3 ms·

Debian or Ubuntu for server?

6 points by jamongkad 19y ago

jamongkad 19y ago
Hi guys I'm about to configure a VPS for my web app(for testing and learning purposes plus it's my first time to launch a site in my life much less configure a webserver.) And upon recommendation of my webhost(a2b2) Debian and Ubuntu would be the best choice as I only have a small VPS to begin with. So what do YCers think? which should I choose?
- davidw 19y ago
  I've been using Ubuntu because of the more frequent releases
  - omouse 19y ago
    Or he can use a different distro...like ArchLinux, Slackware or Gentoo. But if it's between just those two, then I agree with you, go for Ubuntu! :D
- dfranke 19y ago
  Go with Debian stable. It's rock-solid. I've done very poorly with Ubuntu. I've tried installing it twice. The first time, it installed successfully but then when I rebooted it trashed my RAID configuration and dropped into single-user mode. The second time, which was last week, the installer kept hanging in bizarre places. The whole distribution just seems to be geared toward very simple hardware configurations and chokes at the slightest violation of its expectations. Also consider a BSD, though.
  - jamongkad 19y ago
    Thanks for the response I'm definitely leaning on Debian...
arete 19y ago
I'd recommend a distro designed for server use, like CentOS. You'll find its packages are a little out of date because they are well tested and known to be stable. The default install is hardened and security updates are prompt. Also automatic updates are pre-configured and just need to be enabled.
- migpwr 19y ago
  I will second CentOS... it's solid.
  - bls 19y ago
    What are you using on your workstation? If you are using Ubuntu on your desktop, I would deploy Ubuntu on the server also. This allows you to combine your desktop and testing machines into one. Then, you only need a dedicated staging (virtual) machine and the production machine. Otherwise, I also recommend CentOS, especially if your hosting provider lets you run it with SELinux enabled.
    - zurla 19y ago
      CentOS is a very common distro for rails production environments. Several high profile hosting cos use it, like RailsMachine for example. Hard to go wrong with CentOS.
brlewis 19y ago
Initially I used Debian's "testing" release. With PostgreSQL 8.1 now in stable, I recently switched to "stable". I develop on an Ubuntu notebook and have never had any nasty surprises deploying from development to production.
- bk 19y ago
  I've been running Debian on a VPS for about two years and the ease of maintenance and overall sensible default security policies make it a great server OS. I'll always go for an OS where my default system is well-tested, stable, and trivial to maintain. I can then spend some time manually installing the latest versions of the two apps (web server and db) whose latest features I may need. It seems to me that Ubuntu is pretty much like Debian with a more shorter upgrade cycle. Is that impression accurate? Also, does Ubuntu have any extra overhead that a Debian system might not have?
  - brlewis 19y ago
    AFAICT the only extra overhead with Ubuntu is that there are more desktop-oriented packages installed by default. Yes, the upgrade cycle is shorter than debian stable, but it's longer than debian testing. It doesn't sound to me like you'd have any reason to switch your server from debian to Ubuntu.
orlick 19y ago
I've been using Debian stable as a server for the past 8 years. The stability has been top-notch and I actually prefer having a distro that doesn't update very often. The less time I can spend updating a server the more time I can spend delivering value to my customers.
- jamongkad 19y ago
  Your not the only one, I've heard very good things about Debian as well.
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
muhfuhkuh 19y ago
fedora 7 FTW!
tx 19y ago
All linuses are supposed to be rock-solid on a server. I went with Ubuntu because I figured it's not going away any time soon and because there seem to be more documentation available online. We've been running 6.06 TLS with no problems for almost a year and just recently we moved our staging/production to 7.04 and we (as expected) are seeing no difference. We compiled apache and all libs we needed from source and never used apt-get for anything. Besides, is it really important? IMO production server is just that: a production environment. You set it up just once and you're not supposed to mess around alot.
- SwellJoe 19y ago
  "IMO production server is just that: a production environment. You set it up just once and you're not supposed to mess around alot." That's why you should have stuck with LTS. 7.04 will likely be EOL'ed in the next few months (unless they branch another LTS version of it), and then you'll be forced to upgrade under duress. Long life cycle is probably single most important factor in choosing a good server distribution, because "you're not supposed to mess around alot".
  - tx 19y ago
    Correction: I wanted to say staging/testing instead of staging/production. Production is runnin on 6.06
    - SwellJoe 19y ago
      That's wise. When they do an LTS version, then bumping to 7.x is sane. ;-)
SwellJoe 19y ago
Debian or Ubuntu LTS releases are fine. Avoid the usual Ubuntu releases, as their lifecycle is too damned short. Likewise for Fedora (if you like Red Hat based free systems, CentOS will do). I wrote an article about this based on my experience with thousands of Webmin/Virtualmin/Usermin users: http://www.obsceneart.com/?p=30 http://www.obsceneart.com/?p=30
- jamongkad 19y ago
  Thanks man this article should be very helpful!
Keios 19y ago
For the server use debian if you are going to use the server for anything serious, for your desktop you could use ubuntu. There is no reason IMHO that you would want to use ubuntu on a production server.

