Choosing your Managed Server Operating System

Once you have chosen on obtaining your business dedicated server, you need to decide on the server operating system which can depend on the availability, cost and employee expertise.

Unlike the desktop world Microsoft does not rule the roost. Variations of open source operating systems abound including Linux and FreeBSD. These are often included at no extra charge to the customer. Commercial operating systems include Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008, can be (installed|provided if the dedicated server host has a Microsoft SPLA agreement.

Redhat Enterprise (known as RHEL) is a highly popular Linux based operating system. The software is downloadable and updates are available on subscription and are delivered using software called up2date. However you can use the a Red Hat clone known as Centos which has free updates. This can to some extent be automated.

Other operating systems are available from the open source community at no cost. These include CentOS, Fedora Core, Debian, and many other Linux distributions or BSD Unixsystems such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD.

Management for any of the operating systems above mainly depends on the type of management offered with a particular dedicated server package. Operating system support may include upgrades to the core system in order to that the latest patches and security fixes are installed.

Non Microsoft Servers tend to have a web based control panel to operate the server, especially if the intended use of the server is web hosting. Cpanel which includes Web Host Manager allows for the maintenance ofthe core operationg system as well as the common userand management tasks.