Best Linux distro for a web server

czamora · Joined: Jun 21, 2006 Posts: 1

Hi,

People ask a lot of times what is the best Linux distro, but I would need to know what is the best for a specific setup:

For a server hosted remotely (no CD installations, nor fancy windows interfaces), accessed only through SSH, and used as web server (running 24 hours).

Hopefully with these restrictions the answer should be easier (and more objective).

Thanks a lot.

Gary66 · Joined: Sep 01, 2005 Posts: 8353

The company I work for uses Redhat for this.

silmaril8n · Joined: Jan 29, 2004 Posts: 1743 Location: Phoenix, AZ

That kind of stuff is really a core function of almost any distro. If you're familiar with a major vendor like Debian, RedHat, Slackware, or something on those lines, use it!

I have a Slackware server in my office (private office) that does just that, runs Apache and OpenSSH 24 hours a day. Any distro should do the trick though.

nlinecomputers

I would use RHEL or Centos. Both distros have SELinux built into the system. Suse is also a good choice because it has AppArmor. You want a good distro that you can load only the things you want and nothing more and something that can be locked down from a security stand point.

Webservers are targets with big red X on them.

Wolfden · Joined: Jun 04, 2004 Posts: 150

I hear Centos is suppose to be good. I run slackware myself for a server.

jacobso1@scarlet.be · Joined: Nov 23, 2005 Posts: 20

hi,

the choice of a distro is like tastes & colors. Wink

best a distro you are confident with.
best a distro that have support, updates & doc
best a distro that is fully compatible with your hardware

now, selinux is a nice add-on but i would not rely 100% on it
adding some acl (access control list) to your router is adviced
(like loowing ssh only from specific addresses)
or use some EXTERNAL firewall.
use VPN (from your router) and then SSH to some private address of your server (need a second nic, but that one can be a cheap one 5-10$)
that way you have a double encryption and the ssh port is not open to the world.
allow remote admin to log in only from that private address (rlogin, sql-admin, ...)

RH , mandriva, suse have commercial support
centos is a rh compatible, so you could find external proffesional support

debian & the bsd's also have their fan's

do not install a gui, no need if you do only ssh
install only STABLE version
patch but not too quickly only really urgent
(a new patch might give other issues)

and the usual advices like redundancy (power & disk), ups, backup,...
and, after, check logs (firewall & server) for anomalies

good luck & regards

PS
i am NOT resposible for the various pubs that highlight some parts of my reply)

good luck & regards