Which Linux for my Server

[Context]

I am 98% finished building up the hardware for my server, just finishing off making sure the air flow will be smooth. So I am transitioning into looking at my software options. I already decided I wanted to go with Linux so as to force myself to expand my lower-intermediate experience with linux and working with a real-time processor. I also feel like Ubuntu will be fairly good to use based on reccommendations...however....

 

I google versions of Ubuntu and come up with about a dozen in recent years, many apparently being updated concurrently and are seemingly different entities. If so...I would like opinions on which version will do me good on a server which needs as much freedom and compatibility with "everything" as possible.

 

Or, is there a different version of Linux anyone here would recommend, please write a 20,000 word essay on why it is best.

[Nettly_]

CentOS, built for server use from RHEL/Fedora (fedora being based of RHEL by RedHat). CentOS is your best free option.

 

[Windows7ge]

8 minutes ago, Context said:

write a 20,000 word essay on why it is best.

I'll circumvent this requirement by mentioning that there is no real "best" just "what works for you".

 

You can checkout options such as:

Ubuntu Server (CLI but a GUI can be installed)

unRAID (popular but it costs money)

Redhat Server (costs money)

FreeNAS (WebUI uses ZFS)

Rockstor (WebUI uses BTRFS)

CentOS (CLI but a GUI can be installed)

PROXMOX (WebUI uses ZFS)

 

There's others but I can't remember them at the moment.

[Context]

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

Ubuntu Server (CLI but a GUI can be installed)

Indeed, and I guess I was not clear enough in my opening statement (It's a common issue I am working on).

 

There are multiple versions of Ubunutu, which one is most recommended. There are those two readily available for download, but there are also about ten other versions available if one digs deeper. Presumably, the two most easily seen are the two I should pick from.

[Windows7ge]

31 minutes ago, Context said:

Indeed, and I guess I was not clear enough in my opening statement (It's a common issue I am working on).

 

There are multiple versions of Ubunutu, which one is most recommended. There are those two readily available for download, but there are also about ten other versions available if one digs deeper. Presumably, the two most easily seen are the two I should pick from.

If you're new to this I'd say your best option would be to pick what's on the surface. As you gain more experience you can dig a little deeper and pick more specific configurations.

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, Context said:

Indeed, and I guess I was not clear enough in my opening statement (It's a common issue I am working on).

 

There are multiple versions of Ubunutu, which one is most recommended. There are those two readily available for download, but there are also about ten other versions available if one digs deeper. Presumably, the two most easily seen are the two I should pick from.

If you mean the version numbers (e.g. 19.04 or 18.10) the numbers indicate year.month of release. Newer releases have more recent software but only one release every two years (the last one was 18.04) gets "Long Term Support" and continues to receive updates for 5 years. Other versions are supported for 2 years I believe. For a server I would recommend the most recent LTS release, 18.04.

[DeaconFrost]

A server is an extremely vague term.  What is the purpose of the server?  Let's start there, and then we can make suggestions.

[Context]

• Plex Media Server
• Website Server
• Practice Environment for my Graduate work in Data Science (Python, R, SQL, etc..)
• Back up for random things

[MetalGearPony]

I don't know much about plex media servers but I used Ubuntu server to set up an ftps server and it worked fine. Personally I like that Ubuntu server doesn't come with a GUI so you can install the one you like. It's free and should work just fine for web hosting and using as a practice environment for Data Science. Ubuntu servers repository has packages for R, Python and SQL. Python's I believe is simply 'python', and R's is 'r-base-core'.

[lloose]

Use it as an opportunity to learn terminal commands. I used to insist on using a GUI and thought I couldn't use a server if it didnt have one. I used to install Teamviewer and remote in that way. I upgraded my server and installed Ubuntu but forgot to check the option for a GUI. I decided to just learn how to install/admin/troubleshoot things in terminal since I was using it in the GUI most of the time anyways. Once you get the hang of it and things like SSH, its amazing. I would never go back to a GUI server. Im not saying that to come off elitist or gatekeeping, but because it turned out to be such an empowering experience for me.

[Ithanul]

6 hours ago, Context said:

• Plex Media Server
• Website Server
• Practice Environment for my Graduate work in Data Science (Python, R, SQL, etc..)
• Back up for random things

FreeNAS and dig into how to setup Jails.  There are a good bit of guides out there for PLEX and other services setup into Jails for that distro. 

 

Or, as another mention, look into PROXMOX and setup VMs for those services.

[BLAfH]

FreeNAS ist BSD, not Linux. Similar (as in UX-system with GNU userland), but very different beast.

 

As of Ubuntu: for a beginner on server, I would recommend the actual LTS (18.04) server variant. Also whats available from Ubuntu.com when clicking on Download -> Server. 

 

First: Most of the Ubuntu-flavors are Desktop-flavors. Kubuntu (KDE), Lubuntu (lxce), Xubunt (xfce) etc.pp. 

You wan't a server, so those aren't relevant. 

Second: stay as close to factory basic (or in this case: default server distro) as possible, because that's whats the best documented. So most of the howtos and helpsites will be based on the stock distro. Which is important for a beginner to get you up to speed and prevent frustration.

 

 

[Breadpudding]

This topic is highly opinionated, so here's mine: Use anything Red Hat based. This includes(but is certainly not limited to): Fedora, OpenSUSE, CentOS, Mageia, and even Red Hat itself(assuming you aren't afraid to pay for an OS). Personally, I use OpenSUSE because it's free and uses YaST which makes server management easy. On top of all that, it's extremely stable and secure. The only thing I wouldn't recommend about it is the learning curve if you're familiar with a Debian-based distribution(such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Pop! OS). Otherwise, go right ahead and install a Red Hat system.