Operating Systems
| Distribution | Support method | Support life | Release period | Target audience | Licensing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | Community | ~2-3 years | ~2-3 years | Commercial/Server | Free |
| CentOS | Community | ? | ? | ? | Free |
| Fedora | Community | 6-9 months | 6-9 months | Enthusiast/Desktop | Free |
| RHEL | Commercial | 7 years | 1-3 years | Commercial/Server | Subscription |
| Ubuntu | Community | ? | ? | Desktop | Free |
Wikipedia detailed comparison of Linux distributions.
Anchor Linux Operating System Index
| Operating System | Anchor Rating | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| Debian | STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR | Our current OS of choice. Acceptably frequent release cycles. Built for servers. Good package availability. |
| CentOS | STAR STAR STAR | RHEL without the fees. Crippled by slow RHEL release cycle. |
| RHEL | STAR STAR | Just a remnant of it’s former glory. Suffering from an unacceptably slow release cycle as of 2010. Support doesn’t match the price tag. |
| Fedora | STAR | Built for Desktops not Servers. Requires upgrades multiple times per year. |
| Ubuntu | STAR | Built for Desktops not Servers. Debian does most things just as well. |
Deployment Matrix
| Location | Operating System |
|---|---|
| Dedicated servers & VPS – Linux | Debian, RHEL, CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu |
| Dedicated servers & VPS – Windows | Windows Server 2008 Data Centre Edition, Windows Server 2008 Web Edition |
| Shared web hosting – Linux | Debian, RHEL |
| Shared web hosting – Windows | Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 |
Fedora Core
Fedora was derived from the original Red Hat Linux distribution. The project envisages that conventional Linux home users will use Fedora Core, and intends that it replace the consumer distributions of Red Hat Linux.
Debian
Debian is a widely used distribution of free software developed through the collaboration of volunteers from around the world.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (often abbreviated to RHEL) is a Linux distribution produced by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial market. Red Hat undertakes to support each release of RHEL for 7 years after it first appears. All of Red Hat’s official support, and all of Red Hat’s training and certification for hardware and software deployment centre on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform.
Windows 2008 Web Server
Designed for dedicated Web serving and hosting, Windows 2008 Web server, delivers a single-purpose solution for Internet service providers, application developers.
Web Edition cannot:
- Cannot operate as a domain controller
- Cannot deploy UDDI