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[gofreak]

I'm beginning to get started on a new web project that I have fairly high hopes for. In previous ventures, I haven't paid too much attention to the underlying infrastrucutre - I just threw my stuff up on a shared Unix server and ran with it. For this, however, I'll probably invest in my own dedicated server(s), and so I've also been putting more thought into the software that I'll use. I'm fairly convinced that I won't be using Windows for my OS (should I dismiss it so easily?), so that leaves one of the many UNIX variants. I'm thinking my "major" options here would be Red Hat Linux or FreeBSD? Are there others I should consider? Basically I'm looking for good comparisons between the possibilities - does anyone know where I can find good, independent comparisons/reviews/benchmarks etc.? If it matters, it'll be used mostly for heavy PHP/MySQL work, and needs to scale well in case things actually work out well

Cheers for any help!

 

[iapetus]

On the linux side you might want to consider Debian and/or Gentoo as alternatives to RH.

 

[StrikerObi]

 

[Gattsu25]

windows server running on IIS6 isn't so bad for general file hosting, but I guess it ultimately depends on how much security you need

 

[Hitokage]

If you're going to use linux, you may want to give Slackware a shot as well.

Personally, I find it much more flexible than Red Hat was, and it doesn't stop you if you know what you are doing.

 

[Phoenix]

FreeBSD or Suse (Suse on the desktop) if you want to spend more time getting stuff done than trying to figure out what the heck the distro is doing.

Suse is by far the most friendly, easiest to set up, and easiest to manage Linux distro out there by far.

 

[Hitokage]

Suse is by far the most friendly, easiest to set up, and easiest to manage Linux distro out there by far.

Only if you play by SuSE's rules.

 

[Phoenix]

Only if you play by SuSE's rules.

People who are just trying to get things done generally don't try to break the rules

 

[Hitokage]

I don't mean breaking any rules, but if SuSE doesn't provide for something you need, then you're up shit creek.

 

[Phoenix]

I don't mean breaking any rules, but if SuSE doesn't provide for something you need, then you're up shit creek.

Not sure what you mean by that. Install apt and do apt-get (or just use Yast2) and you can install pretty much anything that you need that isn't present in the distro (which is usually nothing in all but the strangest case). My employer is currently looking to replace our standard linux configs in the webfarm with Suse becauseit is that much easier to manage - and where I work that is a significant milestone.

 

[Hitokage]

I've tried using apt-rpm with SuSE, and it's not a pretty sight. To be honest, the state it left my system in after attempting an upgrade-all is the reason I uninstalled and went to another distro.

 

[Phoenix]

I've had no such troubles. Then again many of the things I need to update I update using Yast because that's the tool they wrote to handle that. Its like updating OSX or XP without using their built-in mechanisms. Why would you?

 

[golem]

 

[Hitokage]

I've had no such troubles. Then again many of the things I need to update I update using Yast because that's the tool they wrote to handle that. Its like updating OSX or XP without using their built-in mechanisms. Why would you?

Because I want programs other than what SuSE provides, and rpm doesn't behave well with source or tarball based installations... and infinitely worse with a system-wide dependency-based updater like apt. Frankly, I liked using apt-rpm with Red Hat 9 only because freshrpms.net provided a good supplimental repository of packages... but even then I ran into serious issues occasionally like a single package being labeled as "broken" and apt refusing to do anything until it was removed. Granted, YaST may or may not have quite the same issues, but I hate being locked into any paticular scheme, even if it works wonderfully while doing so.

Of course, I've already veered way off topic into my own personal misgivings with the distro... as opposed to what would work better for a web server.