I know that this is going to sound like 100 other posts; but mine is for a particular purpose. I have been usin Linux for about 5 years now. I started with Caldera, to Libranet (Debian), to Debian, to Red Hat, to Suse, to Fedora, to Centos and so on.

At this point now, I have pretty comfortable with RPM based distros.

With all that said, here is my delima. I have been running Centos 4 on my server machines every since Red Hat 9 fell. I now have quite a few servers to run my business on. I have
- Web Servers
- Database Servers
- File Servers
- DNS Servers
- Mail Servers

in my configuration. I have tried to use Trustix for its security capabilities, but it seems as if its going to take a little bit of a learning curve for me to understand it and the documentation doesnt seem to be great for using the software.

Thus my question: I notice web hosting companies are using Fedora Core 4 as their operating system of choice, however, I have heard negative things about using Fedora, and Red Hat Based distro altogether; but these distros are comfortable to me. So, if you had a business that depended on 99.9% server availability and wanted a secure OS, What distro would you choose to power your business:

* Centos 4.2
* Fedora Core 4
* Trustix
* Debian 3
* Suse 10

Thanks for any help you can provide.

The talk around the traps in Brisbane Australia for something relaible is Clarkconnect. I haven't tried it myself, but those in my group who perform server tasks say it is the best.

The oldest chestnut in the book, that one....

A lot of it comes down to personal preference. And remember that pretty much any OS can be secured with the right knowledge. If you're comfortable with RPM based distros and Red Hat specifically I would personally go with CentOS.

Having said that, my personal choice would be Debian, as I prefer their package management tools, and I am more familiar with securing Debian. I also like that fact that they don't install much by default - my debian servers don't even have X Windows installed on them - security in my book is as much about keeping the system as minimal as possible as anything else. Only what you need.

Long term, it comes down to this:
- What are you most comfortable with? This also includes what are you most knowledgable with, as this will always tend to produce a more secure OS.
- Why change from what you are using now - in what area is it deficient, and what do you hope to achieve by changing? Unless you know, this it's hard to make a good decision about what to change to.
- How much are you prepared/able (in terms of time available) to learn something new?

Also, bear in mind that the choice of OS is only one component of server security. Having a good network infrastructure and monitoring system is also crucial. Being proactive about security is also key.

Finally, it seems like uptime is also a big consideration. This is separate from security. Obviously, the two are loosely connected, but make sure you're clear which one is your priority. I mean, if purely security in a technical context is your goal, OpenBSD is probably the best choice, but it doesn't sound like that something you would want to sacrifice for all else.

I would bite the bullet, stay away from the rpm based distros and jump into something with more power - in terms of flexibility, control, configurability, etc. Depending on your exact cirucmstances I would choose either debian, gentoo, or freebsd. Openbsd for any kind of router/firewall.

Personally I would run gentoo or freebsd, but some people would roast me at the stake for mentioning gentoo in a production environment. Still, I run 3 servers - all run gentoo, and I have an openbsd router/firewall. If done carefully gentoo is easier to maintain and fortify than other linux distros. Portage simplifies package management, and that is why I chose it over freebsd.

Good Luck.


pick up a copy of hacking linux exposed.

If you are comfortable with RPM base distros, give contribs.org SME Server a try. If you are looking to customize it you will need to know perl.

Out of the box it just works. Mail, File sharing, Web, Antivirus. Web based management. It is not neccessarily for hosting environments though.

The stable version is based on Redhat 7.3 with ALOT of updated packages (about the same age as Clark Connect).

The beta version is based on CentOS 4.2 and is available in beta 6 right now.

I have several of these on of-lease compaq boxes running at not-for-profits for 2 plus years.

contribs.org
SME Server beta

Hope this helps
Todd

Thanks for all the replies.

My biggest concern at this point is security. The servers are behind a hardened firewall appliance, so its shielded from that point, but I want to make sure that the servers are secured as much as possible as well.

I see that rfnetworks.com has several tools to secure RPM based distros, so I was looking at that but wanted to keep my options open. At this point, I dont want to have to learn an entirely "new" OS and have to relearn the security aspects of that particular distro. I have played with freebsd for a little while but ultimately went back to Red Hat.

I did, however, enjoy using Libranet as our Server OS a while back. As far as Debian 3.0, by itself, the installer is a bit cumbersome; however, I know that Debian is highly stable. My company will be doing a lot of online trasactions and I dont want the OS to be the weak link in the chain.

As for exact circumstances, we are looking to have dedicated database servers, dedicated web server (farm), dedicated email servers, and file and dns servers.

So would you put Libranet (Debian) in a production server environment over CentOS?

If you like SuSE then dont' forget Novell..

http://www.novell.com/products/linux..._products_sles

Sun Solaris also,

http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/

but will have a higher learning curve and it may be over kill in fact.. but you need to decide that. It runs on 386 arch of course.

It is open source as well (free) as you may know and they have a great reputation (as does Novell).

Good luck :)

I do have Suse here, version 10.0.

Does anyone have any experience with it in a production environment?

the link i gave is NOT SuSE 10!

it is: SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.. it is free.

Most of its interface IS like SuSE desktop, but it has most of the server programs availible, along with the managment end of it. it lacks alot of audio/video out of the box however.. which can be addressed separately however.

check it out, lettuce know :)

Yes, I understand that the link is to Enterprise 9; I was just mentioning that I have 10 here already.

As far as the OS is concerned, would you use it in a production environment? In other words, do you use it for production use?

If you're main concern is security then you should be prepared to "relearn a new distro". Linux security is - at the foundation - essentially the same across the board. I have recommended gentoo and debian because I believe these distros give you the simplest, most direct path to configuration, all while offering the best package managers out there. I find freebsd even "cleaner" in this sense.

I would stay away from anything that complicates configuration or separates you from any of this. Yast hardly simplifies anything.

From what you are saying, it sounds like your network will be fairly substantial..for this I would recommend gentoo. Maintaining a cluster could not be any easier with Portage. DistCC can also be set up to minimize the load during compiles/emerging (installing). To top it off..gentoo arguably has the best documentation out there, and one of the best user communities, up there with debian and the bsds of course.

Take care and good luck :O)

i have NOT used it in production, but i have installed it and it has the ease of use we are all used to with SuSE.

i would check out Novell's site for their list of 'satisfied' customers who have/are using it now-- if you want valued opinions from people who use it in a production environment. :)

I have to agree SuSE 10 is really stable and refined
as well as having alot of enterprise support