The Top 5 Operating Systems For VPS Hosting

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Finding the right platform on which to host your VPS warrants a moment or two of consideration before taking the plunge. Your familiarity level with each operating system will of course come into play. Ultimately, many of the technical aspects will be abstracted away through the use of administrative front-ends like WHM / cPanel and Parallels Plesk. It’s important that you choose an operating system for your Virtual Server that’s secure and stable.

Debian VPS

One of the founding fathers of the Linux distribution community, Debian has a lot going for it in the server department. For one, it tends to strike the perfect balance between stability and new features, leaving you with a modern yet secure platform on which to host sites and applications. And like nearly every other Linux distribution out there, it’s free. As one of the most popular server operating systems in use, it’s never difficult to find help when you need it thanks to the rich community of Debian VPS developers.

Windows 2008 VPS

We’d be remiss if we ignored Microsoft’s prime entry in the field. Windows VPS hosting can be just as sturdy and secure as Linux in the right hands. Many large companies use Windows due to the familiarity of the system with developers and webmasters. The latest Windows Server 2008 R2 platform is quite possibly the best server software Microsoft has ever come up with. Whether you’re building sites with IIS or Apache, a Windows 2008 VPS installation is a solid choice.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Alongside Debian, Red Hat is the other major pillar of the Linux community. With a history stretching back into the mid-90′s and earlier, it’s had a major impact on the evolution of Linux as a whole. Red Hat isn’t free, so it’s far more popular with corporate clients and large Enterprise IT Departments. But it is an extremely powerful and reliable distribution, so you might want to take advantage of all it has to offer if your web host lists RHEL as an option.

CentOS VPS

Next, there’s CentOS, which is arguably the most common open source operating system on the server market. CentOS is essentially a rebranded version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The only real difference is that it’s free, whereas RHEL is proprietary. Using the same RPM package management system as Red Hat, CentOS VPS is a wildly popular Linux VPS solution that may be the most stable and secure platform out there.

Ubuntu Server

Based on the aforementioned Debian operating system, Ubuntu is a slightly more user friendly version. By no means does that make it less powerful or versatile. While not very popular in the server market at the moment, it’s gaining momentum as more web hosts adopt it and offer the service to clients. Using the same APT package management system as Debian, it’s one of the easiest operating systems to work with in terms of configuration and customization.

Ultimately, your choice will depend on what you feel most comfortable with. If you’re a Linux fanatic, any Linux VPS will do. If you’re only familiar with Windows, you should opt for a Windows VPS. Any of the above systems will do just fine for the most part, as they’re all more or less equally reliable. As long as you choose the right hosting provider, the operating system shouldn’t be a source of great concern.