DEDICATED UNMANAGED LINUX SERVER

Linux and open-source software provide a compelling avenue to operator success. The open-source operating system has certain characteristics that confer upon it advantages over other operating systems; indeed, Linux has been a disruptive technology with clear impact in telecommunications. Today, not only do many of the server nodes with telecom networks run Linux, but Linux also powers mobile phones and many intermediate nodes in the middle.

Linux adoption in telecommunication has not only been increasing, but adoption is also accelerating. Reasons to adopt Linux vary but revolve around common key advantages, such as licensing terms, full access to source code, freedom to choose from multiple providers, lower costs versus legacy and proprietary operating systems, higher system performance, reliability, security, source code quality, innovation rate, peer review, testing resources and the availability of an established ecosystem.

Unlike most other desktop and server operating systems, Linux comes in a wide variety of flavors, each based on a common core of the Linux kernel and various GNU user space utilities. If you’re running Linux servers — or Linux desktops, for that matter — you should understand the important differences and be discerning about which flavor of Linux is best suited to any given situation. This article will help you do just that. Because Linux is open source software, the number of discrete Linux distributions is hard to know for sure. But a short list of major distributions account for the lion´s share of commercial Linux deployments: Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, and OpenSuse.

That last point is an important one when it comes to any server use. I’ve heard many people complain about how hard it is to run a Linux server. For most ordinary use, Linux isn’t hard to use. Neither is its chief rival inside offices, Windows Server 2008 R2, or its rivals in data centers like AIX and Solaris. But no server operating system is as easy to use as a desktop system — and the more you push it, the more you ask from it outside of the ordinary, the more likely you are to run into situations that require an expert’s hand.

That said, Linux provides a low-cost way to deliver any and every network service you may ever require. For any network need — whether it’s just you and your significant other sharing files and a single printer in your home office, or Facebook or Wall Street delivering real-time data to millions of simultaneous users — Linux is the server operating system of choice.