't want a flavor of unix, Win2k.
 
Win2k server is pretty nice, if you can get a copy. It is pretty easy to setup. Seems to be nice and stable.
-doug
 
FreeBSD works nicely. I currently do some hosting on Linux and it works ok also. Since all the stuff I use will work on either, I'm not too partial at the moment. I do prefer SysV init over BSD though.
 
I'd say either FreeBSD, OpenBSD(ultra-secure) or (even though there are some who disagree) Solaris. A coworker has a Redhat box in our dc at work, I have root on it, and all in all from using that vs. bsd or solaris I would pick any of them over Linux.

If you are building a system out of what you have lying around, FreeBSD will have more hardware support than Solaris or OpenBSD.
 
Go with the flow.. 60% of webservers out there are using Apache. As for the OS.. If it's good enough for the Queen of England, it's good enough for you -- Linux. I've heard very good things about OpenBSD and NetBSD. Basically, use Apache on whatever OS you feel comfortable working with. Make sure the server is powerful enough to handle the traffic you are going to pump through it (RAM, CPU, network, disks, etc).
 
i love slackware. it doesn't have feature bloat, and there's plenty of documenation specifically for it. i find that it's easier to configure because there's less running than on redhat and other distros.
 
Stability and reliability are huge issues, I need an OS that wont crash. I'm looking for something with loads of features but not incredibaly difficult to operate. Thanx.
 
From my experience, IIS has alwasy been the easiest (especially IIS 5.0). I am not trying to take anything away from UNIX/LINUX, but for applications and usability, I would go with Windows 2000 and IIS. I have setup numerous Windows 2000 servers running IIS and they are yet to crash or be hacked into. But, the Windows OS kernel does not prevent DoS or DDoS attacks. If you are extremely worried about this, then go with Linux, RedHat or Slackware. If you have a good firewall, then I would go with Windows 2000. Just my 2 cents.
 
Go with Slackware Linux and make sure you don't do a full install. Install only that that is necessary. You should wind up with a light sub-50MB install. Apache rocks. And if you don't mind editing text config files, Apache is it. If you are not comfy with this, don't bother with *nixes.

Ciao
-khorgath
 
Any of the various Unix's would be best for a server. Between them you just choose whichever suites your needs best. Linux has best hardware support, FreeBSD has great speed and stability, OpenBSD has the best secuirity(supposedly, I've never ran it myself), and NetBSD's claim to fame is that it runs on virtually any archetecture.
 

Try FreeBSD as for UNIX (too bad that SCO is no longer around), but you could try RedHat Linux with Apache. Other wise Win2k and IIs is your choice.

IIS is easy to to work with, but it is a clumsy program.

Apache is great on Linux & Unix, but is not too stable for Windows.

Unix & Linux will take sometime to get use to if you have been a Windows user, other wise the learning curve is the same as Windows for fresh computer illiterated person.



 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top