Choosing a Server OS

If it was as easy as saying “I’ll go with Linux because I don’t need MSSQL, FP extensions or Access databases”, life would be a lot easier. But there are tradeoffs when it comes to which distribution I’d choose for two purposes - a high-load Web/Audio streaming server with necessary stability for my school’s radio station, and a personal VPS to test projects on (which I plan to move most of the stuff on my domain to). As always, testing in virtual environments first is a must.

For starters, the first server would undoubtedly rule out any distributions with 6 month release cycles, so that removes Fedora, openSUSE and Ubuntu’s interim releases from the pool. In addition to that, I wouldn’t really approve of spending money on a one-year or higher license to get updates/support for a paid enterprise distribution, leaving Red Hat and SUSE Enterprise out too.

So one of the remaining options is CentOS/Scientific Linux, leaning toward CentOS since version 6 was finally released recently. Same release schedule as RHEL, and concurrent security updates to boot. Any custom broadcasting software will of course be installed separately, but since everything is kept relatively stable it’s my first choice. I was also suggested Arch Linux, which has a rolling release and packages more up-to-date that can be custom built. It doesn’t sound like something I’d want to use in the particular environment, but I’ll incorporate it into testing.

The other server is basically a testbox so I’ll throw Debian 6 or Ubuntu 10.04LTS on there. I’m wrapping this up as my host is a bit unstable now… foreshadowing.