OK, I know this could start a flame between all the different distro's out there, but I was wondering which distro people use within an enterprise as a server and also why you have chosen that particular distro.

Have you installed X as well?
Have you recompiled the kernel or just used the default that came with the distro?
What is the purpose of the server? Database, Webserver, Filestorage etc.

Personally I have used Redhat 7.3, even though 9 was out already, with a recompiled kernel, no x.
This configuration was used for all sort of services, DNS, DHCP, Mail, Proxy Cache and webserver. BTW every services ran on a different machine.
This configuration was already setup when I came to the company so I didn't really have any saying in why.

Thanks for replying
Peter

i think a poll would have been a good idea... ;-)

anyways, here's what i use, for whatever it's worth:

debian stable on mission-critical servers - always using an official debian kernel...

slackware stable on servers and PCs... slackware-current on some PCs... almost always using an official slackware kernel...

i don't have X running or installed on any server...

i only re-compile my own kernel if i have to for some particular reason...

i choose debian cuz of it's stability and security...

i choose slackware cuz of it's simplicity and modern software repertoire...

the reason i'm not using any other distro is cuz i really haven't had any reason to, although i know there's PLENTY great distros out there...

if i had to use a paid solution i'd probably go for red hat or suse...

flame away...

=)

Red Hat, basically because we always have and it works with minimal hassle.

Yes to X, because the Windows admins feel more comfortable with it there. Occasionally it's useful to run Mozilla when setting something up or troubleshooting a problem.

Vendor kernels only - reliability and low maintenance are more important to us than performance, and there is no exotic hardware on the systems.

Purpose - we have several boxes. Master DNS and NTP, e-mail, Web server with MySQL.

All production servers run on RHEL coz:
1) Update support and installation is easy
2) Kernel are well tested

Mail servers runs on FreeBSD+Qmail
1) Rock solid performance under Heavy loads we find better than the linux as per our needs

CentOS (RHEL) coz I feel comfortable administering Redhat based systems.

I am a newbie running CentOS 3.3 stand alone file server for imaging and database. I chose CentOS because it mirrors RHEL, and of course it's FREE!

I'm using CentOS for the same reasons as above. I do also have a RedHat box.

Absolutely swear by (and sometimes at ) Trustix www.trustix.org

have just discoverd TinySofa too -
Trustix is character based only - TinySofa has X if you want it

Tom

SLES but about to do a network overhaul and could endup with enything

my main server gets used for sql, apache, bind and some file storage also runs a few back up servises if my other server goes down such as dhcp, smaba domain controller and mail

I work in a lower level position in a high end datacenter, so I'm not the system admin and my knowledge of everything here is not complete. We manage servers that are a mix of Windows, Linux (mostly RHEL) and Solaris along with some other stuff like AS/400s. We also provide colocation services and our customers also run a mix of Solaris, Linux (mostly RHEL) and Windows as well.

RHEL is used for everything from web to mail to database to monitoring servers. Our DNS servers run Solaris, I'm not sure of the specifics on why this was chosen, but it runs solidly with no problems. We have windows servers for most of these as well, some reasons for this include customer preference and for things like AD for the client PCs in the office, which are 90% windows, and for windows only solutions like our ticketing system. We do have a colocation customer who runs exclusivly FreeBSD.

RHEL is used mainly due to things like recognition, stability, proven updates and support for enterprise class servers. Most, if not all, of them have X and default kernels. I suppose some part of the decision was also due to the whole SCO debacle as well. I am not aware of any other specific Open Source OSs here, besides the FreeBSD customer, but I belive we have one or two Linux servers onsite that are not RedHat.

I'm looking for a new distro. What distro will put an end to this debate? I Mean, there HAS to be the One True Distribution which everyone will agree on and not rehash this damn issue in multiple new threads each week. It is repetitive threads like this that spam the search feature and makes this board less useful.

I never mentioned I was looking for a distro.

The reason for starting this thread was to see which distro was most used and how it was used in the business world.

There is a big difference between a distro build for desktops, servers or general usage.
Using packages that come with a distro can make a big difference in security and/or performance.
Recompiling a kernel is sometimes necessary. Extra security patches or extra features that don't come with your distro's kernel.
For Example: ReiserFS v4 isn't supported by default in any kernel yet, so you would have to apply patches and recompile the kernel.

I don't believe there is "One True Distribution which everyone will agree on", that's like saying there's only One True Way To Cook Food. Besides that I also don't believe that Linux is the One True OS, but that's a completely different thread.

I have my own preferences when it comes to distro's and how to use it but hearing from other people how and which distro they use is a way of expanding your own views on things and that's always a good thing to do.

Peter

Well put Does.... I am also curious on what other admins use for their distros. I have been using Redhat AS for our online file servers; but have been thinking about trying SUSE enterprise version. Does anyone here use Slackware for their business?

We use Mandrake 9.2 with x installed for our store servers and pex with the linux 2.6 kernel based thin clients for our xterms on the counter top. Our hardware is pretty straight forward as we don't have a huge number of users on each server. We have a basic pc with 512 mb of ram and a 40 gig hd. The thin clients have 128 mb and run X through ssh. All pretty standard stuff. We probably could tighten down on the member going with 384 mb instead of 512 mb but we'll be expanding the core application soon and will probably need the extra. Basically, we have 4 xterminals per store including the console which is back in an office. It's all pretty basic stuff. We don't seem to have any kind of response hit from only having 512 mb on the system and we do allow browser access to the web even that doesn't seem to crimp our style. Yes I have recompiled the kernel's on the store servers to 2.4.41.

typically a number of professionals set-ups are

Servers (Business Critcal & DMZ) Entreprise Linux (SLES or RHEL)
Everything Else: FC3, Mandrake, Susedesktop, etc

...simply for the support contracts