<p>I have process issues with upgrading a server across release versions. I always build new as new releases are often different enough to require that kind of process.<br>
What distro to use is a hotter question :-)<br>
As you are familiar with Ubuntu, I would strongly suggest staying within that structure or going Debian. If this is personal use servers then stay in you comfort zone.<br>
If you are looking to go pro or expand your reach, Centos will be your best bet as RHEL skills continue to be in demand. SuSE is the second highest demanded distro skill from job postings but it runs a distant second. Ubuntu makes a showing in demand from smaller shops.</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Nov 27, 2011 6:19 PM, "Joshua Kite" <<a href="mailto:jwkite@gmail.com">jwkite@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi all - it's time I asked for some help. I'm ready for a new server distro.<div><br></div><div>As background, my introduction to Linux was Mandrake. I used to joke with my friends that we needed to start a usergroup for those who refused to compile anything, and Mandrake mostly avoided that. After playing with Knoppix as a desktop for a while I was introduced to Ubuntu and stuck with it until around the time Unity was introduced and performance on my particular configuration became unacceptable. I now use Mint for my desktop and love it. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I have continued to use Ubuntu server with good results until today when I upgraded to 11.10 and had yet another upgrade-introduced issue.</div><div><br></div><div>My needs are relatively simple. I run the following:</div>
<div>-SAMBA and NFS</div><div>-MPD (Music Player Daemon)</div><div>-Linux Virtualization (virsh)</div><div>-Completely headless - no X installed or required at any point</div><div><br></div><div>All of my remaining functionality is running on virtual machines, and I'd like to leave those as-is for now, although I might move them in the future. These include relatively simple tools like Apache and Dansguardian.</div>
<div><br></div><div>One of the things I like about about a distribution like Ubuntu is that, in theory, I can run apt-get upgrade and update all of the packages on the system. And, in theory, these have been tested to work together. I always expect a minor issue with an upgrade but not something that prevents the system from successfully booting. What I did not like about Mandrake years ago was the challenge of dependency hell that seemed to come with RPM-based systems of the day. However, at this point I'm open to about anything.</div>
<div><br></div><div>My knowledge there are probably four basic choices:</div><div>-Gentoo (fun, resolves the upgrade issue, but probably overkill)</div><div>-Fedora/Red Hat based </div><div>-SuSe based</div><div>-Debian based</div>
<div><br></div><div>I've never worked with any of the "upstream" solutions. Is it time for this technically middle-of-the-road geek to take one of them on? If so, what is the overwhelming recommendation?</div>
<div><br></div><div>Thanks,</div><div><br></div><div>Josh Kite</div>
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