[besson3c]

Hi,

I plan to migrate my server to a different distro now that we know that the RedHat client OS will be unsupported shortly.

I'm looking for a distro that will:

1) be an easy migration from RedHat
2) be easy to download security patches/updates for
3) is very stable, reliable, well documented, well supported, and all other similar things you would look for in a server OS
4) run Apache with various modules (including WebDAV), SSH, PHP, MySQL, OpenSSL, IMAP, secure IMAP, POP, Sendmail, Bind, FTP, etc. well, without much change with my RedHat config (although I realize I will have to recompile these packages, and that's cool)
5) preferably doesn't have a radically different file structure, so I won't have to update pathnames in *all* of my scripts and various files.

My "leading candidates" are, in this order:

1) FreeBSD
2) Debian
3) Slackware

Any thoughts, comments, advice, suggestions, etc.?

[Partisan01]

Originally posted by besson3c:
Hi,

I plan to migrate my server to a different distro now that we know that the RedHat client OS will be unsupported shortly.

I'm looking for a distro that will:

1) be an easy migration from RedHat
2) be easy to download security patches/updates for
3) is very stable, reliable, well documented, well supported, and all other similar things you would look for in a server OS
4) run Apache with various modules (including WebDAV), SSH, PHP, MySQL, OpenSSL, IMAP, secure IMAP, POP, Sendmail, Bind, FTP, etc. well, without much change with my RedHat config (although I realize I will have to recompile these packages, and that's cool)
5) preferably doesn't have a radically different file structure, so I won't have to update pathnames in *all* of my scripts and various files.

My "leading candidates" are, in this order:

1) FreeBSD
2) Debian
3) Slackware

Any thoughts, comments, advice, suggestions, etc.?

Not sure if FreeBSD has a ppc version. If you're looking for a BSD I would highly recommend OpenBSD or NetBSD. I went from RedHat to OpenBSD, easy switch. No /proc and a few other things, but most are the same.

Kinda sounds like you're looking for Linux, I would recommend Slackware if you're looking at linux. They're pretty similar. Slackware is also similar to the BSDs, so if you like it and decide you want to move that direction the change would be that much easier. If you're looking at x86 I would recommend FreeBSD above all else.

In FreeBSD we serve, in OpenBSD we trust...

Nate

[Arkham_c]

If you're familiar with Red Hat, consider Mandrake. It's very nice and is organized in a similar manner to Red Hat.

Also, you could move to the new free Red Hat, called Fedora.

http://fedora.redhat.com/

[besson3c]

Heh, I was suspecting that everybody would have their (varied) opinions on this... keep them coming though!

Re: Fedora... I'm not sure if this is the route I want to go. It sounds like it will become largely experimental, a testing ground much like Darwin is. I'm looking for something more conservative to use for this server, and something that has more support.

Does your experience with Fedora contradict my logic?

[Partisan01]

Originally posted by besson3c:
Heh, I was suspecting that everybody would have their (varied) opinions on this... keep them coming though!

Re: Fedora... I'm not sure if this is the route I want to go. It sounds like it will become largely experimental, a testing ground much like Darwin is. I'm looking for something more conservative to use for this server, and something that has more support.

Does your experience with Fedora contradict my logic?

What type of machine are you looking to use as a server? That could make a big difference in what options are available. Are you looking at x86, ppc, sparc, sparc64, (some other arch insert here). Do you plan on migrating your current server or get new hardware? Just asking to get a better feel for the background of the question.

[besson3c]

Originally posted by Partisan01:
What type of machine are you looking to use as a server? That could make a big difference in what options are available. Are you looking at x86, ppc, sparc, sparc64, (some other arch insert here). Do you plan on migrating your current server or get new hardware? Just asking to get a better feel for the background of the question.

Good question... x86

[pwolfe1]

If you are familiar with red hat, and need to make a switch, I think the most logical decision would mandrake. at least try it. I'm pretty positive you'll like it.

screw red hat, the mickeysoft of the UNIX world.

[utidjian]

Originally posted by besson3c:
Hi,

I plan to migrate my server to a different distro now that we know that the RedHat client OS will be unsupported shortly.

