# Dreamhost switches to Ubuntu



## raindog308 (Oct 25, 2014)

Got a note from Dreamhost saying that the web server my shared account is on will be moved to Ubuntu.  DH is moving from Debian to Ubuntu, which I thought was interesting...main reason is apparently that the LTS releases are supported longer than Debian's.

DH does have a ridiculous number of web servers...doing the math on the outage scheduling shows they have 870-odd...

http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/category/system-outages/

Not surprisingly, they use a lot of automation (Chef in this case).  The full story:

http://www.dreamhost.com/dreamscape/2013/06/03/change-is-in-the-air-dreamhost-upgrades/


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## drmike (Oct 25, 2014)

Interesting 

Debian right now seems to be having multiple community issues with selected packages and general vision.

I use mainly Debian, but Ubuntu isn't too bad and I try it now and then to see if things I was previously annoyed with or incompatibilities have been worked out.

I can see the long term support of an old OS version being important.  Considering how long some commercial OSes lingered, I think maybe 3+ years should be acceptable range, maybe longer.


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## wlanboy (Oct 25, 2014)

I can understand their decission to move to Ubuntu.

One of my oldest vps was once installed with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS and is now running with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

2008 to 2014 all through upgrades.


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## Hxxx (Oct 26, 2014)

wlanboy said:


> I can understand their decission to move to Ubuntu.
> 
> One of my oldest vps was once installed with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS and is now running with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.
> 
> 2008 to 2014 all through upgrades.


that's a well managed server apparently.


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## wlanboy (Oct 26, 2014)

Hxxx said:


> that's a well managed server apparently.


As long as you do not remind me about the docevot config file changes....

Ubuntu is doing a great job in maintaining their packages.

Keeps things simple.


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## Abdussamad (Oct 26, 2014)

raindog308 said:


> DH does have a ridiculous number of web servers...doing the math on the outage scheduling shows they have 870-odd...


870 doesn't seem like a lot for what is supposed to be one of the largest hosts in the world. I would have guessed tens of thousands.


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## raindog308 (Oct 26, 2014)

Abdussamad said:


> 870 doesn't seem like a lot for what is supposed to be one of the largest hosts in the world. I would have guessed tens of thousands.


They may well have many more - I was just adding up the number they scheduled for maintenance.  I really don't know - just speculating.

They have 90 employees, live in 2 datacenters, host 1M web sites, and have 200,000 customers, according to themselves: http://wiki.dreamhost.com/116_Common_Questions

I found this, which doesn't mention Dreamhost and is 5 years old, but is still interesting:

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/05/14/whos-got-the-most-web-servers/


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