I am looking at using either Debian or CentOS for a production server and I've heard mixed reviews of each one.

I've heard CentOS performs better under load, however I am aware that Debian has a much larger package repository.

Personally, I am partial to Debian since I am less familiar with Red Hat distros, but wanted to reach out on Server Fault to see which I really should be using.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

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2 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

In the end, you're the one that has to secure it. As such, the one you know how to secure properly is the best choice.

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I'm a Debian man, so the below may be slightly biased towards Debian.

They'll both perform the same and when you compare CentOS + EPEL with Debian + Backports, the package repositories are about as diverse as each other.

Debian has a slightly shorter release cycle, so you'll get newer packages more often. It's really down to your personal choice. If you're more comfortable with Debian, then go with Debian.

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