I guess what you really mean is Red Hat will no longer have a client or server OS where support is free (as in beer).
There is Fedora which has just had its first release. There are some issues (as there is with any os) but nothing out of the ordinary.

I'm looking for a distro that will:

1) be an easy migration from RedHat

Fedora would be the easiest.

2) be easy to download security patches/updates for

Fedora. It is even easier now since they included "yum". Even easier than Debian... just "yum update" or "yum install something" (four fewer characters to type ;-)). There is even an automatic update in /etc/cron.daily/yum.cron.

3) is very stable, reliable, well documented, well supported, and all other similar things you would look for in a server OS

Again, Fedora. Their current release (Fedora Core 1) has only been out a few days but seems fine so far. I can not honestly say how much better or worse it is from previous versions of Red Hat... but I have about 6 months to find out.

4) run Apache with various modules (including WebDAV), SSH, PHP, MySQL, OpenSSL, IMAP, secure IMAP, POP, Sendmail, Bind, FTP, etc. well, without much change with my RedHat config (although I realize I will have to recompile these packages, and that's cool)

I don't know whether you have rebuilt all those servers before but, from my experience, rebuilding them and having them work with all your current configs will be non-trivial.

5) preferably doesn't have a radically different file structure, so I won't have to update pathnames in *all* of my scripts and various files.

Fedora.

My "leading candidates" are, in this order:

1) FreeBSD
2) Debian
3) Slackware

All good choices... to which I would add:

0) Fedora (for client or server)
0.5) Red Hat ES (for server)
0.75) Gentoo Linux (for client or server)

Any thoughts, comments, advice, suggestions, etc.? [/B]

Red Hats discontinuation of a free (as in beer) supported version of Red Hat Linux is not all doom and gloom as many have made it out to be. It may be a good thing for some of the other distros as the nervous and uninformed switch.

Red Hat ES is available for US$349 a bargain considering there is a 5 year life-span for that distro. You can get a 2 for 1 discount for, I think, up to ten servers which makes the deal even better. Or just for one server you get 2 years of support at that price.

Fedora (http://fedora.redhat.com) is also "supported" but not by Red Hat. This is confusing because of their URL and the fact that up2date still works. The difference is you can not "buy" support for Fedora from Red Hat.

IMO Fedora will actually be better than Red Hat for the average home user desktop AND for other users and servers. I think the quality will continue and we will have newer software quicker that actually works and not have to go through dependency hell just to get something working. The main complaint against Red Hat based distros (this includes Mandrake and SuSE) is that RPM packages can be awkward. This is not, as some say, the fault of RPM... but of poorly made packages. All packages from Red Hat work and work well. Start mixing in noes from other distros or other sources and the problems begin. Fedora and Freshrpms were started so that users could get more recent packages than Red Hat provided. They both make high quality RPMs that "just work" and easy to use installers (yum, apt-get, synaptic).

I would try out as many as the above choices as you have time and resources for (and patience).

[legacyb4]

Do you absolutely have to have a GUI? Or can you live on command line/SSH?

If you can do without a GUI, check out Trustix/Tawie. They just got picked up by Comodo Group and are working out some support issues, but it's a reasonably secure, uncomplicated server distro based on RH.

Cheers.

Originally posted by besson3c:
Hi,

I plan to migrate my server to a different distro now that we know that the RedHat client OS will be unsupported shortly.

I'm looking for a distro that will:

1) be an easy migration from RedHat
2) be easy to download security patches/updates for
3) is very stable, reliable, well documented, well supported, and all other similar things you would look for in a server OS
4) run Apache with various modules (including WebDAV), SSH, PHP, MySQL, OpenSSL, IMAP, secure IMAP, POP, Sendmail, Bind, FTP, etc. well, without much change with my RedHat config (although I realize I will have to recompile these packages, and that's cool)
5) preferably doesn't have a radically different file structure, so I won't have to update pathnames in *all* of my scripts and various files.

My "leading candidates" are, in this order:

1) FreeBSD
2) Debian
3) Slackware

Any thoughts, comments, advice, suggestions, etc.?