6 points by jamongkad 19y ago

Hi guys I'm about to configure a VPS for my web app(for testing and learning purposes plus it's my first time to launch a site in my life much less configure a webserver.) And upon recommendation of my webhost(a2b2) Debian and Ubuntu would be the best choice as I only have a small VPS to begin with. So what do YCers think? which should I choose?

davidw 19y ago
I've been using Ubuntu because of the more frequent releases
- omouse 19y ago
  Or he can use a different distro...like ArchLinux, Slackware or Gentoo. But if it's between just those two, then I agree with you, go for Ubuntu! :D
dfranke 19y ago
Go with Debian stable. It's rock-solid. I've done very poorly with Ubuntu. I've tried installing it twice. The first time, it installed successfully but then when I rebooted it trashed my RAID configuration and dropped into single-user mode. The second time, which was last week, the installer kept hanging in bizarre places. The whole distribution just seems to be geared toward very simple hardware configurations and chokes at the slightest violation of its expectations. Also consider a BSD, though.
- jamongkad 19y ago
  Thanks for the response I'm definitely leaning on Debian...

arete 19y ago

I'd recommend a distro designed for server use, like CentOS. You'll find its packages are a little out of date because they are well tested and known to be stable. The default install is hardened and security updates are prompt. Also automatic updates are pre-configured and just need to be enabled.

migpwr 19y ago
I will second CentOS... it's solid.
- bls 19y ago
  What are you using on your workstation? If you are using Ubuntu on your desktop, I would deploy Ubuntu on the server also. This allows you to combine your desktop and testing machines into one. Then, you only need a dedicated staging (virtual) machine and the production machine. Otherwise, I also recommend CentOS, especially if your hosting provider lets you run it with SELinux enabled.
  - zurla 19y ago
    CentOS is a very common distro for rails production environments. Several high profile hosting cos use it, like RailsMachine for example. Hard to go wrong with CentOS.

brlewis 19y ago

Initially I used Debian's "testing" release. With PostgreSQL 8.1 now in stable, I recently switched to "stable". I develop on an Ubuntu notebook and have never had any nasty surprises deploying from development to production.

bk 19y ago
I've been running Debian on a VPS for about two years and the ease of maintenance and overall sensible default security policies make it a great server OS. I'll always go for an OS where my default system is well-tested, stable, and trivial to maintain. I can then spend some time manually installing the latest versions of the two apps (web server and db) whose latest features I may need. It seems to me that Ubuntu is pretty much like Debian with a more shorter upgrade cycle. Is that impression accurate? Also, does Ubuntu have any extra overhead that a Debian system might not have?
- brlewis 19y ago
  AFAICT the only extra overhead with Ubuntu is that there are more desktop-oriented packages installed by default. Yes, the upgrade cycle is shorter than debian stable, but it's longer than debian testing. It doesn't sound to me like you'd have any reason to switch your server from debian to Ubuntu.

orlick 19y ago

I've been using Debian stable as a server for the past 8 years. The stability has been top-notch and I actually prefer having a distro that doesn't update very often. The less time I can spend updating a server the more time I can spend delivering value to my customers.

jamongkad 19y ago
Your not the only one, I've heard very good things about Debian as well.

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]

muhfuhkuh 19y ago

fedora 7 FTW!

tx 19y ago

All linuses are supposed to be rock-solid on a server. I went with Ubuntu because I figured it's not going away any time soon and because there seem to be more documentation available online. We've been running 6.06 TLS with no problems for almost a year and just recently we moved our staging/production to 7.04 and we (as expected) are seeing no difference. We compiled apache and all libs we needed from source and never used apt-get for anything. Besides, is it really important? IMO production server is just that: a production environment. You set it up just once and you're not supposed to mess around alot.

SwellJoe 19y ago
"IMO production server is just that: a production environment. You set it up just once and you're not supposed to mess around alot." That's why you should have stuck with LTS. 7.04 will likely be EOL'ed in the next few months (unless they branch another LTS version of it), and then you'll be forced to upgrade under duress. Long life cycle is probably single most important factor in choosing a good server distribution, because "you're not supposed to mess around alot".
- tx 19y ago
  Correction: I wanted to say staging/testing instead of staging/production. Production is runnin on 6.06
  - SwellJoe 19y ago
    That's wise. When they do an LTS version, then bumping to 7.x is sane. ;-)

SwellJoe 19y ago

Debian or Ubuntu LTS releases are fine. Avoid the usual Ubuntu releases, as their lifecycle is too damned short. Likewise for Fedora (if you like Red Hat based free systems, CentOS will do). I wrote an article about this based on my experience with thousands of Webmin/Virtualmin/Usermin users: http://www.obsceneart.com/?p=30 http://www.obsceneart.com/?p=30

jamongkad 19y ago
Thanks man this article should be very helpful!

Keios 19y ago

For the server use debian if you are going to use the server for anything serious, for your desktop you could use ubuntu. There is no reason IMHO that you would want to use ubuntu on a production server.