Debian, CentOS, Slackware, FreeBSD, OpenSolaris and Ubuntu Server Edition: Which one to use for an http web server?

Posted by Ako on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Ako
Published on 2011-06-21T07:15:24Z Indexed on 2011/06/21 8:24 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 227

Filed under:

virtualbox

|

server

|

php

|

apache2

I am going to install and administrate a virtual server for a small university. The server should run inside a virtual machine (VirtualBox OSE).
It is only used in the university network and is invisible to the outside world. It should run Apache web server for PHP, MySQL and probably a mail server.

I don't know which OS to use. Main criteria for choosing include ease of administration and updating, package management and performance.

I wonder if anyone has any suggestions?

And candidate OSs are:
Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Slackware, FreeBSD, OpenSolaris. Add any other OS if you know any better alternatives.

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about virtualbox

Virtualbox on Ubuntu 12.04 and 3.5 kernel

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I have installed the 3.5 kernel under Ubuntu 12.04. When I install virtualbox I recieve the following error. Setting up virtualbox (4.1.12-dfsg-2ubuntu0.2) ... * Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ] * Starting VirtualBox kernel… >>> More
Linux VirtualBox inside Windows VirtualBox doesn't boot

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to run a Linux VirtualBox instance inside a Windows 7 VirtualBox instance, but Linux (tried both Puppy and Mint) doesn't boot. My research says that this should be possible, see here for example: Can you run one virtual machine inside another? but I can't get it to work. Here are a couple… >>> More
VirtualBox Issue: virtualbox changed my Computer Name's ip address in Windows

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I had installed virtualbox 4.2.2 in Windows 7. My Computer Name is: MY-PC My IP address (using ipconfig /all command) is: 192.168.1.101 My IP is dynamic and I set DNS to google dns (8.8.8.8) When I ping MY-PC, I got this result: Pinging MY-PC [192.168.56.1] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 192… >>> More
Ubuntu 13.10 install ISO crashes on VirtualBox Mac 4.3

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Does anybody know what to do about this? Machine is a 2008 Core 2 Duo iMac with 4GB RAM. (And 64bit Debian 7 boots OK, but I've not tried installing under the latest version of VirtualBox as I have just upgraded VBox today.) VirtualBox 4.3, upon trying to boot a machine with the Ubuntu 13.10 (64bit)… >>> More
Cannot install virtualbox-ose-guest-dkms on Ubuntu 10.04

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 and kernel: 2.6.38-11-generic-pae. While using VirtualBox, i got this error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908) Please install the virtualbox-ose-dkms package and execute 'modprobe vboxdrv' as root. I tried to execute the command: sudo modprobe vboxdrv and got… >>> More

Related posts about server

SQL SERVER – Server Side Paging in SQL Server 2011 Performance Comparison

as seen on SQL Authority - Search for 'SQL Authority'
Earlier, I have written about SQL SERVER – Server Side Paging in SQL Server 2011 – A Better Alternative. I got many emails asking for performance analysis of paging. Here is the quick analysis of it. The real challenge of paging is all the unnecessary IO reads from the database. Network traffic was… >>> More
Should I switch my server to Ubuntu Server from Windows Server 2003

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have a server thats primarily used for SRCDS, I host a few Team Fortress 2 servers on it and I would much prefer a ssh-like (more so the no-gui part) for something like this, mostly because I can't navigate with my phone on VNC very well and also because there really is no need for a gui in this… >>> More
Windows web server and SQL Server on same dedicated server

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm currently trying to decide on the best approach to handle hosting a few moderate traffic websites for production e-commerce and online applications. We'd like to move to a dedicated server and are looking at this as the most likely machine: Quad Core Intel Core2Quad Q9550 Processor, 2.83 Ghz… >>> More
Windows 7 Desktop/Start Menu Redirection: Server O/S: Windows Server 2003 And Server 2008

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hi, I am new here so I am might be asking a question which has already been answered [however I can't see it in the suggested answers above] I manage a network which is split into a parent domain and a child domain. Recently I have been looking at when to migrate to Windows 7. The child domain… >>> More
Windows 7 Desktop/Start Menu Redirection: Server O/S: Windows Server 2003 And Server 2008

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hi, I am new here so I am might be asking a question which has already been answered [however I can't see it in the suggested answers above] I manage a network which is split into a parent domain and a child domain. Recently I have been looking at when to migrate to Windows 7. The child domain… >>> More