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I've got the choice of these three systems for a VPS package I think I'm going to go with. My main experience is with Ubuntu so what do you recommend to go with?

The VPS will basically be used for hosting PHP/WordPress and MySQL.

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3 Answers

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If you know Ubuntu, Debian will be by far the most familiar. There is very little difference between Ubuntu and Debian on a server. CentOS and Fedora will require you to learn how to use RPM and will have files in a different place. For example, they do not have /etc/network/interfaces and Apache configuration is in /etc/httpd. They're just two I can think of off the top of my head.

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Thanks David and Adrien. Debian also has the most "tagged" articles on serverfault.com at the moment so I imagine this is one of the most popular (hopefully not the most broken). – gary Aug 29 '09 at 7:24
There's a reason why Ubuntu picked Debian as a base :) Lenny should be rock solid. Probably more so than any other distribution. – David Pashley Aug 29 '09 at 7:42
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Personally I'm a Fedora user, but I agree with this answer: if you have experience with Ubuntu, Debian is your best bet. – Bruce Alderman Sep 4 '09 at 17:32
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up vote 1 down vote

IIRC, Ubuntu is a Debian derivative, so maybe Debian?

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It is based on Debian - so, in this case then go for what you're used to – warren Aug 29 '09 at 7:02
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up vote 0 down vote

ubuntu is a debian-based distro, while centos and fedora are children of the now defunct redhat distro

speaking from package manager point of view, debian+ubuntu use apt-get/dpkg, while centos+fedora use rpm

while all four of them are system v init style, some apps will store their files/config files on different places, dependig on the chosen distro

so you should use whichever is easier for you to run and maintain

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Actually, CentOS is line for line the same source as RHEL, with only the trademarks and RHEL branding removed. – MDMarra Aug 29 '09 at 12:20
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Fedora is upstream of RHEL and CentOS is downstream of RHEL. RHEL is certainly not "defunct". – HTTP500 Aug 29 '09 at 13:34
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