Search: Light Weight Linux Distro for Server

djboy6480 · May 12, 2020

Hi,

I am new to the Linux scene and I don't know many distros. Here is what I want to do: Setup multiple VMs for different services. For Example: OwnCloud, Plex, Apache...
Now i am not sure what distro to use. I dont mind installing packages but I dont want to start basically from scratch. Core functionalities should be installed.

My priorites are (in this order

- Security

- Ease of use

- Resource Efficency

Thank you all in advance!

Eigenvektor · May 12, 2020

I'd use either CentOS or Debian (without a graphical UI). They should both be light-weight and secure enough. Both distributions are geared towards stability, which means most of their packages are older, well tested and patched for stability and security.

~edit: To add to this:

In terms of security, as I said, I'd recommend some distribution that is targeted towards use on servers. They are usually geared towards stability and security, rather than having the newest toys available, as compared to typical desktop distributions.

Ease of use should be similar. The commands to install packages vary between distributions, but in general the same packages should be available. Most of the complexity comes from configuring the applications you want to use and that is going to be identical.

All Linux distributions are leight-weight if you only install the base OS and essential packages needed for what you do. There should be little to no difference, other than some minor variations due to the included kernel version. The main resource use will come from the applications you install.