I'm planning on migrating my server to linux. When I look to most of the distributions, they cost me a lot for support.

RHEL:
$1499 – OS Updates, phone support 9-9 ET M-F(within 4 hours), 24/7 web support (within 2 days)
$2499 – OS Updates, 24/7 Phone Support (1 hour), 24/7 web support (within 1 day).

Mandrake:
$799.90 – updates and up to 5 support incidents
$1649.90 – updates and unlimited number of incidents

SUSE:
$999.00 - Updates and e-mail support
$1499.00 - Updates and phone support

atm I've got SuSE 9.0 professional. It has all the server functions i need. Is it only for the support U must pay for those above? Or are there other server functions in it... Or have they a better performance?

Does someone know? Because I want the distro with the best performance and security on my server.

What is the server for?

Personally I would just download Slackware or Debian and run it.

A lot depends on your comfort level regarding support.

I'll use it as a samba and file server.

I just want to know what the main difference is between enterprise distro's and the other... before purchasing one.

Is it only the support or has it also a better performance, security, ...? Cause I don't find this information anywhere.

Then I would recommend Slack or Debian.

You will have to configure Samba but other than that you are good to go.

I would take debian as well because, it's easy to upgrade packages for new functionalities and/or security patches, I've never tried slackware though
You could consider one of the 3 *bsd distributions as serious concurrents as well.

bye

the enterprise versions as far as I know are the releases after the community has tested and fault found it for free. Then they charge you for the completed product and tag the support option onto it. (I Think )

I have used both slack and Debian as a file share server and both are great for this and more.

Security is really more down to your configuration of it. You can really lock down the server to only do what you want, when you want, or you can leave it open.

Check the software above (slackware and debian) first before you pay for anything. I run 2 servers (Gentoo) in my home for printing and file storage (docs, pics, movies, backups etc) and have never even needed to use a support option. If the worst does happen ppl here are happy to try and help.

Good luck

Medic6666

Support? Who the hell would pay $1500 for support when it is all freely available on the internet?

Don't worry about any support, there is more than enough information available either online or in books.

Sybex's "Linux Complete" is a great start, and is only $19.99.

Hello,

> I'll use it as a samba and file server.
Seems like a pretty simple server. Get a free distribution to start with.
Fedora maybe, or just anyone else. Try out some alternatives if you got the time.

>I just want to know what the main difference is between enterprise distro's and the
>other... before purchasing one.
Main difference is that the enterprise distro's are more stable. They come with older
and more stable versions of the programs, and are usually not updated as frequently
as "user" distro's.

> Is it only the support or has it also a better performance, security, ...?
The enterprise distro's might well have worse performance due to older programs,
but probably better security since all security patches are applied. There are distro's that
addresses security especially (think they called "hardened").

In general enterprises want stability, and users want cool bleeding edge versions
of everything. Read why RedHat splitted into Fedora/RedHat enterprise.

If you lose money every time the server stands still, you might consider an enterprise
server with some kind of file system redundancy, e.g raid. But anyway don't pay
for before you have tried some free distribution downloaded from the net first.

Regards,
L Ekman

try here for downloading Linux distro's.

http://www.linuxiso.org/

I now have most of them as I like to play around every now and then and see whats new out there and if its any good.