Best linux distro for hosting server

[mot]

I've found a very good offer of "virtual server" hosting. They offer a lot of bandwidth, decent connection speed and enough disk space for... well, anything. I want to setup a Subversion repository on it, the Trac bugtracking system and of course my website and CMS (uses PHP, MySQL).

There are three Linux distros I can choose from that they will preinstall on the machine and then give me root access, so I will be administrating it. The choices: Slackware, Debian or Gentoo.

What distro would you recommend? I have some experience with Mandrake Linux.

[revve]

Between the three you gave me, I'd say go for either Debian or Gentoo. Slakware is nice, but it is very elite - it's not meant for everybody. Unfortunately, there is no "best" distribution, just "best for you".

Both Debian and Gentoo has excellent package management utilities (Debian has apt, Gentoo has emerge). I've used both extensively, and personally, Debian is my favourite. It's also friendlier for beginners (once the installation is out of the way - something you wouldn't have to worry about). Gentoo, however has better documentation (it's Wiki and forums and handbook) - I've frequently used info from Gentoo's docs on various Debian installations.

Sorry I can't give you a precise answer, but you really should simply use what you are most comfortable with. One thing you need to be carefull for is that on a virtual server (and real physical server), you are responsible for securing the server and you are also responsible if you get hacked. Getting a server (physical or virtual) is something that needs constant attention, maintenance and upgrades. Using something with a good package management system will assist with the last, though.

[MibUK]

I would agree witht he above.
First most important consideration is, what distribution are you familiar with?

Personally I'd go for debian, the stable version does tend to lag a bit behind main developments, but security patches are backported, making it probably the most secure.

I would make sure you've read the debian documentation ons ecuring your server, having your linux server hacked into is a pain becuase once hacked, you can never be sure that you've gotten rid of any backdoors unless you reformat and reinstall.
My security suggestions include...
setup ssh to not allow root access, and generate private/public keys. then set the ssh server to only allow logins via public key.
The most common "linux" attack Iv'e seen against my debian server (hosted on a home DSL) is bruteforce password attacks on common ssh users.
Make sure all services you don't need are turned off, this means, make mysql only accessable from the localhost, disable samba, nfs, portmap etc.
Make sure you update the core services, ssh, apache, mysql , php at least once a week, and subscribe to the security alerts from the debian security team. If a fix comes out on one of those, do apt-get update, apt-get upgrade as soon as possible.

If you do go for Debian and have any queries, ask on IRC or on the forums, or buy a support package. (you can always message me too)

Best of luck

[Kestral]

Just curious - which hosting service?

[ggambett]

It depends on what are you used to administering. As you know, distributions are built on the same software, which is what matters. Some may have better administrative tools than the others but in the end it's all the same.

Another interesting consideration could be how often does the distribution publishes security fixes and upgrades to the critical packages (sshd for example). Sure, you can patch manually, but it's nicer if the distro itself releases updated packages.

BTW, isn't Gentoo the distro which builds everything from source?

[revve]

BTW, isn't Gentoo the distro which builds everything from source?

Yes, it is.


BTW - forgot to say this in my first post here, but the phrases "you get what you pay for" and "if it's too good to be true, it probably is" is very valid when shopping for hosting. I suggest you look at sites like www.webhostingtalk.com before signing up, and never sign a one-year contract or pre-pay a year unless you were on a month-to-month plan for at least 6 months. Once they have your money, you probably won't see it again.

[revve]

Another interesting consideration could be how often does the distribution publishes security fixes and upgrades to the critical packages (sshd for example). Sure, you can patch manually, but it's nicer if the distro itself releases updated packages.

This is why I like Debian. They are very prompt with releasing fixes. Combined with the great package management structure, it makes for a excellent distribution (just my opinion - not calling for a flame war).

[GBGames]

I'm a Debian fan as well, but when I get the time I would like to look into using Gentoo. Keep in mind, I am talking about using it as my main, personal, desktop machine, and not strictly as a web server of some kind. Although my main machine acts as one, too. It's for personal use and not meant for widespread public consumption.

That all said, I've found Debian to be very, very easy to maintain once it is up and running. apt-get install; apt-get remove; apt-get update; apt-get upgrade. Besides tweaking configurations for specific apps, that's all there is to maintaining my Debian system. With aptitude and GUI applications, it is even easier for some. You can also use dpkg directly to install .deb files, similar to the way that Red Hat uses RPMs. Apt is just a really nice front-end to dpkg, and it handles dependencies better than RPM has (RPM hell never did seem to translate to DEB hell, as far as I know, but then I don't know if RPM hell is still as much of a problem as it used to be).

Gentoo is supposed to be BSD-ified Gnu/Linux distro. You can compile everything from source, but you don't have to do so. In fact, if you need something immediately, I would suggest getting the pre-built packages anyway.

Debian also allows you to download source packages. In a way, as I understand it, Debian is binary by default while Gentoo is source by default, but you could do both on either.

Gentoo seems to require a bit more know-how, but there is awesome documentation out there. Debian is easier...once you know what you're doing. Documentation hasn't been that readily available in my experience, and getting RTFM from certain people was frustrating until I finally got up to speed. I've heard that lots of people use the Gentoo forums regardless of the distro they use because of how much friendlier they are. Of course, the Debian Women project, which was supposed to be a way to attract more female users and developers to Debian, has also attracted a lot of males. Everyone loves the documentation and friendly-nature of the project.

Both are good if you want fine-grain control over what you're doing, but you can also use both without getting too detailed. In my LUG (http://linux.depaul.edu), it seems that while a few people use Slackware and RPM-based distros, most use either Gentoo or Debian. You can't go wrong with either. Maybe I'm forgetting how hard it was for me to get used to Debian, but I would imagine that Debian would be easier to get into.

[Del]

Since it really can only cost a weekend to try out all 3, that would be a good shot. See which one seems to be the easiest to get setup and for you to administer.

edit: oops, saw that you're using a hosting service. That will make it hard to try out the distros before hand. In that case I'd find out what the co-hosting service uses the most, as they will presumably have more experience supporting that distro.

Since no one else has, I'll chime in as a slackware supporter, but that's becuase I've been using it for a few years. :) It does take a bit to learn how it's put together, but you can get a very lean, mean, focused server up and running pretty easily.