Webserver: RH9 vs Mandrake 9.2 vs Fedora


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My school wants to operate a small (php) webserver for student projects and for some local community organisations to use.

We want to spend as little as possible, and we will be given server hardware to do so (don't know the specs), but don't want to spend anything on software, so we've decided on apache (1.3.x), php(4.3.x), and cpanel(they give free educational licenses), but we have the option of Redhat, Mandrake, or RH Fedora to run c-panel on.

Which one would you recommend for webserving and for easy setup/configuration?

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i'd say Redhat. I use mandrake but not for a server. Fedora i would not recommend it at all since it is not mature yet and many reviews said that it had a few problems and that its premature release (for core 1) might hurt redhat name.

However i strongly recommend you to use redhat, the fact that most webhosting companies use redhat is evidence enought that its the most suitable release, since you are after stability and nothing more.

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They will all be easy enough to set up and run.

Of your choices listed, I would go with Fedora, as it is more current, and is pretty stable.

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I have used Mandrake, Red Hat 9, and Fedora.

Mandrake - Although I have not tried 10, I found 8.x and 9.x to be very good. A very stable operating system, and easy setup. My major complaint with them is that they seemed rough around the edges.

Red Hat 9 - Excelent distro, no MP3, DVD, support out of the box, but that shouldnt concern you considering you are setting up a web server.

Fedora Core 1 - Superb distro. Again no MP3, DVD support, but its rock solid and presented very well. So far I have had less issues with Fedora then all other distros, so I highly recomend. Fedora is like Red Hat 9 exept better presented and using a better kernel. Easy to install.

Overall I'd say to go with Fedora, but Mandrake 10 also could be a worthy choice. Both can be set up easy, and both have excelent configuration tools. Overall Fedora is the probably the least junky distro, but Mandrake has the best configuration programs.

Dont worry about Red Hat 9, its outdated,unless you are going for an enterprise edition, of course if you did that then you are paying for software, which you didnt want to do.

Fedora should suit your purposes nicely.

Hope that helps.

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I'd go with Redhat 9. Fedora and Mandrake would work well too of course but they're aimed more at the desktop and include a ton of stuff you dont need. Also, you can keep RH9 up to date easily with apt-get.

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I think that the biggest potential for problems will rest on what gets installed onto the machine.

For a webserver, you won't need a GUI of any sort. Do you plan on installing Gnome and KDE when they aren't needed? Also no need for Office-type apps or the great barrage of other programs that are GUI only. Make sure that you don't install any other services than you need (no mail serving, if all you want is webserving).

Of course, it will steepen the learning curve a bit (if you never had Linux experience before)...

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I would go for Debian since a webserver setup is less than 200mb and easier to update. However, since you a running CPanel, it is better to use Redhat.

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freebsd should work good, but I have only heard this by ear, not experience. I have heard the most about redhat. I suggest you use redhat 9. If I remember correctly the only major difference between the free redhat 9 and the one you buy was that the one you buy comes with very very very good support from redhat. but I have never dabbled in servers so I can only say what I have been told.

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