Preferred distro for file servers?

[opus_az]

Hi...I'm a net admin for a medium sized business and I'm thinking about leaving Windows file servers for Linux.

Is there a 'preferred' distro for file servers?

My needs would be rather minimal but they'd be in a business setting with a few locations and a few dozen users at each site. I wouldn't even need print sharing since I'm already splitting that out from Windows. Just basic file sharing and DNS and DHCP. Pretty basic stuff.

Most clients will be Windows XP/Vista, and a growing number of Macs.

I'm familiar with Ubuntu desktop and server, and some with Debian server. And getting better with the terminal every day.

I'd have some consultants that I hope can do the heavy lifting, like the initial config and data transfer, and I'm waiting to see what they recommend.

But I'd like to know I picked a reasonable enterprise level distro.

[oz]

Is there a 'preferred' distro for file servers?

Welcome to the forums, opus_az!

Yes, there is, but you'll find that each user has his/her own preference. Take a look at this poll for favorite distro for server use:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/cof...rs-2008-a.html

If you want an enterprise level distribution, maybe take a look at CentOS. It's basically Red Hat with all the logos stripped out and no Red Hat paid support channel. It's available for free download.

You can check the link in my signature for lots of good information on getting started with Linux.

Hope it all works out well for you.

[daark.child]

If you already know Debian and Ubuntu, then you can use any one of the two. Debian is very popular as a server distribution because of its stability. Another good option is Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If you do want to pay for their support services, you could opt for CentOS which is basically RHEL minus the Red Hat branding.

[IsaacKuo]

If you already know Debian and Ubuntu, then you can use any one of the two. Debian is very popular as a server distribution because of its popularity.

Huh? Debian isn't the "cool" distribution, Ubuntu is. Debian Stable is popular for servers mainly because they don't update packages except to fix security and bugs. This means updates don't occasionally break things.

Typically, for a server you don't want the latest and greatest versions of software. But at the same time, you do want the latest in security fixes. Debian is an excellent choice for that.

[daark.child]

Huh? Debian isn't the "cool" distribution, Ubuntu is. Debian Stable is popular for servers mainly because they don't update packages except to fix security and bugs. This means updates don't occasionally break things.

Typically, for a server you don't want the latest and greatest versions of software. But at the same time, you do want the latest in security fixes. Debian is an excellent choice for that.

I meant stability and not popularity, so post above is fixed. Cheers.

[opus_az]

Thanks, all! Good to know I'm 'in the ballpark' and that there are options. (I'm a big fan of options ).

Given these replies I'm leaning either to Debian or Red Hat / Fedora. Debian since that's where I want to be for my web servers, and Red hat / Fedora because my consultants are rolling out a series of homespun Linux servers to do my backups and they're running Fedora so I know my consultants are comfortable with that distro.

Thanks again for your replies. Appreciate it.

D.