Which CentOS distribution for server?

[LARRY1301]

I have been running a dedicated unmanaged server at xlhost for the last 4 years.

The server I have been running is
Core 2 Duo E4400, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 80GB SATA HDD
Ready 2 Go Fedora Core 8 x64
Apache 2.0.x
PHP 5.2.4
MYSQL 5.0.45

After 4 years I want to change as a newer server which will give me more bang for less bucks so I will be moving to a new server soon.

Your server survey has CentOS as the top recommendation. It is the recommendation of of xlhost as well. While not a total newbie, I know enough to manage my server by myself and with Webmin for some things.

With CentOS, xlhost offers the following distributions :

Ready 2 Go CentOS 4.8 x64
Ready 2 Go CentOS 5.5 x64
CentOS 6 x64 - not Ready2Go

Ready to Go adds:

The latest version of Apache supplied by your Linux distribution
The latest version of MySQL supplied by your Linux distribution.
The latest version of PHP supplied by your Linux distribution.
The latest version of vsftpd (Very Secure FTP Daemon) supplied by your Linux distribution.
The latest version of some popular PHP modules (GD, MySQL, etc) supplied by your Linux distribution.
Services which are never used on dedicated servers are automatically disabled (Bluetooth, PCMCIA, et cetera).

I would prefer to use a Ready 2 Go distribution as I don't want to install all that stuff myself.

At the moment, I am leaning towards
Ready 2 Go CentOS 5.5 x64

I would prefer to use a Ready 2 Go distribution as I don't want to install all that stuff myself.

Since I am new, I can post the link showing all the OS options but they are at xlhost.com if interested


Any thought, comments or suggestions?

[hunter_thom]

I'd always suggest latest build, being 5.7 or 5.6. In our server environment we use 5.7 in all new rollouts due to patch level. Our older boxes are mostly 5.4 or 5.5 which we are working to bring in to 5.7 patch level.

We are not yet on CentOS 6. Although I hear a lot of good news I have no experience so can't say for sure there. But I'd definitely go with either 5 or 6 track, not 4.

[atreyu]

I agree with hunter_thom about using ver 5 or 6 of CentOS. I've never heard of Ready 2 Go, but I don't see why you can't just install CentOS 6 and rely upon the CentOS repos (and EPEL ones) for all that other software - it all is fairly up to date already. Just a matter of:

yum install httpd mysql-server vsftpd php etc

and for services, use the GUI tool:

system-config-services

or terminal-style:

for service in bluetooth other_lame_service; do
  chkconfig $service off
done