Which Linux server would be best for me?

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Geekamouse

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#151584 29-Aug-2014 17:32

So seriously, which Linux package is best for in-house web site, email and file hosting. I have a linux based VPS with Paralels Plesk for most of my sites but with a new fiber connection I thought I'd put a server up so I can run my own office based server as well. (Much as I like the idea of cloud computing it hasn't really worked for me so far). I like simple, no nonsense and non techie.

Can anybody advise, I'd appreciate some pointers.

Andib

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#1118091 29-Aug-2014 18:08

Personally I'd go for Centos or Debian. Both are very easy to configure (lots of guides online) generally reliable without doing too much to the standard config.

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networkn

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#1118121 29-Aug-2014 19:04

If you want simple, no fuss and Non Techie, then I think you want a Windows Box. Higher Up front cost, lower TCO :)

Gozer

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#1118142 29-Aug-2014 19:21

networkn: If you want simple, no fuss and Non Techie, then I think you want a Windows Box. Higher Up front cost, lower TCO :)

Couldn't agree more, whilst it's great to ask questions and see other peoples opinions, this is one of those questions that if you have to ask your probably better to avoid all together.

That being said, if you enjoy trouble shooting and spending time on it, Debian is going to be good option because so many other people are using it in one flavor or another.

rhy7s

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#1118264 29-Aug-2014 21:50

I prefer Debian myself, but if you're not wanting to do much in the way of techie stuff any general purpose distro might be more than you want to take on. Maybe check out distros that target your use case, e.g. http://www.clearfoundation.com/Software/overview.html

michaelmurfy

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#1118303 29-Aug-2014 23:14

I use Debian personally, works well. Use Arch as my main Desktop distribution.

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dcole13

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#1118308 29-Aug-2014 23:33

Debian is great. apt > yum

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hio77

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#1118313 30-Aug-2014 00:00

I use Ubuntu for my more variable servers (VMs for clients so its a midway point to everyones reasonably happy) - Looked to move this to debian, but with a sizeable set of tweaks (including back-ported kernel) this simply isnt feasible.

For my personal webserver i run Debian.

Find it hard mixing say Debian/ubuntu with something like cent or arch, as you start hitting points were X command is for Y machine..

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Geekamouse

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#1118398 30-Aug-2014 09:55

Thanks guys. Debian seems to have it for ease of use, stability and less tech input. This was really helpful, I appreciate the inputs.

Alislack

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#1142870 28-Sep-2014 01:57

Late with this post. I recommend centos for its ease of configuration, the redhat variants have always stuck with a disciplined kiss principle either by use of the ncurses "setup" tool to configure the servers network services/devices (from the setup-utils package) or doing it manually by hand editing the system config scripts all located in one place the /etc/sysconfig directory. The official Redhat documentation at centos.org is very concise there is no confusion about how to do configuration. If you want to get up to speed with a small or large scale server centos is ideal.

There is also the elrepo repos for extra rpm packages and drivers you may require its similar to debians universe repos.

Debian is an impressive developer distro but sometimes too much of a moving target the /etc directory is untidy with the exception of the manuals many of the server help documents in html are now out of date because the doc writers now post to blogs or have switched over to ubuntu.

One issue that is quite problematic with debian nowadays is if you google search for a debian server related issue you will get lots of dead end hits from the ubuntu forums most of them are not helpfull. This is one of the reasons why I decided to switch to Centos the documentation and google searches are ubuntu free zones.

Geekamouse

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#1143342 29-Sep-2014 10:45

Thank you for taking the trouble to advise.

exgeek

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#1162584 26-Oct-2014 21:15

I use Ubuntu for home network
installed standard Ubuntu 64 and then installed package "tasksel" then ran that as root and choose Dns Mail and Lamp server (samba already ticked)
once that was downloaded and happy I used Webmin as the control panel as im geeky but NOT that geeky

I use Centos 64 quad core 8 gig ran with 2x 500 gig drives for my work websites
It came free with WHM/centos as a control panel so didnt complain

Most of the kids in the house seem to have ditched windows for various flavours of Linux Mint

So all round here

:)