# Favorite OS for your VPSes?



## vpsnewb (Jun 5, 2013)

Curious what your favorite operating system for your VPSes is and why. Assuming you're not relying on a control panel that is bound to a specific OS (Like cPanel), what OS do you usually choose and why?

I've always been a fan of Debian, though I can't really say why. I just like it.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Jun 5, 2013)

Been using Debian for a little over 16 years.  Won't touch Windows if I can help it.  Only other OS I'll use regularly is Gentoo.


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## Mun (Jun 5, 2013)

debian


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## Kris (Jun 5, 2013)

CentOS - Started working / learning Linux on servers with RH 6 and RH 7. By the time Red Hat went commercial I was too fimiliar with the OS.. Then CentOS came out, started using that ~ 2005.


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## acd (Jun 5, 2013)

Debian on anything I plan on touching inappropriately. FreeBSD on anything micro/single purpose. Desktops tend toward gentoo.


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## nunim (Jun 5, 2013)

LEB always seemed like a Debian based community probably because it runs so well on a small vps.


Been running solely Debian for awhile now.


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## mikho (Jun 5, 2013)

for VPS I use Debian, even if I'm mostly working with Windows in my day job.


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## NodeBytes (Jun 5, 2013)

Centos/Debian/Ubuntu - Depends what I'm doing with it and what I need out of it.


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## D. Strout (Jun 5, 2013)

nunim said:


> LEB always seemed like a Debian based community probably because it runs so well on a small vps.


Very similar, but I use Ubuntu. All the advantages, but with more frequent releases and more up-to-date software. I've tried Debian, but I found that certain little inconsistencies kept bothering me, so I switched back. I originally started using Ubuntu on the desktop, so I was familiar with the commands when I started using VPSes.


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## wdq (Jun 5, 2013)

I use a mix of Debian and Ubuntu systems on my servers primarily because I am most familiar with them because I ran Ubuntu on one of my desktops at home for a couple of years.


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## DaringHost (Jun 5, 2013)

I've been using CentOS since the beginning and it's definitely my favorite. The runner up would be Ubuntu though, since I do use it on one of my desktops.


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## fusa (Jun 5, 2013)

Ubuntu for desktops, CentOS/Debian for servers


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## Tux (Jun 5, 2013)

Pure-bred Debian. Server and desktop.

Less tech-savvy family use Apple products ( ), Ubuntu and/or Winblow$.


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## arieonline (Jun 5, 2013)

vote for Debian


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## drmike (Jun 5, 2013)

+1 for Debian.


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## texteditor (Jun 5, 2013)

Debian, just like on everything else


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## thuvienvps (Jun 5, 2013)

Debian 6 32 bit Minimal, sometimes Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32 bit


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## bigcat (Jun 5, 2013)

My vote goes to Ubuntu, simply because when I started using Linux some 7 years ago, Ubuntu community was really helpful with tutorial and guidance. Let just say I feel like home when using it. But Debian, Ubuntu and CentOS is compulsory template when I'm shopping for VPS.


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## wlanboy (Jun 6, 2013)

Ubuntu LTS. I do not want to switch between different Linux distributions. One os for all latoops and vps.


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## eva2000 (Jun 7, 2013)

CentOS (for obvious reasons  ) and Oracle Linux


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## Shados (Jun 7, 2013)

Arch, because I like to live on the edge .


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## vanarp (Jun 7, 2013)

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32-bit


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## johnlth93 (Jun 7, 2013)

debian since i started around a year ago


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## concerto49 (Jun 7, 2013)

SmartOS


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## Mike (Jun 7, 2013)

CentOS for anything server related.  Used it for over 12 years so just seems right to continue using it.

For home I use Windows.  Only reason I use Windows is because I tend to game a lot.


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## Supicioso (Jun 7, 2013)

I don't really have a preference. I usually choose which ever is best for the task I need accomplished.



concerto49 said:


> SmartOS


Never heard of SmartOS. Is it debian or rhel based?


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## concerto49 (Jun 7, 2013)

JaredT90 said:


> I don't really have a preference. I usually choose which ever is best for the task I need accomplished.
> 
> Never heard of SmartOS. Is it debian or rhel based?


It's Solaris based.


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## vanarp (Jun 7, 2013)




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## vanarp (Jun 7, 2013)

concerto49 said:


> It's Solaris based.


 
Using SmartOS on VPS or as the base OS of the node?


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## concerto49 (Jun 7, 2013)

vanarp said:


> Using SmartOS on VPS or as the base OS of the node?


You have to use it as the base OS of the node and then be able to get a zone for it as a VPS.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Jun 7, 2013)

vanarp said:


> On VPS? May I know why you prefer this distro?


I typically use Debian for my VPSes.  I did have Gentoo on one for awhile.. but ended up moving it to Deb as well (I prefer being able to update/patch/issue commands/etc to all of my stuff at once).  I do use Gentoo on a couple of home machines - originally tried it out for the 'challenge' perceived from its reputation;  and started to thoroughly enjoy working with it.  There's also that nice smug feeling when some of my "linux user" (read: Ubuntu) friends sit at my workstation to do something, and are thoroughly lost.


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## bizzard (Jun 7, 2013)

Just Debian here.


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## Reece-DM (Jun 7, 2013)

Centos production use.

Debian/ubuntu for general crap.


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## immetator (Jun 7, 2013)

CentosOS


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## sDsB (Jun 7, 2013)

This topic would be even better if people stated *why* they prefer a certain distro.

I run Debian, cause... well I really have no good reason (d'oh). I started off with Ubuntu and ran into some crap I couldn't resolve, switched to Debian and never really looked at anything else again, it just works.


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## Abdussamad (Jun 7, 2013)

I used to use CentOS. Then I read on LET that Debian used less RAM out of the box so I looked into that. Now I use Debian on my server and OpenSUSE at home.


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## ihatetonyy (Jun 7, 2013)

CentOS. I learned the basics with Debian/Ubuntu, but helped my friend beat things into working order or do other stuff on his cPanel server, and so got used to CentOS.

It works well. yum misbehaves on little RAM, and low RAM VPSes are the only ones I'll use Debian on.

(Plus, building RPMs is way easier than building debs, IMO.)


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## Supicioso (Jun 7, 2013)

concerto49 said:


> You have to use it as the base OS of the node and then be able to get a zone for it as a VPS.


So it's more or less like a virtualization type OS?


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## concerto49 (Jun 7, 2013)

JaredT90 said:


> So it's more or less like a virtualization type OS?


It is an actual OS made especially for "Cloud". It is used as the hypervisor. Provides zones (which is same as OpenVZ but since it's Solaris-like, it only support Solaris) and KVM. So you can run KVM on SmartOS. We delayed our KVM on CentOS products to take a look at this instead.


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## wilbo (Jun 8, 2013)

CentOS, I have just always used Redhat variants.  No reason, it's just what I'm used to.


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## Supicioso (Jun 8, 2013)

concerto49 said:


> It is an actual OS made especially for "Cloud". It is used as the hypervisor. Provides zones (which is same as OpenVZ but since it's Solaris-like, it only support Solaris) and KVM. So you can run KVM on SmartOS. We delayed our KVM on CentOS products to take a look at this instead.


Interesting, I might try this on a test server and see if I like it.I assume it's a viable method on production servers?


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